GenFest 2011

What a wonderful Genfest we had this year! The cottage provided by Sharon and John on Forest Lodge was just perfect for this event! Big rooms, big porches, and a great beach made it the perfect venue.

I have to say that Barb's project, The Steiger Family Cookbook, was a big hit. Everybody contributed to it, recipes old and new - such fun!

The porch turned out to be the perfect spot for chatting:

and for admiring Drew!

The living room was so comfortable and cool - a terrific place to duck into!

The beach was down a hill from the cottage, a quite a ways away, but it sure didn't bother the kids!

The porch was also the perfect place for eating!

Eating inside wasn't bad either...

The ladies of the kitchen - Barb and Sharon, Melissa and Michelle - the food was bountiful and delicious - they all did a marvelous job!

The beach was the big attraction for all of the kids - it was fun watching them attack Chris!

Can you tell that these two are on vacation?

Oh no - I think Chris is in real trouble!

And over he goes! Kids rule!

We had a fascinating discussion about PNC (Melissa) and 1105 (Jana), and we were cool the whole time.

Jackson preparing to squirt someone no doubt!

Let's go kayaking! They sent the young legs off to get the kayaks.

Peachy and beachy

Kayaking strategy meeting

Family confab

Off they go to the island

Laurie, Carla, Jackson and Dylan

Doug and descendants

Laurie got the new kayak!

Triumphal return from the island

Minute to Win It - Breakfast Puzzle - Chip and Dylan

Tom doing the Nose Dive

Dick gives it a try

Melanie and Izzy enjoying the water

Jana balancing the dice - she did it! Laurie did it too. Such talent in one family:)

Dylan playing Suck it Up

Big, big bubbles were fun, fun to watch

Carla was the adult bubble champ -

I personally think that Dylan was the Champ of the Cousins

Oops! Balancing the dice is hard!

Thank you one and all for a glorious fun-filled day. GenFest just keeps getting better and better!

Hello Jana!

Yaay - Jana is coming today! Dick is at the Visitor Center, and the kids (Gillespies plus Tom) have gone biking at Boyne. My job is to meet Jana at the Airport this morning - her plane was just a little late - not bad at all.

We went to the VC to see her Dad. He was just about finished, so he offered her a ride home in the Jeep and off they went. I picked up some sandwiches to take home, and Jana got settled in.

The biking at Boyne was very hard evidently, and my guys are all worn out - well, except for Tom, who mountain bikes on real mountains. It will take a couple of days for the legs to come back!


Chip, Dylan, Tom


This is the best part of the summer - when we're all here! Yaay!

Gee Whiz It's HOT!

So on the hottest day of the summer so far, we elected to go to the sand dunes. The key to a successful dune climb on a beastly hot day is to begin before it gets beastly hot. We were there before 10 a.m. It was breezy and overcast - no hot sun. It even rained for about a minute and a half.



Dick and I found a picnic table and settled in. The rest of the crew headed up the dune.







They were gone for about an hour - went all the way to the top, went to see the logs, went up and down one hill a couple of times, and then two who shall remain nameless (Tom and Dylan) rolled down to where we were.





Off to Glen Arbor to see if there was room at Art's to have lunch - there was and we did. It was noisy, crowded and fun. Oh, and the food was good, too.

There was an art fair just down the street, so after lunch we walked over to check it out. It was getting hotter every second, but the fair was in a shady area, and so we were mostly comfortable. Laurie and I bought some Petoskey stone stuff.

Glen Haven was next. Explored around the vintage fishing boat and the boat museum just for a little bit.

We drove the Pierce Stocking Trail. and the kids went down the hill at the Overlook and walked along the shore to North Bar Lake, where we picked them up - it was extremely hot by then, and the parking lot was jam packed full.



They decided not to go swimming, and opted to go to Moomer's instead. That's a great way to end the adventures on a hot, hot day.

Perfection

First of all, Dick and I had a good day at the gym - always a good thing.

While we were "gyming", Laurie, Chip, Dylan and Tom went biking on the Muncie Lakes trails. Their report was that the Muncie trails are much harder than the Vasa trails.

