Events in Michigan
James got a chance to go bowling with some of his friends from VIP camp and had an awesome day. These types of meetings are lots of fun for James and his family since most of his friends from this camp he only gets to see in summer, so its a real treat seeing them in January. James bowled a couple games, got some pizza and a soda, and had a great day.
We also took advantage of this time to wish everyone a very Happy New Year in a short little video!
Michigan has many small treasure throughout the state, the magic capital in Colon Michigan, the Antique Capital near Allen MI, Frankenmuth, Mackinac, etc. But just when you thing you have seen it all we found a city in Michigan where for one month the entire town is filled with skeletons. It seems the whole town (businesses, houses, apartments) gets involved in the Halloween spirit by placing skeletons somewhat related to their businesses on the streets of Northville. Our favorite was the election platform in the town square where Hillary and Donald were squaring off in a debate. Lots of fun and a great big thank you to the city and citizens of Northville who put this event on.
James and his classmates visited the Henry Ford Museum today and he said he had an absolutely wonderful time. Originally it was planned to be a visit to the Village but wet weather in the morning forced the class into the museum. After the visit James did get to visit the Village and rode the train with his family since Mom & Dad went there to pick him up and save James the two bus rides he would have to take to get home (one back to the school and another to his home). Greenfield Village is still decorated for Halloween and had a thousand pumpkins decorating the village, which is adds to the Fall atmosphere.
James participated in a bowling fundraiser and had a blast. The event was held at the Belmar Lanes bowling alley on Fort Street in Lincoln Park. Dad dropped James off then decided to stay since the Lions game was on there and managed to snap a few pictures. James bowled three games and won two of those. He also won a Michigan package with all sorts of goodies from the University of Michigan (James is becoming a big Michigan fan). Pizza and pop were also available but since James and his Dad had filled up on pizza from the Halloween party the night before only soda’s were drank.
Our neighbors were kind enough to give James and his Dad tickets to the Michigan / Central Florida game played in Ann Arbor MI. James had a complete blast as Michigan scored 3 touchdowns in the first quarter which pretty much secured the win. James and his Dad then went out and ate pizza and french fries during the second quarter and finished up the afternoon walking around the stadium and going to the souvenir shops. The final score was Michigan 51 and UCF 14. James enjoyed the band, the cheerleaders, the warthog flyover along with the big flags, but when asked what his favorite moment was it was sacking the Central Florida quarterback deep in their own territory. Dads favorite was seeing three kicks blocked (2 punts, 1 field goal) in the first quarter. The tickets were in the endzone 25 rows up and we could see ourselves on TV for most of the extra points. The Michigan Stadium is the largest football stadium in the United States which made it all that much more fun for James since he loves statistics.
Nothing like a trip up to northern Michigan to beat the 90 degree heat with 70 degree temps. Mackinac City was packed and the weather was overcast all day so I am assuming that a lot of people who would normally have taken the ferry to the island decided to play it safe and stay on the peninsula. Since our last visit one of our shopping stops has turned into an arcade, which is fine since we have so many places to shop in Mackinac but not many arcades. James got to visit Sea Shell City and throw rocks into Lake Huron so he was content (plus getting some souvenirs and tshirts). All in all a very fun trip and a nice way to beat the summer humidity and heat.
Fortunately the Great Lakes have plenty of rocks to throw into the lakes, despite James best effort there were plenty of rocks left when he left
This year Mom and Dad actually did some work at the Get Together, manning the discount book table and also doing a charity thingy for VIP camp. James was at Howell Nature Center so Mom and Dad had to hold down the fort. But fear not, James came out Saturday to the last day of the Get Together which keeps his streak going at ten (not bad considering he is only 12). We did manage to raise $30 on Wednesday and another $24 on Saturday for VIP camp so I guess we did some good. The annual Magic Get Together is always fun and we always come away from it with a great feeling as we see friends who we only see maybe once or twice a year at the event.
James made the trip up and back interesting as he found a 32,000 piece puzzle (its $300 and its not happening) on the way up, and on the way back enjoyed eating hot wings at his favorite Mexican restaurant.
For the second year in a row James was invited to attend the Howell Nature Center camp for 5 days. This is without a doubt one of the biggest highlights of the year for James as he is not burdened with Mom and Dad for a few days and can just enjoy life and the great outdoors with his friends from Lincoln Park Middle School. The kitties we have did not know what to think since James usually returns from school or Vip Camp around 3-4 so they stared at the front window during that period of day. James phoned home a couple times and finally returned to us on a rainy Friday afternoon where we picked him up and treated him to lunch.
Its hard to believe this year is going by so fast, it seems like we just sent James off to school in January and now his first summer camp is already over, where did all the time go. James had a very enjoyable summer with the VIP camp folks and was involved in trips to Turtle Cove, Movies, Restaurants, and many craft projects. This year his VIP camp overlapped with the Abbott Get Together and Howell Nature center so James missed the last few days, but Mom and Dad stopped by to drop off the charity money and pick up James’ photo album which include many of the pictures shown here.
The VIP Counselors with a message for James who was away at Howell Camp for the last week of VIP Camp.
This event has a special place in our hearts because we remember selling here for a couple years. This is why we bought our tables that we use at the Halloween Party and garage sales and also where the “pop up” shelter came from (to keep us out of the sun’s path on these hot June days. However this day we were buyers and shopped around. Everyone came away with something, Mary got two pictures to hang up, James got two hats and a few small items, and Dad got 4 Halloween lightups and 1 big Easter bunny blowmold. Our total cost was only about $12 or $13 dollars so we were very happy with the haul. The sun was so bright this day we could not tell how good or bad the pictures were that we took so please excuse the several that have a finger or thumb in them.