Meet our newest granddaughter – Chelsea Mae Lock!

 

Ahhh we got the *call* at 3:45 this morning, and jumped in our car to head out the 40 miles to meet up with laboring Mommy and Daddy at the hospital in Green Bay.   It was TIME~!

 

Daughter Heather met us there too, and we all donned our uniforms to our pre-defined Labor Coaching roles:

 

  I made up the shirts in advance, tye-dyeing them, then stenciling the letters

 

 

 

While we waited for the contractions to progress, I hauled out my knitting needles and kept myself busy.  Always have to keep the hands busy….

 

Grandfaddah Pfun did his stint in the waiting area right outside the door of the room

 

Heather kept busy too and hauled along her crochet hook--- here are her creations:

 

They got the room all ready, as labor progressed… right down to the tiny diaper and cap!

 

Now... it was time for the baby:

Chelsea Mae Lock

6 pounds 11 ounces, 20 inches long

born at 12:15 p.m.  January 10, 2010

 

it was a wonderful stupendous miraculous moment!   Heather and I helped coach the labor and count, Mark was able to bring his baby girl into the world and cut the cord. 

10 fingers, 10 toes, healthy and perfect.

This picture says it all:

It sends shivers down my spine to see our children now as parents themselves.

 

And in the tiniest moment, she would her Daddy around her little finger….

 

We all had a chance to cuddle her a bit…  

and plant a little kiss on her sweet head, whisper in her ear that she is loved

 

Then it was time for the parents to bond, to form themselves into the Lock Family

 

As we left the room, a certain little princess was DEMANDING that it was time to be fed!

(Just look at that face!)

Campground Review – Haymeadow Creek campground in the Hiawatha National Forest

 

Ok.. this is a *sequel*  to yesterday’s post about Flowing Well campground…. you may remember I said it was my birthday weekend, and we spent Thursday night at Flowing Well, after first driving through Haymeadow Creek campground.   Now, after one day at Flowing Well, Steveio decided we could drive back to Haymeadow and check it out too.   I was happy at Flowing Well, but he was thinking of the weekend being spent scoping out campgrounds as opposed to sitting down and relaxing for the whole weekend!   ACK

 

We thought three things about Haymeadow as we drove through there the first time:

1. It’s a fee-free campground and a few sites had folks that looked like they had permanently moved in.  (there is a 14 day rule in effect)

2. The waterfalls were quite a hike from the campground on a poorly marked trail, and the campground seemed to be located close to the road – gravel forestry road but still a lot of traffic on it.

3. It was the middle of bow season, and some of the campers there appeared to be hunters, and we would need to be wearing blaze orange to even walk to the water falls.

 

But… we travelled back the 18 miles on the single lane gravel forestry road, and went to Haymeadow Creek Campground anyhow.  As we pulled in, we noticed the two questionable campsites of all-too-set-up residents were now vacated!  We think perhaps the rangers came by and made them move on?   Now it was only a young couple in a nice airstream, an older gentleman in a small travel trailer, and the cluster of hunters at the last site by the road with the Holiday.  They were gone (out hunting?)  and all was very quiet in the campground. 

 

So we pulled into one of the far back sites of the loop and backed in.  There are only 15 sites here.  It was a nice site and we decided to stay.  It was getting close to supper time (my birthday supper!) so Steveio hauled out the propane burner and big kettle used for deep frying turkeys.  We use it for steaming Alaskan Crab Legs!!!  (or canning tomatoes or pickles when camping)

 

  He even bought me a Halloween birthday cake too!

 

It was a lovely evening, and we curled up in our snug bed and slept peacefully.  The campground was very quiet, and we heard only one truck drive in later.. .the hunters returning to their campsite.   In the early morning before daylight we heard them leave again.  So we never even met or saw them…..  

 

 

This is Haymeadow Creek that runs alongside the campground.  Only 2 sites had access to the river, the rest of the sites were up on hill around in a loop.   I took this shot from the bridge on the gravel road. 

 

We decided to take the walk to the waterfalls…  so we donned our blaze orange clothing and put mesh blaze orange vests on the dogs.  Although they are on leash, we want to be sure they are well-marked and not mistaken for a deer!  

 

The leaves have al fallen down by the end of October, but a few green ferns are still alive… not yet turned brown and curled up for the winter. 

 

 

The trail to the falls was not well marked, and we had to backtrack a few times.. following the river most of the way.  We saw these little rapids…. and kept on going.  OH NO…had to turn back.  No more trail.    These ARE the falls?!?!?   Yup, sure nuff….  this was it.   

 

(see the falls, about a 1-2 foot drop on the left upper corner?)

 

We also found this bronze plaque near the falls.  I am thinking his ashes are buried under there too.  Probably not allowed on National Forestry Land, but hey, who is gonna tell?  

