CAMPING - Ottawa Lake in the Ottawa National Forest in the U.P. of Michigan

I finally wrestled the laptop away from my 2 year old grandson. I see he posted a blog this morning about our weekend!  Gosh, before you know it, he will be hacking my bank account and buying his own laptop if I am not careful.  LOL

You can read more about our camping weekend with more pics, of course, on Jameson's blog he posted before this one.  Just click on this link: Jameson's Excellent Adventure

I thought I would do a post about some of the adult details about our hectic holiday weekend.

Thursday I picked up the little guy from Green Bay early, about noon, and came back to the house to wait for Steveio, who is usually done with work and home by 3 pm.  But not todayyyyyy  He was doing Union business and could not get away until almost 4:30.  Keeping the little grandson settled down during the big loooong wait was difficult.  He kept looking for his Granfaddah to drive up and make that motorhome GO SOMEWHERE! We pulled out and he was fast asleep in no time, dreaming of camping, no doubt!

We fueled up at $3.93 a gallon for diesel which was nice to see the price dropping.  Then we headed up north, bound for a family weekend at Ottawa Lake near Iron River, Michigan.  My sister and brother were both camping there, along with family friend, Bob Senior, who was saving us a campsite.

The holiday traffic wasn't too bad, and we were well on our way, almost to Mountain, when suddenly the rig was running rough and the check engine light came on!  ARGGGHHHHHH  The dash error codes were the same as back in Winslow, AZ in April.   

(read about that incident here: 

Injector breakdown and repair in Winslow Arizona

The saga goes on for four days there to get an electronic injector replaced.)

I saw the sign for Bagley Rapids national forest campground up ahead, so suggested we pull in there and figure it out --- at least we would have a campsite for the night.  We camped here last May and it was very nice.   Camping at Bagley Rapids

If we had to turn around and go home, we could do that in the morning, or we could even opt to stay the weekend in a campsite and go home on Monday.  That is... IF ... we could solve the problem and get it running smoothly again.  Limping home 70 miles with a missing cylinder is NOT good for an engine.

Jameson woke up as we were backing in the rig into a campsite, and was gleeful that we were at a campground.  We got out and walked to the pay station where he could put the envelope in the Iron Ranger pay post--- he called it the Mail Slot.  How cute.  It was a lovely night and we tried to ignore the looming possibility of a major repair on the engine.

Friday morning Steveio held his breath, turned the key, and fired up the rig ------ and it ran clean and smooth, and no check engine light!!!   Now the questions and decisions start to pop up:

Do we DARE run it all the way to Michigan, about another 60 miles, and chance it?
Do we stay put and camp here with only us and Jameson?
Do we just drive it home and park it?
Do we wait till 11 am to call the repair place in Arizona to see if there was a warranty on the 1st injector?
Do we run to the Cat dealer in Green Bay in the Tracker (70 miles backtrack) and pick up another injector?
Do we just replace the injector (at $300) ourselves and what if that is NOT the problem?

At 9am, we called the Cat dealer in Green Bay and spoke to a mechanic.  He said if the injector had just been replaced 2,000 miles ago, chances are that is NOT the problem.  He is thinking just the connector TO the injector could be at fault, as they are known to go bad!   And they sell replacement connector kits for a mere $22 each and had them in stock!

So Steveio hopped in the Tracker and zoomed down to Green Bay. In the meantime, Jameson and I took a nice walk, and visited with some fellow campers, and enjoyed the woods and the birds.

Steve bought TWO connectors, because the error code of 7-3 we were advised could mean it was either injector 3 or 4 throwing the codes as they work in pairs on the diagnostic process.  He also bought an injector to hedge our bets, and as long as it remains sealed in the box, it can be returned again.  There was also a core charge of $260 added to that $300 price tag.  So, $600 poorer, he drove back 70 miles to the campground.  The rig started up fine and ran great... so maybe we didn't need the injector after all?

A neighboring camper wanted our site for his friends, so he was quite happy to see us leave at 1pm where he could immediately erect a tent to save the site in completely filled campground.

We pulled out and got about another 20 miles down the road when the dash light came on and the erratically running engine happened again!   This time we were near a large flat parking lot for the Citgo station in Lakewood.  We pulled in the far side of the lot, next to the ATV trail to entertain Jameson with the passing fourwheelers.   We made up a quick lunch and then Steve proceeded to tear down our engine!   Right there in the parking lot.   Jameson was transfixed with the process and enamored with the array of tools that  Granfaddah had me fetch from his tool drawers!

