This was our second year visiting Fantasyland in Lincoln Park and James ran into many friends on this visit. The event was organized by VIP Camp and all members got a free picture with Santa included with their visit.

Dad went upstairs where the train display was to see if they still had the pictures of his old baseball coach on the wall ( Mr. Nik was a founding member). Sure enough they were still up there and Dad contributed to their raffle, although he has no idea what he would do with a train set if he won.

The displays were spectacular again this year, lots of Grinch and community trees contributed to a great time being had by all visitors.

Continue reading “Christmas Fantasyland 2022” →

James Dad celebrated his birthday this year with a small cake but large presents including a full size animatronic for Halloween.

Dad also got several shirts from Mom ( a scooby doo Christmas shirt and a snoopy Christmas shirt) and a real nice gift from James.

The celebration actually began in the morning as the family joined Grandma at Big Boys for a nice breakfast bar which marked the first time the family had gone to Big Boys breakfast bar since the pandemic.

The reason for the small cake was because we had been having alot of sweets lately and wanted to cut back especially with Christmas just around the corner.

Santa’s Magic Forest returned to Heritage park and so did the VIP campers who came out on a cool (not too cold) December evening. The problem this year was James had to be at College at 7pm and the event begins at 6pm, but the good news is that it is only a 5 minute walk away from the College and James was able to not only attend College during the day and evening, but got to the Santa’s Magic Forest in between classes.

Santa’s Magical Forest took 57 volunteers 840 hours to assemble and the bulk of the props came from Hudsons, Bronners, and South Land Mall. Continue reading “Santa’s Magical Forest 2022” →

We were all excited and proud when we found out that James made Phi Theta Kappa at Wayne County Community College. The event began at about 6 pm and lasted about an hour and a half and was very well done with several guest speakers. James attended rehearsal the night before so he kind of knew what to expect, but Mom and Dad were very impressed with the ceremony and thought all the kids (or young adults) did a great job.

Afterwards we spent about a half hour taking pictures and celebrating the achievement with others from the College.

Very proud of you James! Continue reading “Phi Theta Kappa 2022” →

What a great Thanksgiving holiday we had. It started with Deviled Eggs and just got better as the day progressed. Once again, the Lions lost and it was frustrating as most people though we should have won but due to bad clock management we did not. However the game was competitive and against one of the better teams in the league so all in all it has been much worse.

The Turkey was awesome and so was the stuffing and potatoes. We ate it all weekend long and it was especially good on Saturday when Michigan kind of surprised us with a win at Ohio State without their best offensive player and defensive player.

After the game we began setting up Christmas decorations. Continue reading “Thanksgiving 2022” →

We had another beautiful Halloween night and there were well over a hundred trick or treaters. James handed out trick or treat again and made sure that by the end of the night it was all handed out, even some of the really good stuff that we had hidden away was handed out as it was a very busy Halloween. Afterwards Mom and Dad watched the new Halloween movie (which we both thought was kinda lame). We had done the same thing last year and we thought that Halloween movie was much better. Regardless when all was said and done it was a great Halloween for the entire family! Continue reading “Halloween 2022” →

The weather was perfect for the 2022 Halloween party so we opened up the garage to give the people the option to be inside or outside for it. It worked out really well but we realize we cannot count on it in the future since the weather in October is usually pretty unpredictable.

We had our best turnout since the covid year (2020) and the party was a big success. We had three 6′ submarine sandwiches along with tons of pizza and some of the guests brought salad. James had a pretty good turnout from his VIP camp friends so everyone had a great time.

We look forward to doing it again next year! Continue reading “Halloween Party 2022” →

Another event which has become an annual tradition for us is the Halloween Garage Sale. While the venue changes every couple years the quality and fun remain constant. This year it was again held in Dearborn at the community center.

Once again we picked up some of the cartoon pictures for our small bathroom. We now have about a dozen of these pictures and while they are not really scary, they are funny in a Halloween way. For example the Charlie Brown gang sitting around a campfire at Camp Crystal Lake.

We also picked up some animatronic hangings for the hallway and several t-shirts. Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2022” →

Its hard to believe, but Dad made it to Mackinaw an unprecedented third time this year, this time due to work. A customer in Saulte Ste Marie Canada needed help with a tester and Dad was sent to take care of it.

Dad has been to Mackinaw in the winter, spring, and summer, but never in the fall and it was very interesting to him because you could see the tourist area starting to get a little ready for Halloween. Many stores were closed but enough of them were open that Dad could pick up a few souvenirs.

Always beautiful in any season.
Continue reading “Mackinaw Third Visit (Sept 2022)” →

Its hard to believe James is nineteen years old and in his second year of college at Wayne County Community College but that is exactly what we celebrated today. James had a blast and after opening his gifts we all enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Naturally we take pause this day to remember Aunt Peg, who was also born on September 18th and we take this opportunity to let her know we remember her with love and miss her very much.

Happy Birthday James, and many more… Continue reading “James Birthday 2022” →