Halloween at HIgh Cliff State Park

I am finally catching up here and going to write about last weekend. 

Once a year, the Friends of High Cliff State Park put on a "Halloween Campground Walk".  High Cliff State Park is located near Appleton WI on the NE shore of Lake Winnebago.  This is our sixth year attending this event.  We have to reserve campsites a year in advance as soon as they become available.  112 campsites in the park, and they go quick!

Now... understand this it's not ONLY the campers who celebrate Halloween in the park, tons and tons of local people from the surrounding community come!  Last year it was over 5,000 people came to the park.  

(on edit) The count from this year was

  EIGHT THOUSAND PEOPLE!!!

It is quite the event, and we have been coming for the last six years, as I said. On top of it, my birthday is on Halloween, so it is a time for getting together with all of our kids and grandkids to celebrate that as well.  So we reserve a double family campsite for any of our kids who join us to spend the weekend.  

It has been a very warm strange autumn, and the weather was forecast to be in the 70's! How unusual for this time of year in Wisconsin. In contrast, as I write this, we had below freezing temps last night, more in keeping with normal Wisconsin October temps. 

The colors were absolutely gorgeous already, in spite of not having a hard freeze yet. We were missing some of the deep reds and oranges of the hardwoods, but plenty of yellows and golds were scattered along the cliff.  The cliff is part of the Niagara Escarpment, and the park is built on the site of an old lime mining operation, with a historical kiln still on the grounds.  Steve retired from the park in January, but still comes back to volunteer and help with last minute emergency repairs...  (the state never hired anyone yet to take his place, so the two rangers and park superintendent are doing the best they can without him on the payroll) 

The sun was shining and the blue skies made a great backdrop

to the fall colors in the park. 

This is my favorite spot on the park, 

I stopped in the car to snap this pic as we were heading into the campground.

This path is along a rock wall from a long-ago farmstead. 

We drove in early on Thursday morning after stopping to replenish our propane supply at a local dealer. The motorhome needs to be driven to a propane filling station as it takes a large bulk tank connection like on home tanks.  We make an appointment to get filled, as many propane dealers have their guys out in delivery trucks and not hanging around the office to fill us.  When we lived in Oconto, we had the delivery guy fill our rig when he was filling our house tank in the yard.

I drove ahead in the car, as the park is only 15 miles from home.  I was able to snap this pic of Steve driving in the rig through the colorful trees up to our double family campsite.

We got all set up and leveled and ready in our side of the campground. But later on Friday morning, Steve decided to turn the rig around to face outwards.  Because the sites we had reserved were non-electric sites, we were allowed to run the generator for just this weekend in the park. (otherwise generators are not allowed in state parks unless it is for medical emergency purposes).  The generator in our rig is very quiet, and runs on propane. It is located at the back of the motorhome, and the exhaust pipe goes right out the back. That would be facing the road with all the kids and our chairs and candy distribution center.  LOL .... so turning it around later was a good idea.

Here is the rig now turned around the site and all of our decorations strung out among the trees. We had a lot of light-up items to run off the generator... and also we ran a cord over to our son's side of the double campsite to illuminate their decorations as well as keep their camper battery charged up. They could charge their cell phones and run their lights and heater without worry for four days while we kept recharging them to 100% on their single battery.  Our rig has 4 batteries and solar on the roof, so we are fine even without running the generator.

Here is our son and daughter's side of the campsite and their decorations too.  It was so nice to have a double site for enough room for all of our family to attend. There is overflow parking nearby for vehicles and we can have an open space for handing out candy near the road.

Thursday and Friday were a lot of fun, but I could feel myself "fading fast" into illness.  I had picked up some kind of bug, and my stomach was giving me fits. Since I suffer from complications of a digestion surgery after my work accident, my ability to fight off flu bugs is compounded by not being able to handle stomach ailments...  I usually end up in the ER in the middle of the night, getting a lidocaine cocktail and an IV with morphine to get though it.  I kid you not.  And I could feel it coming.... oh no! 

About midnight Friday, I couldn't take it anymore. I had Steve haul me back into town to get some other emergency prescription meds I had at home to try. If that didn't do it, I would be needing a trip to the ER.  I was soooo upset that I was missing out on my Halloween Celebration with my grandkids! That hurt worse than any stomach problems.  It was breaking my heart! 

I laid on the floor in the bathroom writhing in pain, and hoping that it would pass and I could get up again.  Steve stayed with me until 9 or 10 am the next day. I was finally able to rest in bed peacefully, so he left me at the house and he returned to the park. 

