CAMPING - Holtwood in Oconto and Family Birthday Party

There are a couple of Motorhome Modifications and some Our Old House project posts that I want to write about. First I better catch up this blog from 2 weeks ago. Sorry I haven't blogged lately, but things just speeded up fast around here. How does that happen?

Two of our grandchildren were having birthdays the previous weekend.  Jameson was turning 9 and his little sister Whitney was turning 2 already. We travelled up to the area for the purpose of attending the double party on Sunday. On our way through the countryside, we stopped and picked up Jameson to spend the night with us at a campground.

He loves getting the chance to ride in the motorhome,

 even if it was only 5 miles into town.

We made reservations two weeks ago for the last weekend in July to go up to our old home stomping grounds. When we lived in Oconto, Wisconsin, we always drove through this city campground, called Holtwood.  Often just driving through and looking at rigs and seeing who was from where.  In the winter, local sponsors and civic groups decorate the campground with Christmas decorations and trees. Cars can drive through with holiday music tuned to a station on the radio. We really enjoyed this park and spent a few weeks living there, after our house sold in 2012 when becoming full-time RVers.

It is a nice city run park located right on the edge of town. It is situated on the banks of the Oconto River which loops right around the entire campground. Campsites are $28 a night for an interior site, and the ones right along the bank of the river are $30 a night. Some of the sites are seasonal but they are the interior sites. The prime best sites along the river are available for people who come and go and travelers through the area. Some long pull-through sites in the beginning of the park that make it easy for travellers to pull in and stop for the night.

Here is the link to the PDF file of all the information about the campground:

Holtwood Campground Information PDF file

This is the map of the park. We like staying on sites 11 through 18 which are close to the playground area. They do get packed in rather tight along the river but the people are all able to turn their RV sideways, so their rig is parallel with the river. That gets you the best view and stepping out your doorstep right onto the banks of the Oconto River. Rather nice.

This time we had site 18. We like the shaded trees and the green grass. Each campsite has water, sewer, and a post with both a 50 and 30 amp power hook up that you share with the neighboring site. So if someone comes first and they are hooked in the 50 amp you need the adapter to scale yourself down to 30 amp. We always carry an assortment of adaptors for that very situation. If you don't have the right adapters, they are available for a deposit from the office. When we first got there we had to take the 30 amp side of the post, but then our neighbors left, and we were able to switch over to the 50 amp side.  (that way the dogs could be comfortable in the AC while we were gone to the party on Sunday) 

Jameson helped us get set up on the site. He helped Grandpa with the leveling and the jacks with the boards underneath. He is now strong enough to help pull out the strap for the awning to set that up. 

Once our campsite was all together and we were situated and happy, it was time to do some fun stuff with our soon-to-be 9 year old grandson.

First outing on the agenda was to head over to the little mini golf center that is located right across from the campground in between McDonald's and Shopko. This was never here when we lived in Oconto so it was an adventure for all of us.

I honestly can say I have never played mini-golf before. I've played regular golf so this was a new adventure for me. Jameson actually beat me on a couple holes and we ended up with a fun afternoon and learned some new things.

Later that evening, our other daughter Erin and hubby Waylen stopped by with our youngest grandchild little baby Claire. So here is our oldest grandson and our youngest granddaughter together hanging out at the campfire. Just look at her idolizing her big cousin!

The next morning we decided to take Jameson out to what is known as the Breakwater. It's a harbor in Oconto with long arms that reach out into the Bay of Green Bay, which pours into Lake Michigan.

We have always enjoyed coming out here it's just on the outside edge of town. Sometimes even in the winter or early spring we would drive our motorhome out here to the point on a motorhome exercise day. When it's not busy we would park at the end of the point looking out at water in all three directions, make a little lunch in the motorhome and enjoying the view. In the summer months there are too many fishermen coming out here so you really don't want to block the turnaround at the end with a motorhome.

One time we even went out there as the ice shoves were happening, which is when all the ice is breaking up and rolling slowly into huge mountains near the shorelines. Very interesting!

Jameson had brought along his fishing pole and Grandpa got him all set up. He is a wonderful cast-er and pretty patient with the fishing. We tried for a while on his lures and baits, but no bites. A lady nearby gave us some nightcrawlers, and even that wasn't bringing in any big catches either. He finally resorted to eating his Swedish Fish candy, the only fish he caught that day!

Saturday night, we met up with our friends Gary and Roz over at our favorite restaurant in Oconto Falls. It's called The Penguin Again http://www.thepenguinagain.com/  which is known for their BBQ Ribs and also their Tenderloin Tips on Saturday night. They give such huge servings that Steve and Gary both only ordered half an order of tenderloin tips and it was still a huge platter full. Roz and I each ordered the ribs, and we each took a full rack to take the extras home for lunch the next two days (not kidding!)

Gary and Roz had come over to the restaurant in their old Model A Truck. The guys had a lot of fun going over it in the parking lot and checking out its features. Later they came over to our campground and hung out at the campfire with their dog Charlie.

Sunday morning Steve cooked us breakfast on our "new to us" propane stove we installed a few weeks ago. We now have four burners to cook on which means he can have 3 fry pans going at the same time. One with bacon, one with eggs, and one with sliced american fries. If we were camping without electricity, the fourth one would have the glass Pyrex coffee pot on it.  Since we had electric, we used the drip coffee maker.

Such a nice change from the two burner stovetop that we had before. We had to shuffle pans around into a holding spot on a wooden trivet to one side, and keep moving them back and forth to completely cook a meal.  Added benefit is the propane oven, so we can bake things without using the convection oven overhead. 

Sunday noon we headed over to our kids house for the double birthday party. Heather and Jesse live just 5 miles out of town, actually just down the road from the house we used to own. Lots of kids and relatives came to celebrate Whitney turning 2 and Jameson turning 9. Here is a little YouTube video clip of their Happy Birthday song:

Birthday cakes and blowing out candles, what fun!
The kids were all in swimsuits
because they were splashing in the little pool,
playing on the splash pad,
and playing with a bubble machine.

Once that part was all done, it was time to open the presents. Boy oh boy, these little kids sure are well loved. They had lots of wonderful things to open and smiles and thank yous and hugs to us all.

A couple of years back when we only had five grandchildren, I had given them all sleeping bags with their names embroidered on to them. So this year it was Whitney's turn to get one and she seemed quite pleased with her silky sleeping bag.

We headed on home 75 miles after such a busy weekend and got settled back into our house. Whew~ what a busy time, and it tuckered us out. It was so nice to spend time with everyone, and hang out in our old stomping grounds of Oconto Wisconsin.

Tonight we are heading out to LA LA LA LA LAAAA  Lambeau Field for the pre-season opener game of the Packers versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Our oldest daughter Erin and son-in-law Waylen got us tickets. It's supposed to rain so I am heading out now to buy some ponchos.