 

It sure was a beautiful day and the sunshine dappling in through the trees was warm enough to make the walking comfortable, though it was a brisk fall day with temps probably in the 40’s

 

There was a log-hewn bridge spanning the creek here, but I can’t find my picture of it now….   so we crossed the bridge and took the other side of the creek trail back to the forestry road…. it wasn’t marked any better than this side was.   But we made it back to the campground. 

Now .. remember… so far on this 3 day weekend, this is only Saturday… and we have a non-existant TV signal here at this campground, and no FOX network where the Packer game is going to be broadcast on for Sunday.  Darling Steveio, with his antsy pantsy attitude of scoping out campgrounds NOW suggests we drive south, more towards Wisconsin for the last night of our three day weekend.   Gosh, and here I was comfortable in the quiet campground we were at! 

 

Sooooo again, with wheels under the rig, we can load up fast and take off as needed.  On a whim, to be sure!     We load it up and head out, aiming our sights to Chalk Hills Dam campground where we know we get in the Fox station from Green Bay, as we camped here a bunch of times before.  I won’t redo a campground review on Chalk Hills, as I posted that one a few blogs back….  

My review of Chalk Hills Campground

We pulled into Chalk Hills…   nobody else was in the entire campground, so again we had a place to ourselves.   This place has electric hookups, so we took out the Lasko ceramic heater (very quiet)  and set up for the night, giving our propane a break. 

 

We do run the big furnace once or twice a night just to keep the lower compartments warm, but this night it didn’t go below freezing so we were fine.    We cooked up a nice tenderloin out on the grill.  The campground owners came by to visit a bit too.   They were putting up *Buck Poles* at various places throughout the campground for the upcoming gun deer hunting season.  That way any hunters coming to use the campground could hang their bucks from the crosswise poles (to let the blood out).  They said that they stay open till after gun season closes.    I was cranking socks on my sock machine and doing a bit of this and that around the motorhome too.  We like to keep things pretty much all put away, less clutter and nicer to relax in.  The campground owners took a mini-tour of our Jungle Bus as their son called it.  LOL.  They know when they see the white tigers on back, that it’s us again!

 

Later that night, after dark, we had a campfire going for a few hours.   It was finally nice enough to sit out and look at the stars too.   Then we turned in, and doublechecked the TV reception to be sure Steveio could see the Packer game the next day!  Priorities you know.   

I was amazed----  three nights of camping in three different campgrounds!  That was a real first for us!

Again, we woke up the next day and it was sunny and lovely!   With only rain on Thursday when we first went to Flowing Well campground, we had sunshine the rest of the 3 day weekend.  How nice is that?   We took a walk over to the dam and the reservoir backwaters in the morning after breakfast.   It was so nice out and warmer than it had been all weekend.  

By noon, we settled back in the comfort of the motorhome for the Packer game… I also got an aircard signal on the computer, so we caught up emails, photos and watched the game.  They won!

All too soon, it was time to pack up and head home.  The kids were coming over for supper at our house, so we needed to get back and celebrate my birthday with them too!

Campground Review- Flowing Well in the Hiawatha National Forest near Rapid River, MI

 

This was during the last weekend of October in 2008, for my birthday.  We went north to find the few remaining open campgrounds to go for the weekend. We crossed the Michigan border into the U.P. of Michigan, and drove through Escanaba, first stopping at a seafood store for fresh Alaskan crab legs!   That was gonna be my special birthday dinner the next night. 

We drove up through Rapid River to the few remaining open campgrounds in the Hiawatha National Forest.   First we drove through Haymeadow Creek Campground, but there were a few campers in there, and although it was free camping, some folks looked like they moved in permenantly.   So we decided to drive cross country 18 miles on a single lane dirt forestry road over to Flowing Well Campground and check that place out too. 

It started raining as we drove over to Flowing Well, so we pulled in, nose first into a nice site (number 10)  and parked it right then and there.  That is a nice thing about a motorhome, we can pull in, park, hit the buttons on the dash to lower the levelers if uneven, and never leave the rig.   We turned on the heat, curled up and took a nap till the rain stopped!  What an easy method of travel.  After many years with travel trailers, pop ups, and all that hooking, unhooking, leveling, putting out toted gear, and arranging stuff… this motorhome sure makes it EASY!

 

Once the sun came out, we ventured out to snap a few pics and look around.  We were the ONLY ones in the entire campground.  How nice is that?   This shot is the one I use on the top of the blog page!  

 

Here is the link to the websites

Flowing Well Campground

Haymeadow Creek Campground

There are 10 spacious sites, (though some are slated to close up next year)   some situated along the bank overlooking the Sturgeon River. Tables and fire rings are at each site. Safe tested water is obtainable from the picnic area fountain, and pit toilet facilities are available in the campground.