He took over all the food prep I had planned to do myself. He was my hero!  He did up the big crock pot of chili, heated up the bucket of the calico beans, grilled the brats and hot dogs, set out the go-withs and the set-ups.  He had everything done for the family visitors and most of all, he held down the fort for making the weekend great for the grandkids.

I laid at home in bed until about 3pm. I was still feeling miserable, but half assed enough to get up and look at my phone.  OH my ... it was breaking my heart to see all the pics the kids were sending to me!!!!  The grandkids were all dressed up in their costumes and the candy was piled up in the tub (the first of many batches---- we go through over $100.00 worth of candy as well as all the extra bags our kids bring to contribute to the bucket) 

Our youngest daughter Heather and husband Jesse texted and said both Whitney and Jameson were under the weather and would not be able to attend as well. Awwwww this was really turning out to be a crappy weekend full of illness!  

How disheartening! 

The parents were sending me pics to my phone so I wouldn't feel so left out.

The boys were full of the dickens,

and I am sure full of pre-Halloween candy as well.

 

Who can resist little Claire, 1 year old, 

as a tiny monkey in her wagon? 

That was it... I couldn't take it any longer.

I HAD to get up, 

and get dressed 

and get in the car 

and GO back to the park!  

I drove slowly through the throngs of people all parked in all areas of the park.  The nice rangers who know me, let me through with the car to slowly wind my way into the campground about 3:30 pm.  The roads are already blocked off to any new traffic, but registered campers can get through if they are careful.  It took me almost half an hour to get into the first road of the campground to our sites on 14-15.  AHhhhhhhh   Steve set me up a lawn chair so I could just sit and watch and enjoy.

The grandgirls helped me dress Finney and Binney in their costumes too.

They are a referee and a not too cheery cheerleader! 

 

Soon the throngs of costumed trick or treaters came down the roads...

wave after wave of trick or treaters were moving along from site to site. 

It was so much fun to watch.... 

and so many polite kids taking just one piece of candy.

Grand nephew Matt had a BLAST handing out candy and 

scaring people in his ghoulish costume:

We even set out a cauldron of doggie biscuits 

as many people walk around with their pets as well.

Finney and Binney enjoyed watching the people and dogs

 from the safety of their lawn chair next to me.

What fun.. people walked past for four hours, collecting candy

and parading in their costumes. 

I was totally exhausted, and worn out but sat in my chair and snapped pictures.  I was joyful and thankful that I still got to attend the event.  Steve was my hero and took care of everything that I normally did.  Oh, our son Dan also got to try out his new grill that his wife Heather bought him... it had a battery operated rotating device to keep the grill moving over the fire.

The trick or treaters went on well after dark, up to 8 pm, with a few stragglers after that as well. We didn't run out of candy (we learned that after our first year to take MORE than enough and we could use the excess at home the following week).   I was worn out, but the guys sat up playing cribbage at the picnic table.  Matt and Steve skunked Dan and Waylen.  LOL 

Some people were getting lost on the paths in the woods, trying to find the parking lots down at the end of the trails.  They ended up coming back through our campsite to walk on the road instead. We were lit up as a beacon in the woods for the stragglers trying to get to their cars.

Our gandkids were slowly coming down off their sugar highs... and stripped off their costumes to sit around the campfire.  I made it for about an hour longer with stories, laughter and family time.  I was so thankful that I got to come, but I was fading fast.

So were the grandgirls Chelsea and Allegra.....

I hobbled off to my bed in the motorhome, comforted in knowing that my family had a fun event after all and I was able to attend.  I took my meds and went to sleep, with visions of fun and frivolity dancing in my head from a great day.  I felt bad that little Jameson and Whitney missed out.  Knowing he was sooo excited about his new knight helmet and costume he was going to wear this year. (we later made arrangements for them to come visit me the next weekend)

I made a promise to the grandkids at the campsite. In the morning, no matter what time, they could get up and come over to our motorhome for their favorite little boxes of cereal.  They were all sleeping in Dan and Heather's camper: 4 adults, 4 sugared up kids, 1 toddler in a crib and a big ole dog! 

We woke up about 6 am and I was feeling a bit better.  As soon as we turned on a light in our motorhome, quick as a wink over came three of the grandkids!  They had been waiting for us to get up so they could come over as planned. awwwwwwwwww  It was still dark out, but they zoomed over in their jammies to come to our place.