"Granfaddah, can I help you wit dat?"

Luckily, our king size bed raises up to give full access to the engine.  You can crawl right in and stand on it to work on things.

He had to remove the air intake tubes to the air cleaner,
the aftercooler for the turbo tubes,
the valve cover,
the rocker arms and
some cross pipes to get to the injectors... whew!  

Then he replaced the two connectors, and reassembled it all correctly and without any dirt getting into the vital openings.  I am sooo thankful I have such a handy husband!!!!!!!   I was just the Gopher of Tools and Babysitter of the Wee One to keep him outta the way.   He was easily distracted by the many ATV's flying by on the trail next to the gas station.  He stayed glued to the window to announce the colors of each one and to count them as they roared past.

Once it was all done and put back together, I was the lucky one to get to turn the key..... gasp.... yes!!!!!  It was purring smoothly, no rough idle, no check engine light... we were GOOD TO GO!    Jameson cheered as much as we did!

(Ironically, there had been a buzzing noise in the turbo every time it kicked in ever since the repair in Winslow in April. We dreaded an expensive replacement in the future to the tune of about $5,000 ...   and now, since Steveio reassembled the engine himself, the buzzing noise is GONE!) 

As we tootley-bopped down the road again, the engine purring like a Cat...  we wondered if perhaps the initial repair in Winslow was not the injector at all... but perhaps just the connector?   $800.00 lesson there.

We got to the campground at Ottawa Lake by 6 pm and backed into our waiting campsite!!! Camping Buddy Bob Senior saved it for us.   It's a long site we can fit on easily.   Wheeeeeee  

If you read my last two blogs, you would know about this:
My brother was already there trying out his new toyhauler trailer, for it's maiden voyage and christening!
My sister Schmoo and her husband Fuzz, came with their trailer sporting it's new power jack we got them for their anniversary present!

Steveio cracked open a beer and RELAXED... a well-deserved one, that is for sure.  He got in some fishing with the guys.  They go out at night and fish for walleye.  He got this 20 incher that was a "keeper".  It is now filleted and in our freezer.  We let Jameson see the fish, but didn't subject him to the actual gutting and disemboweling.  Might have been a bit shocking to a kid only 2 years old. Time enough for that when he gets older.

It was a typical camping weekend

Schmoo and Fuzz were relaxing too.  

In between rain showers and thunder rumbles, the sun came out and we enjoyed spring in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We have stayed at this campground a zillion times since we moved to the U.P. in 1970, and I have many other posts from camping here:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/07/camping-at-lake-ottawa-with-jameson.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/03/campground-review-lake-ottawa-ottawa.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/03/ottawa-lake-memorial-weekend-2007.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/03/campfround-review-lake-ottawa-memorial.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/03/campground-review-lake-ottawa-on.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/03/ottawa-lake-july-2007.html

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/08/vacation-didnt-get-too-far_6000.html

Because we come here often to camp, we know which sites we like, where to park best, and what the facilities have to offer.  Here is an adapted campground map. We love number 17. 

Bob Senior likes his site number 15 because he can leave his boat in the lake which he can see from his camper window.  That way he doesn't have to haul it in each morning and out each night.  Here are Steve and Bob Senior having a confab about the worries of the world, with Shadow looking for treats.

Longtime friend, Cella, came out to visit a few times, and my brother Butch's son Matt came to camp too.  Butch's girlfriends son, Vince and his wife Susan came and brought their little son, Braydon for a few days too!  People come and go, dropping in to visit, or like my younger brother, Umpee, who smells supper cooking and always arrives from town, just in time to eat!

Speaking of eating.. what kind of blog post would this be without pictures of our food cooking???  

This is a cool new rack that my sister Schmoo got for us to make skewer-less shish-ka-bobs!!!!  We did TWO batches like this of the marinated chicken chunks, pork tenderloin and veggies which included mushrooms, valdalia onions, zuchinnis slices, green peppers and cherry tomatoes.  We did up a separate rack of shrimp to add to it, as they take less time to cook.  Added a pasta salad, some cucumber salad, some go-withs and we were set for a feast!     (Jameson had hot dogs) 

The days flew by too soon!   We had storms here and there, some cold nights, and windy rainy icky weather.  But at other times the sun would poke through and it would be nice again!   We took walks and enjoyed the woods and totally entertained the little guy through and through. I videoed his entire weekend for him to have a memory DVD made of his antics.

