Bronners really looked different this year as we saw many items that we never saw before including a motion light snowflake that was really cool (but they were out of, only the demo left, but plenty of time till Christmas. We really enjoyed the Santa in the classic car mural and will have to review old pics to see if we just missed that or if that is something new. Regardless its something that is not for sale but it certainly is cool to look at. The day was perfect so we tried to spend as much time as we could outside of Bronners, looking at all their outside decorations as well as the inside decorations.

Taking the back roads from Lapeer to Frankenmuth is a very enjoyable ride, you go around a beautiful lake, and you find all sorts of small ma and pa type stores. However, with a gps its almost impossible to know your way around.

Stopping at Past Tense in Lapeer MI is always a pleasure, although it always brings up the debate on which is the real 24, the 24 that we refer to as Telegraph or the 24 that goes from the Palace of Auburn hills through Lapeer? In addition to antiques Past Tense has a Christmas and Halloween section plus a garden shop which has all sorts of unique products for the outside decorator. We got some interesting ideas for the yard but only purchased an “outdoor cemetery” sign on this visit.

After leaving Past Tense we headed North via side streets and stopped for the first time at an antique store called the “weathered windmill”. It was really cool and had many items that we simply could not live without, but did. We managed to buy an old antique crate. Continue reading “Antique Shopping at Past Tense & Weathered Windmill” →

Mom took these pictures of the various types of flowers located throughout the yard and also inside the house. Mom has created quite a variety of flowers throughout the home and yard and it will be difficult for her to top it next year. These pictures were taken on a beautiful day in early August 2019 and it makes you remember just how precious summer months are. We hope that we will appreciate these pictures in the upcoming winter season, especially January and February. Mom works hard to make the yard look good and we don’t think it ever looked as good as it does this year, although we think that every year. Great job Mom.
Continue reading “Home & Garden Pictures 2019” →

VIP Camp came to an ending with a party at Skore lanes where all the kids got to bowl and eat pizza and drink pop with their family. James did real good bowling with a 137 and said he was going to take bowling in College like his Dad did. As in the past, the party was bitter sweet for James knowing that another year of camp has come and gone, but he will be supporting VIP camp later this August as they will have a booth at Lincoln Park Days on Friday, August 24th, Saturday, August 25th, and Sunday August 26th. VIP camp will be selling tickets for raffle baskets, t-shirts and selling bracelets and need people to help and to let people know what they are all about. With this in mind, James has started a new website that he does on his own called http://www.vipcamphistory.com Continue reading “VIP Camp Party 2019” →

We had a surprise on a visit to Walmart when we noticed that the Spirit Halloween store in Canton was already opened and while they did not have all the new items that were going to be available for 2019, they did have enough to make it worth while. Lots of scary clowns this year and a large water display in the center of the store that looks like it will be an underwater type of haunt, most likely using lamps that create the illusion of an under water lair so it should be unique and interesting.

Looks like its going to be a banner year for Halloween, although even we must concede that its a wee bit early. Looking back at last year it was at least 3 weeks later in the year (Aug 17 2018) when the first Halloween store opened.

Continue reading “First Halloween Store Visit of 2019” →

We visited the “Made in Michigan Market” which was held in Canterbury Village. This was the first time I ever saw the Canterbury Village parking lot full, with additional parking across the street. Fortunately we were lucky and got a good spot as someone was pulling out. Lots of interesting booths and we decided to sign up with home delivery for the Free Press as they gave us Kroger gift cards to do so. It should be fun for James to get a morning paper to read as we think he will enjoy it. Mom got a free umbrella for signing up too, its design was based on the comic section of the Free Press.

One sad note, we found out the Department 56 store was closed, we purchased many of our Halloween display ceramics there and it will be missed.

After we left Canterbury we visited Great Lakes Crossing which is only a few miles away, a good time was had by all.

Continue reading “Made In Michigan Market at Canterbury Village 2019” →

James got a new snorkel and mask set and is practicing his snorkeling in the back yard pool. While the water is much cleaner in the pool than it is in a lake or ocean, it gives James a pretty good idea of the limitations of the mask while he is underwater.

James got a new pool for making the honor roll and graduating from a sophomore to the threshold of High School Junior. The pool was actually ordered online with free delivery (which saved much energy lugging it in and out of of the car). As usual we had to battle the level issue with the back yard, but eventually I think we got it right. We also used James’ metal detector to make sure the area was free of metal which could puncture the pool, then added two tarps to also help protect the bottom of the pool.

There is a really cool corner of Great Lakes Crossing which has the Rainforest Cafe on one side and the Sea Life aquarium on the other. We thought about going into this before but never really did due to time restraints, but on this day Mom needed a little time to shop so James and his Dad decided if it was ever going to happen it would be today.

The visit was much fun, took us a little over an hour to see everything, and has many activities for young kids. There was much to do for older kids as well but most of the activities were for the younger variety. The main reason though to visit is to see the fish and they have them all, from sharks to stingrays to glowing jellyfish. There is a section where you can pet some of the lifeforms such as starfish which was fun to do.

James and his dad had a blast on a very warm Saturday! Continue reading “Sea Life 2019 (Great Lakes Crossing)” →

After missing this event due to weather and date changing, we were back on for the Blues Festival which takes place annually in Marshall Michigan. This event used to take place two weeks after the Fourth of July, now it takes place two weeks prior to the Fourth of July. This means the Halloween decorations are not yet out at Cracker Barrel which used to be part of this trip. While Mom was at the Blues Festival, James and his Dad took a trip to Colon, the Magic Capital, to see what was going on there, then stopped at the Marshall K Mart as finding an open K mart anywhere is rare. The day ended with a feast at Los Tres Amigo’s in Jackson.
Continue reading “Marshall Blues Festival 2019” →