It has been kinda a tradition to bring along the little boxes of cereal for tiding them over until we made a bigger breakfast once the adults get up. (my Grandma Kafehl used to buy those for us kids too).  We found some cartoons on the tv, and they were happy to hang out with us for the morning.  We have plenty of battery power to run the inverter to run the tv, as well as the lights in the early morning hours. The last thing you want to do is fire up a generator to watch cartoons at 6 am! LOL

Little baby Claire woke up, so her parents brought her over to the motorhome as well.  She was so busy playing with our little Cup-O's on the blanket on the floor, while the kids were enjoying their cartoons.  My life felt more complete, now that I got to have them all come to my camper.  It's a thing that brings joy to my heart, and I hope it is creating memories they will carry with them for a lifetime.

Clayton, the last grandkid to get up, also came over to join in.  We do not have any slides in our motorhome, so the floor space is a bit limited. But the kids are small and do not take up a lot of space.  Finnegan learns to hang out and watch for spilled cereal bits (no milk) and finds spots to scoot around the others out of the way.  Binney hides out on her little bed under the dash, and is happy to watch from her "safe spot" as the kids giggle, watch tv, play or color.

Once we knew the grownups were getting up, it was time to start our "Breakfast Bake" casseroles. Now that I have an oven in our rig it is easy to bake two big pans at one time.

 (see blog posts: New Oven Part One  and New Oven Part Two )

The girls were eager to help, as love to crack all the eggs and put together the pans to bake breakfast for everyone in one fell swoop.

(NOTE... I OMIT THE MILK... IT BAKES BETTER) 

also we used ham instead of bacon or sausage.

It was starting to drizzle outside, and the weather forecast was calling for rain all day long. Steve and Waylen went out and quickly took down all of the halloween decorations.  They packed them all quickly into the car to be sorted out later.  We were going to decorate our house for the upcoming week, so it didn't matter much how it was packed away.  But they packed away some of Heather and Dan's decorations that had to be taken back out before they left. The guys cleaned up the campsite while I kept the kids inside the motorhome high and dry.  

Soon everyone ate and Dan and Heather got their trailer road worthy. Steve had helped adjust their hitch as Dan got a new truck recently.  It was good to go, and they were able to head on out before the downpour started. 

I was totally worn out and exhausted by the time they all pulled out of the campground. As the rain was coming down, all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep again. We had planned to stay two extra days, as Steve was going to help volunteer with the draining and blowing out of the water system of the park, a rather complicated process. He could tell I was drained and fading fast again.  He pulled an executive decision and said let's just go home instead. He can drive back to the park the next day to help them out.  

Steve, that kind soul, unloaded the rig of all the extra food and dirty clothes.  I didn't have to do a thing but rest.  What a guy! 

Soon I was back at home, in my own warm bed, with happy smile on my face for not missing out on another Halloween Celebration at High Cliff.  

Welcome to Our World Little Claire Bear!

Oh my goodness what a whirlwind this last week has been! What started out as a normal weekend, sure took a crazy turn!

I had a friends quilting guild come tour my house on Friday. They explored my weaving looms, spinning wheels, sewing room and antique sockknitting machine.  I will write more about that later.

Then Sunday we had a little baby shower for our 8-month pregnant daughter Erin and gave her some gifts for the upcoming baby.... who was not due yet for four more weeks.

Little did we know that that night she would have a serious complication and be rushed to an emergency C-section surgery!

Erin had suffered a placental abruption which meant that she was bleeding profusely and both her and the baby were in a precarious situation. To top it off, the baby was in breech position and could not be delivered normally.

Within two hours of arriving at the hospital, our darling 7th grandchild, Claire Lillian was born!

I am pleased to say that she is doing well in the NICU. Her breathing has had some difficulty because of her immature lungs, so they hooked her up to a CPAP machine to help with regulating the in-and-out motion of her breathing. She is not on oxygen, but using regular room air to breathe. She is just getting some help with the lung muscles.

Mommy and Daddy made it through the whole ordeal with flying colors and are happy to have brought this new child into our world.  What a surprise when they thought she was coming a whole month later.

She is already wrapped around Daddys little finger.....

 A few hours later I was able to go into the NICU and see her and touch her. But because of all of the hoses and tools and monitors she was not allowed to be picked up yet on the first day.

We showered her with as much love and tenderness and support that we could give. Our hearts were aching with worry, but she was getting the very best care in the NICU.

From tearing myself away from the baby, now my Grandmother Role came into play. I went up to their home to care for their other two children and their two sassy little dogs. I held down the fort and did all I could to help their family hold up during this big unexpected change.