On Sunday, my sister precooked a big batch of country ribs, and my brother Butch manned the tripod grill and did up some BBQ Pork Ribs... with Sweet Baby Rays sauce.  Yummmmm    I whipped up some tater salad and got out a watermelon.  Schmoo made a tossed salad and we had some leftovers to add in, and we had another feast!

Steve and Fuzz both have to watch their cholesterol, so this was a real treat! 

All too soon, the fun and games were over, and we had to pack up the rig to go home.  Huge thunderstorms and lightening cracks were coming across from the West, the guys pulled in the boats and we loaded up our campers and tossed the last few brats on the grill for a lunch before we hooked up to go.   Luckily, we packed up before the big drops started to splatter down, and even got the tanks dumped at the dump station before leaving the campground.

Jameson helped co-pilot his Granfaddah for the first hour or so, but then he had to nod off.....

He was eager to see his Mommy and Daddy... but we were reluctant to let him go.  It had been so much fun having him along.  Yes, he wears us out, but it's a good feeling.   On the way home, using the laptop, I made him up a keepsake DVD of his videos of the weekend, and another disk of a slideshow of all his photos.   Now he can replay them and remember Jameson's Excellent Adventure! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And side note:   as of today, we had high winds and heavy humidity and storms course through.  Sadly, we lost a maple tree in our front yard!

VACATION - didn't get too far!

CAMPING – At Lake Ottawa with Jameson – July 2010

-This post sent by a solar powered computer-

It was time for our grandson Jameson to spend a WHOLE WEEKEND camping with us!   Steveio picked up the little guy while at work… Both Steve and Heather work at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  Heather came in for 2 pm and Steve had to work till 2:30.  So little Jameson got to see how his Grandfaddah did “work”.   He got red ink all over his hands because he got to X off a whole bunch of days on Granfaddah’s calendar at his desk.  Guess he gave us a lot more vacation days?   Wonder if the boss will go for that?

Steveio and Jameson got up to the house about 3 pm, and I was loaded up and ready to roll with the motorhome.  We strapped Jameson’s car seat into the passenger seat and took off.  He was AMAZED at the whole world going by his big windows with such a view from that vantage point.  It was like a wide-screen movie at the theater.  Those are his mother's sunglasses and he decides which way to wear them.

(When you ride in a kid’s carseat in the backseat of a car, you don’t see much)


I snapped a few shots and then sat down with the dogs on the couch.

He was pointing out trucks, trains, cars, water, trees and anything else that caught his eye.  He jibber-jabbered to his mommy on the cell phone, I am not sure exactly of what he said but I think it meant he was having a great adventure!   After 2 hours he finally konked out, and by the time we rolled into Lake Ottawa, near Iron River, Michigan, he was recharged and ready to CAMP!


Lake Ottawa is a National Forest Campground in the Ottawa National Forest District in the U.P. of Michigan.  My sister Schmoo and her hubby Fuzz, were already camped there, along with a good family friend, Bob Sr.   They paid in advance for a campsite #18 for us to go into when we got there.  But luck upon luck, about half an hour before we got there, the people occupying site #17 had left, so we got that site instead!  (closer, more level, and nicer whereas #18 had a steep hill for the little guy to manuver).  You don’t often see folks pull out on a Friday later afternoon to vacate a spot.  This national forest campground is usually pretty empty during the week, and only fills up somewhat on the weekends.  32 sites of rustic camping at $14 a night.

Here is a link about Lake Ottawa

Lake Ottawa in the Ottawa National Forest

And here is the map of the campground

(we have probably camped on each and every site ‘bout a hunnerd times since I was a little kid—
the campground is only 5 miles from where I grew up.)

We got all set up on our campsite and then headed down to my sister's site cook supper with the family.  As soon as we got into their campsite, little Jameson saw this red plastic crate of Bob Sr’s and proceeded to crawl right into it and made himself at home!  We have NO idea why....