 

 

We walked down to the Flowing Well, it was sulfery and stinky…. reminded me of the Fountain of Youth when we had to gone to St. Augustine in Florida.   Then we wandered through the sites…. we realized we got the BEST site overlooking a bend in the river, with a GREAT view out the front windshield of motorhome.   It’s wonderful to be in rustic parks, where they don’t make you park a certain way etc.   We would have missed this view if we had to back in.

 

 

The river was calm and quiet and deep.  No Swimming here, but I bet the fishing was great!   Steve never got around to picking up a Michigan fishing license that year, so he didn’t dip in a line. 

 

Walking along from campsite to campsite, we stopped a bit at a table to rest and look around.   The woods were full of birds and we saw what we thought was a fox, darting among the underbrush.

Some glimpses between the trees….

 

We had a cozy night with temps down below freezing, but we were warm and dry and comfy inside the motorhome.  A cup of coffee, morning sunshine and a smile from my guy, what more does a gal need on her birthday????

 

One thing we really really appreciate on our motorhome is the bright large windows all around!  When the sun shines in, the whole rig is light and bright and sunshiney.  Many motorhomes are so dark and tunnel-ish.  This is one of the reasons we selected this motorhome over others.  The lighter western alder woodwork gleams such a nice gold, and the big windows let in plenty of the outdoor scenery.  

 

This was such a quiet perfect morning, with the sun streaming in, the coffee in the air, the total peace and quiet of not another soul around.  This is OUR kind of camping!

The dogs relax and enjoy the morning sunshine too….

I love going from window to window, all around the rig, and seeing green green green!

 

We took another walk around the park, and filled out a questionere letter about the proposed closing of some of the campsites in the park.  Later I got a followup letter explaining the budget cuts and which sites were occupied more than others, and some needed closing for erosion and safety reasons.  Luckily site number 10 stays!  It was the best one in the campground for our needs.

 

It was so nice to draw back the curtains and look out over the ridge down onto the river….

 

 

Our dogs are an important part of our camping experience, it also gives us the excuse to get out and walk more, get fresh air and exercise, and let our doggers sniff sniff sniff- their favorite past-time and reason for camping, in their opinions.

 

As we took one more loop through the campground, a little guy was lagging behind….

 

Now, as the day went on,  after we made lunch, took a nap, and then looked at some maps, Steveio said “Gee, I wonder how it is over at Haymeadow Campground???”  

Well, this is why our rig has WHEELS underneath it!  We pulled up the jacks, tossed the dishes into the sink, and drove BACK over the 18 miles of gravel forestry road over to the Haymeadow Campground!   (that will be the next one I make a review on in the next blog)

New Years --- babysitting with our new little granddaughter, Allegra

 

We got to spend New Years Eve with our newest grandchild, little Allegra!    Now if Erin has that baby soon, grandchild number three will be here, and we can babysit them ALL! 

 

(left to right: Allegra, unborn Baby Lock, and Jameson 17 months old)

 

Our son, Dan and daughterinlaw, Heather went out with friends to celebrate for the evening, so they loaded us up with two diaper bags full of gear, two insulated tote bags of bottles of breast milk, and LOTS of wetwipes and diapers!    tee heeee  Allegra was only staying overnight, 20 hours total from start to finish.  But we were geared up for two weeks at the least!  LOL

Erin and Mark were babysitting for little Jameson, (Heather and Jesse went out too)  so they brought him over for a visit too.   Each one of them got in practice cuddles with Allegra, as their own little baby girl will be here any day now too.

 

 

I got in my required doses of Grandmuddah Cuddles!

Sadly about 3 a.m., I started coming down with an icky stomach flu, so I stopped cuddling Allegra and Grandfaddah Pfun took over the duties!   He did great with heating bottles of breastmilk, changing diapers, and doing just the right pats and wiggles to get out all the gas bubbles!   I sure hope I didn’t pass on the flu to the little angel…..

  

He jumped right in to do the “Baby Duty”…  the first time he could spend time with her, without all us women fluttering around and taking the baby away.  It was all second nature to him to take over. 

  

 

I just LOVE this pic below… it shows such loving care from her Grandfaddah Pfun!

He did such a great job from 5 a.m. on, taking care of her and bonding…. I managed to get in some rest, but also snap some pics, but kept my distance now knowing I had the flu.

 

 

Then about noon it was time to bring her home!   Her parents had a nice chance to recover from hangovers, go out to breakfast alone and do a bit of errand running.  By noon they decided they missed her TOO MUCH and wanted her back!  awwwww

So we bundled her up in layers upon layers (was 10 below zero wind chills here this morning)  and piled all her gear back into her multiple diaper bags… started the car up 10 minutes early to warm it up inside, and then we sent her home.  Steve drove her home while I stayed at our house to rest.   She slept the entire trip home, about 40 miles, to be safely delivered into the arms of her very happy, happy parents.

 

On New Year’s Eve, it was also “Once In A Blue Moon” so I managed to get this shot out the side door….brrrr it sure was COLD out there!