Here is a video clip of the kids being told WHY grandma picked them up from daycare and school....  and where were mommy and daddy?

Two days later we were finally able to hold the baby in the NICU. I cannot tell you how my heart soared to hold this wee one in my arms. Although she was born at only 6 pounds 3 ounces, she didn't feel delicate or dainty in my arms. She felt like a good baby of a healthy size and I'm sure she will gain in strength and vigor as she continues to get such good care.

I even got her eyes to open and she looked at me for the first time!~  Ahhhh love at first sight, I tell ya!

As of last night they removed her stomach tube and she is now just on a nasal cannula that pumps regular room air into her lungs to help regulate her breathing. Her little lungs either work too fast or too slow at this time, being 4 weeks immature.

Erin is going to be discharged from the hospital today. Of course, neither parent wishes to go home yet while their baby is still in the hospital. Wonderful Aurora hospital in Green Bay has a 5th floor which works like a hotel. Parents and family of patients in the hospital can rent rooms upstairs at a reduced rate, but it operates just like a hotel. Now they are only one elevator ride ride away from their baby and they can remain close.

In the meantime I took their sassy little dogs back to my house and the kids are going to spend the night in the hotel room on the fifth floor with their parents. The kids can not yet see their baby sister because they must be 13 to enter the NICU.  But being close is important enough. I am glad the hospital offers this service. Now they do not have to drive back and forth 40 miles each way to their home.

Biscuit and Ewok are getting along with our dogs well. They have been here before and know the routine.  I know they are getting homesick, but at least Erin and Waylen do not have to worry about letting them out and feed them at home.

The dogs enjoyed a popcorn treat during the Packer Game last night on tv.  

Yayyyy Packers won! 

Tomorrow morning our daughter-in-law Heather will be going up to the hospital and nabbing the kids to bring them down to us at High Cliff State Park.

This weekend is a big huge event at the park, with over 5,000 visitors that come through. They are short staffed, so Steve will be working the weekend.  We will decorate up our campsite and get ready for the many thousands of trick or treaters that walk through the campground. They block the roads off to vehicle traffic so it's a safe environment for people to walk up and down all six roads of the campground.  I stocked up on $100 worth of candy, more than last year, when we ran out during the last hour.

Now Big Sister Chelsea and and Big Brother Clayton can celebrate this event with us. Steve already drove the motorhome to the campground this morning and I have to get my butt in gear, load up these four dogs, and head on out to the campground. The rest of our family is coming this evening and we are going to enjoy our weekend. But all of our thoughts and prayers are on the sweet little girl up in the NICU getting the best care possible

Welcome to our family little Claire, you will be from now on known as our Claire Bear.....

CAMPING - Halloween at High Cliff State Park

As most of you readers already know, (and for those who are new here)  my hubby Steveio works at High Cliff State Park.  He is the Facilities Maintenance Specialist Advanced... meaning he takes care of just about everything and anything that needs to be done. The last weekend in October before Halloween, there is a big celebration at the park.  The admission is free, and the Open House event has various things going on throughout the park.  Unofficially, the people camping in the park decorate their campsites and throngs of Trick Or Treaters descend on the park to gather treats and have some halloween fun.

This is our third October here at the park, and we try to reserve campsites for this special celebration weekend as soon as we can.  It's all whomever gets on ReserveAmerica first to book the sites.  Being an employee has no preferential treatment.

This year we were a bit late on the frantic rush to book sites, and could not obtain an electric campsite....  High Cliff only has 30 electric sites among the 112 campsites in the family campground.  Normally this isn't a problem for us, because we have 500 watts of solar panels on the roof and four 6 volt batteries to run from.  But this year our son Dan and family were joining us with their new travel trailer!  They only have one battery to run their heater and lights.  With the cooler October weather, we had to watch his power consumption during the day to enable their heater to run at night.

We got a double campsite for both of us to park together (SITES 14 & 15).  The weatherman was promising outstanding weather for the weekend, so we were okay to enjoy the rustic camping without draining their battery too much. We drove the motorhome out early Friday morning before Steve started his work day.  Dan and Heather came in the early afternoon and set up next to us.  We had a nice roomy site!

The sun was shining and the temps were just glorious! 

The grandtots Allegra and Mason took a walk with their Mommy

and here is a little video clip of them having a great day:

Steve and son Dan had a few wicked games of cribbage as usual.

We had a nice evening, and the kids fell asleep on our laps while we sat around the campfire. 

Saturday was just as wonderful in sunshine and golden yellow leaves falling 

The weatherman was RIGHT!!!!!