Later, that sassy Auntie Schmoo (my sister Linda)  showed him how to throw rocks into the dog’s water dish and stack them in and out from a container—back and forth.  It kept him busy for over an hour!  Shadow (Bob Sr's dog) didn't appear to happy too have his water dish messed around with.  LOL

We plumb tuckered wore him out that first night, and he slept like a log… 

Saturday morning we ate our breakfast and went out to meet a new day.  It was sunny and warm, less humid than it had been all week, and a wonderful soft breeze.  It is perfect weather for SWIMMING!

This is his very FIRST TIME in a lake… a real lake.. not a swimmy wading pool.  We slathered him full of sunscreen, and put on his little shorts and tank top.  We bought him a green and purple alligator toy too.

It was quite the adventure for the little guy, and before he knew it, he was sitting down in chest deep water, throwing rocks and playing with the sandy bottom of the beach.

Granfaddah did the careful attentive life-guard duty and spent quite a time in the water, till the little guy’s toes were wrinkled up like prunes!

We finally got him out of the lake and dried off, quite RELUCTANTLY and took him back up the camper for a rest.  Our friends, Cella and Dave came out to visit with their grandson Dante.  The boys went BUG HUNTING  and found a GRUB worm to examine.  Such little scientists, I tell ya!

It was time to whip up Saturday supper, and shish kabobs were on the menu--- yummmm  

We did up shrimp and chicken kabobs, this is the first batch ....

Then for the second batch  we were running outta skewer room, so we also grilled a bunch of veggies 

in the baskets like Sharon showed us last weekend.  It sure was tasty and we pigged out. 

Uncle Umpee (my brother Eugene) came out on his Harley, which Jameson got to sit on.  

Whew-- what a Biker Dude! 

As the evening was winding down, it was time to introduce Jameson to the fine taste of S' MORES!   

I bet the photos will make your mouth water, huh?

About 15 minutes after devouring them, he was jumping around like a mexican jumping bean on a sugar high to be sure!  LOL   He finally wound down after a nice long bath in the motorhome tub with his cup-o’s.   Into the jammies and off to beddy-bye.

Sunday morning was hazy and cloudy… no sunshine to speak of.  We had our cereal and took a nice long walk around the campground with the dogs and the stroller.  Schmoo and Fuzz had to be somewhere at noon, but before they left, they got dinner started on the campfire.  Schmoo brought out a big ham and taters and onions … Fuzz did the chef work for our special Sunday Dinner.


(side note)  This is "MY" tripod -- this is the only thing I got from my previous marriage to a welder, he made it collapsible for camping.   Well, I got two great girls outta the marriage too....   It needed a bit of repair work, as it's now 20+ years old.  My sister Schmoo and her husband Fuzz take care of it and haul it around in the back of their pickup truck, as it's rather sooty and messy to be in the motorhome compartments.  Fuzz did some adjusting on the top poles and it's good as new again! 

 While they were gone, Steveio monitored the water levels and added wood.

Later on the sun came out and it was turning into a very nice day!

In the meantime, Uncle Umpee came back out to deliver a special item to me.  Back when we were kids in the early 1970’s our Grandma Kafehl had a special toy at her house.  Twelve grandkids and piles of greatgrandkids later played with this toy.  Once she passed away in 1996, my littlest brother Umpee asked for this toy.  It’s called a Magic Window by Whamo (makers of Frisbee)   The darker blue sand is heavier than the white sand, so it shifts, shapes, and flows as you rotate or flip it.   Here you can see the blue flowing downwards.   Hours and hours of fascinating fun!

Here is a link to more information:

http://www.magicwindows.org/

Umpee had played with it for the last 15 some odd years now, but decided that I can take custody of it for the grandkids for a while.. only a while.. it’s on LOAN and has to be given back.  But I did ask him that if he should think of it, perhaps he could put it in his will to give it to me?   I did check a while ago on Ebay and those things are going for over FIFTY BUCKS!  It would be cool to keep passing this one down in the family… heck it’s almost 40 years old already.  What age constitutes an "antique" ???

They also did some serious coloring…. 

with Jameson in the prime coloring position needed for little boys when coloring with the big boys….

Soon Schmoo and Fuzz were back and the ham was ready for dinner.  

HAM is one of Jameson’s favorite foods, so that was extra special for him!