After we were all clean and shiny, we went over to Alden for lunch at The Dockside Restaurant. Laurie had arranged to meet her Belleville High School friend Kathy, who is up here for a wedding. She lives in St. Charles, Missouri. There were 12 of us all together, and we had tables in the shade - it was a hot day - and it was very much fun to meet the rest of Kathy's family. We had a really good time.

Laurie and Kathy

Kathy's sister Jackie and husband Jim goofing around in the background.

Lue's plank is still on the dock.

Dockside's food is really so, so good!

Very few days give you the opportunity to do all of your favorite things! This was one of those days!

Back in town, Laurie, Dylan, Tom and I went to see Harry Potter. It was good, good, good. We all had different favorite parts. Some thought that the escape on the flying dragon was the best. Personally, I thought that Harry saving Draco from the fire was the absolutely best part, and I also loved the epilogue 19 years later very, very much indeed.

The Deer Whisperer

The day began with breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe with Tim and Susie. It's always much fun to be with them, and today was even more enjoyable because the entire Gillespie family plus Tom were all there, too. Hope T&S can get their zipper fixed!

Back at the river, the intrepid four went kayaking. It started out just fine, but somewhere between here an the DNR site, a rainstorm blew in, and we had our first thunder kayaking adventure. The kids were all soaked, but when we went to pick them up they were doing the patented Dylan "bunny hop" dance - so they were wet but certainly not downhearted!

After everybody had cleaned up and dried off, we made a visit to Sharon and John's cottage on Forest Lodge. What a great old cottage it is! Sharon saya that the place was not clean, and full of trash such as paint cans under the piano - but by today it was very presentable! We had fun visiting, and our kids all stayed for dinner!

This deer was standing in the woods, watching our approach to the cottage. I rolled down my window and said "Hi Bambi", and she took three steps toward the car! I kept talking to her - "you're a pretty girl", etc., and every time she would step closer - it was bizarre! Finally, I guess she realized that she didn't know us after all, and went bounding off into the trees. I feel like the deer-whisperer!

First Kayaking

This was the first kayaking expedition for the new blue kayak. It was loaded up in the driveway,

and unloaded at Brown Bridge Dam.

Meet and Greet

Another Meet and Greet today at the Cottage Cafe. It was sparsely attended, but you can have a good time if you've a mind to!

Dick and Charlie

Our table

Sharkie Crew

4 lumbrjax

Somebody told a joke!

Afterwards, Dick and I dropped Laurie off downtown so she could do a little shopping, and we went to Dunham's to buy a kayak for Dylan. They were having a two day sale, so it worked out great.

Guess Who's Here?

Flap Jack's idea of a healthy breakfast for Dylan!


They arrived around 10 p.m. - drove all the way from Mammoth Cave yesterday. Whew!

We all met today after the gym at Flap Jack for brunch, and now our summer adventures can begin!

Hoosier Valley & Arrival !

We spent the day in our jeep over in Hoosier Valley and environs. We put out nine new caches which will be unpublished until after the Meet and Greet next Saturday. A couple of the caches are quite creative, and it'll be fun to see who can find them. It was fun driving around the two-tracks in the jeep - one or two times we really needed the four wheel drive. We'll have to tell people not to attempt some of these finds without 4x4.

Sometime close to 9:30 p.m., the Gillespies and the guineas arrived! Hooray for summer!

Happy Birthday Brooke

Lucky Jack's was the venue for the Bowling Blast for Brooke (with pizza!). It was a great time for everyone, and now Brooke is officially nine years old. Did you ever notice how kids grow up too fast?

The pizza was yummy, the conversation was interesting, the presents were fun, but the bowling was the most fun. I think Shelly was the overall winner - she's in a bowling league all winter, so she's had lots of practice.

Autumn has really learned how to help host an event - she was very gracious - serving and offering things and clearing off the tables - I was very impressed. She's a take charge kind of girl.

Everybody signed a get well card for Odette. Hope she can feel all of the good wishes by remote control.

All in all, we had a super time.

This afternoon we had the driveway sealed - it looks really good. They patched the cracks, and did the edging all the way around - nice.

Our Florida kids are on their way to T.C. - they left this morning. Mammoth Cave is their destination for the weekend. They'll be here sometime next week. Yaay!