Daughter Erin and two more grandtots Chelsea and Clayton joined us.

We set all four kiddos to the task of decorating our campsite:

and this one too:

I had precooked at home a pot of chili, baked calico beans, and some pasta salads all ahead of time.  Then I could spend more time enjoying the grandtots.  I worked on getting in my share of cuddles and hugs.  One of the fun things we were doing was to lay back in the reclining lawn chair, and wait for the leaves to fall in our direction.... watching them twist and swirl down until they came close enough to catch!  One landed right in Allegra's hand!  Oh wow.. what fun of aimlessly watching the bright leave against the clear blue sky.  

I hope we created a lot of good memories while camping with the kids over the years.. and now that they bring our grandkids camping, we can build more.  

By later afternoon, it was time to get them dressed up in their costumes! 

The un-official event at the park is that the 

various campsites offer trick or treating ... 

nicely, the park closes off the road through the campground 

so there isn't any automobile traffic to hamper the thousands of visitors!  

(unofficial count was in the 5,000 range of visitors to the park this weekend!) 

We had a Spider Witch, a Pirate, a NinjaGirl, SpiderMommy and a Spiderman! 

 Yup, even Steveio and I put on our silly hats to hand out the treats.  Pretty scary, huh?  It was so  much fun to watch the little ones come to ask for tricks or treats.. and some big ones too.  We also had a big bowl of dog biscuits for the canine visitors.  Treat hours were 4-6pm

Between the 22 bags full of candy we brought, added to the bags that filled a tote that our daughterinlaw brought, we had well over 1,500 pieces of candy.  I would say at least 80% went, mostly one piece at a time.  A few times we gave extra...  but we had only a small amount leftover! 

This large group of family/friends comes every year dressed as a "theme"... 

one year they were Toy Story, 

last year they were Despicable Me... 

this year they were 

The Mario Game Characters

As our tired and sugar-loaded grandkids came back to the campsite, Steveio had supper all ready. He grilled out brats and hot dogs, had the table set and all the extras on hand to feed our hungry goblins. Wisely, the parents kept the candy-gobbling to a minimum, so they were able to eat a meal.  

We sat around the campfire until late.. with little wee ones falling asleep one by one on our laps.  Each sleeping tot was brought into the campers and laid in their bed--- to dream of candy, goblins and super hero costumes.  LOL ....   We grownups sat up until late, watching the campfire flames and sipping our beverages of choice.  It was amazingly warm out for October in Wisconsin, but the winds were up, and we huddled closer to the campfire for warmth. I think we toddled off into bed ourselves about midnight or so.  YAAAWWWNNNNN  it had been a long day. 

On Sunday morning, the breezes died down and the sun shone brightly! Another drop dead gorgeous day in Wisconsin!   Dan and Heather had to pack up early to leave, but before they left, I was able to whip up a couple pans of breakfast using this recipe:

  I baked up two pans in my Coleman propane oven in the background on the other table.

The kids were starting with cereal and fruit, but we had some of the breakfast bake too. 

Erin decided to keep Allegra with her while Dan, Heather and Mason headed back to Green Bay (Heather had to work in the afternoon)  .... so after our breakfast stuff was cleared away, we took the rest of the grandtots for a walk in the woods.

The temps were in the high 60's, all sunshine, no wind and it was just a perfect autumn day to traipse in the park.  The smells were awesome, the leaves were crunchy underfoot, the birds were singing, and the squirrels were busy as ever with the acorns and hickory nuts in the park.

There are many trails, and we wandered along the Indian Mound trail around the campground to the north. The kids were exploring a hollow log.... and they know their Grandfather works at the park and cuts down trees:

Here is a clip about their tree exploration:

As we wandered along the trail, they found a "real Indian house" that they had to explore... and they figured they could build one if they ever had to live in the woods.  But they decided they like our campers better, because they have bathrooms in them!  LOL   The girls found this tree with two burl growths on it.  They said it looked like hair buns on each side of the tree.  Silly kids!

Yup, this is how they felt about our walk in the woods

And when we got back to the campground, they found their Granfaddah resting and all cozy in the sunshine on his lawn chair!  Ahem!  They took care of that serene scene in no time.... hahahahaha

Erin packed up the last three grandtots in her car and left with hugs and kisses. We will be seeing them next weekend again when we go to help work on her kitchen.  

Steve and I battened down the hatches, packed away the chairs and reluctantly hit the road back home again.  That's okay, because we had a few projects in mind, and I will do another blog post about them, because this one is getting wayyyy too long!