Why is it that food always tastes SO much better when cooked outdoors??

We had ham, taters, onions, cucumber salad, but we forgot all about baking the dinner rolls! 

Oh well, next time...

Check out these cool sets of plastic eating utensils for kids-- they are made by Dixie and each one incorporates some kind of animal into the shape of the utensil.  I bought a couple boxes so have enough for all the grandkids to use over the next few years... we will wash them and reuse them as they are very sturdy.

After dinner was done, I walked with Jameson up to sites 10 and 8.  We carried up this little red camping chair and the camera.   See---   Many years ago they were a combined “family site” where used to camp with our kids.  You paid a few dollars more for a family site, but you could put 2 units on each spur.  We could put on four campers on the 2 sites and have close grouping to centrally cook and visit.  Since then, the powers that be decided to split them both up and make them regular sites.  When Heather and Erin were about 3 and 5, I have video clips of them playing in this site with their cousin Christopher, all with their little red camping chairs.  We ordered them from Heintz baby food after saving labels for months on end.  I talked about them in this post:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-red-camping-chairs.html

Now, 20 some odd years later, here we are, in the same site, with the same little chair of his momma’s.  

Talk about “History Repeating Itself”

We took one more walk around the campground, and found some wild flowers by the side of the road... Jameson had to sniff this one, and we snapped the pic.  His momma LOVED the photo when I emailed to her, so she had me do a few creative alterations on it for her to use it as a profile pic on Facebook.

All too soon, it was time to start packing up... Jameson *helped* his granfaddah stow away the gear

 in all the compartments and roll up the awnings.  He was a very very busy boy!  

Once we hit the road and headed south, he was zonked out.  

He could not keep those eyelids open anymore, 

no matter how the interesting scenes passed by the windshield. 

And so goes another weekend of camping, combined with having a grandchild along.  

My oh my, life is wonderful with RV's and Grandchildren! 

.

Campground Review - Lake Ottawa - Ottawa National Forest Aug 2009

(this is one of series of posts of various campgrounds we have been to over the years... I am going through my files in alphabetical order and posting past camping trips in my blog.... something to do over this long long winter---- sigh)

Here are the links for the information on Lake Ottawa:

Lake Ottawa campground information

All of the campgrounds in the Ottawa national forest in this district

Well, here we are again at our favorite campground one more time for the summer in 2009.  This time it was in August.  We took a different site, because my sister doubled up with the folks on site number 17.   This one is across from those sites, we are now camped on the lake side.

 

Yup, the lake is kinda down the hill on a path through the trees.  Not up close like some campgrounds.  This site is the one my sister usually takes, as they can keep the boat down there moored to a tree and just walk up and down to the boat.  Sure beats launching the boat and having to load it back up at the boatlanding each time.  Plus, our guys like to walleye fish at night, so they can just pull in to where my sister leaves a lantern burning along the shoreline.

We were enjoying these two little lads who were back and forth in front of our campsites as they rode bikes, played with water toys and found lots of mischief to get into.  We didn't know who they were, but by the end of the weekend, they were our *buddies*  LOL
 

They said they were playing Cowboys and Indians. and those are targets on their backs!

Mom's picnic table was covered with craft stuff, because the county fair was coming up and they were making and gathering items to enter.  Mom and my sister both usually enter 50-60 items each year!  They get a big fat check from their winnings too.   Mom entered two of my handwoven towels, a knit hat and booties, and some other crafts I had done.  I let her keep the prize money, tee hee. 

 

Ahhh  they roped me into helping them! 

 
The guys are busy working on something, so we women occupy ourselves with plenty of crafts, cooking and companionship.  Seeing as I live 150 or so miles away from them, this is our only time to get together on the weekends.  Wait till you see how we canned pickles at the upcoming review for Runkle Lake!   --- gotta wait till I reach the letter R for that one, so far we are only on the O's for campground reviews.



Here is Senior's camper   (I talked about him before in other posts)  He got rid of his older Class C motorhome and treated himself to a nice new travel trailer!   Now he has a working fridge and everything else... the Class C was getting tired and things were breaking left and right.  Time for the post man to reap the rewards of his retirement... and camp in style!

We all got set into our respective campsites for the weekend.... It was warm and sunny and dry

 

I think I had this on my modifications page.  But I will post it again. These are small single mantel lanterns by Coleman, and we can either screw it onto a 1 pound cylinder with a plastic foot base to keep it from tipping over, or else hang it from the awning and use a hose and a 20 pound tank.   Sure puts out a lot of light for a little portable lantern.  The big ones we used to have were so fragile, and often we would end up breaking the glass lens or the mantles too easily.  This little one is very durable and we have not changed the mantle in it for about 3 years since we bought it.  I wrap it in bubble wrap (when it's cooled off)  and store it in a plastic tupperware container for storage.  Just one of those things that make rustic camping much easier.  Remember, this campground has no electric, so that means no street lights to see by.   When it's dark is VERY dark in the  thick tree-filled woods.  Even with the moon or stars, it's very dark.  

My brother Butch came out for a visit, he decided to not camp this time.   So here is his newest bike.  

This is my sister and her husband, Schmoo and Fuzz  (Linda and Michael)   

posing for a shot after a long day of fishing.  

(psst!!  He actually didn't catch it, it was floating on top of the water dead - he later disposed of it) 

This is August... sooooooo  it's that time of year for roasted sweet corn!  YUMMMMM  I can almost taste it now by looking at this next picture.    

When I was a child, our family had run a corn roast for a city-wide festival.  Nobody in our part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had ever seen roasted corn before!   They would walk by our booth and go "ewwwww it's burnt" and walk away.   Finally when the first batch was done, Dad peeled back the husks, dipped the golden perfect ear of corn into a big coffee can of melted butter, shook on salt and handed them out to all of us kids.  We had to walk around the grounds, eating our corn and exclaiming how GOOD it was!   Folks would ask where we got that, and we would lead them back to our booth.  Heh heh  

To roast the corn, Dad took a big metal culvert - the kind for ditchs under driveways.. and cut it lengthwise in half.  Then he welded on legs to the bottom to make a long U-shaped grill to fill with charcoal briquettes.  On top for the cooking grids he used the metal racks from a bread delivery truck.  He and the crew of guys would walk back and forth, up and down the row, turning the cobs over till they were done.  Mom and the other ladies would peel them back and help folks dip into the butter (no double-dippers allowed)   and collect the money.  We children were the free advertising team!  LOL

Our corn roast booth was in high demand for every festival and civic event after that!

To make grilled sweet corn, we soak the cobs about half a day in salt water before tossing them on the grill.  When the outside is all brown and black, the inside is done perfectly!  It steams itself on the inside.

Steve uses the stick to keep tapping the grill portion, to keep it slowly rotating over the fire for even cooking of the corn.   It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!   Usually there is a beer in the other hand to keep him occupied in between pushes on the grill.



See, although there is a cooking grid on this type of cast iron fire ring from the National Forest, it's too low to cook over without burning your food.   So we swing it out away from the fire and use our tripod instead.

(In a past blog, I had a pic of the type of fire ring we DO like in the National Forest Campgrounds.. that make more sense to cook over, as it's adjustable....    CLICK HERE   here for that post)

Ok... once the majority of the corn is done, it's time to start the rest of the meal.  We set the corn to the side to keep it warm in the roasted husks, and then set on the "Shishes"    we made up beef/chicken/shrimp kabobs on the fire.  They were marinated ahead of time in a big dish pan, and then skewered up for the fire.





Of course, my little buddy Autumn is here again!   Her grandfather, Senior, is camping with us across the road, so she can spend all weekend with us.  Otherwise she has to beg and beg her daddy to haul her out to the lake when we are up camping.   This weekend we worked on painting rocks!   Her friend, Jenney, came along for a camping sleepover.    


We pick out nice round or oblong stones, and paint them to look like mice, bugs, frogs or whatever strikes our moods.  I always have bottles of craft paints and brushes in my motorhome.  This is a great rainy day project and keeps kids occupied.

(we super glue little black leather tails to the mice)

As usual, when camping at this lake, some friends and family came out to visit.  Some come, some go.  But there is always someone stopping by.   Sitting around the campfire, enjoying a few beers, cooking a nice dinner.  That is what weekend relaxing is all about.  Also we take nice walks, go swimming, go fishing, work on repairs to various family's campers or vehicles and just all in all relate to each other.

And thus ends another review of a camping weekend for the Pfundtners....