River Rats

Last Friday we headed up north to do a kayak trip on the Pier Marquette river with a bunch of us. It was a beautiful day and the river was quite quiet and calm. Abbey , Spencer and Karlee were with Scott and I, Pam, Dave and Austin Swift, Mary and Terry Neiboer , Mitch Grissen and Julie and Kelsey Lefter joined us also. We left Bowmans bridge around 11 am and finished at about 4 pm. Unbelieveable the bugs were pretty much not existant on the river, but once you were on shore watch out..

We hope to get a group out again this year as this is really quite fun and relaxing..

Paula Style...

Group photo, before we left....

Abbey and Spencer on the river.

Summer in the city

Me and Kate at MGM Casino have a $10 drink while Scott and Gary Gamble...
Downtown Detroit was quite busy Friday night, Walking into the casino made you instantly forget what time it was or what city you were in. It might have well be Las Vegas with out the strippers...


Messy and Emmy at the Casino, love these two!
Looking forward to celebrating with the at Kates and Garys Wedding!



Kate and Gary at Millers Pub in Dearborn for excellent burgers/ fries.
Very kool old pub!




Me and my dear Friend Crystal in Novi, We hadn't seen each other in 10 years but it felt like we had just left CMU!! Hope to see more of her soon, possibly on the golf course as she and her husband Phil are golf nuts like Scott.

Mike Mott, Jim Wallace and me at Millers pubs. These were some of my best buds in college. I had wayyyyyy to much fun with these two and it was so good to see them! Now most of the time i just get to see them on facebook.

the Besties....

Andrea and Aunt Paula

the Future Mr & Mrs Nick Fernandez....

Adam and Jessica

the besties on the porch waiting out the rain storm...

Kevin Story tellling and dancing...

Post campfire left overs....

Saturday night campfire....


Last weekend, Andrea and Kevin came up to Walhalla with their gang and left the youngsters at home. I think it was a much needed break from parenting for most and we had a great time! Campfires, Pot lucks, fishing, storytelling ( Kevin mostly...) and catching some rays in the sun. We had a total of 12 staying at our cottage. Our Fr iends Tom and Louise Vandeburg had the rest of the gang at their cottage just down the street - I think a total of 9 plus 6 dogs....

Sounds like this will be an annual event for us we had such a good time. Us old folks still know how to throw a party is guess! See ya next year if not sooner Besties gang!

That little white ball...

Scott and Paula at the course with Spencer...

It was a beautiful Sunday at home and we'll all had the time to chase that little white ball around on the golf course. Scott, Spencer and I headed to Winding Creek to play nine. Scott did well, Spencer and I... well lets just say we had fun...

We decided Golf is not a mind game it is a butt game, Pain in the butt that is.

We were practicing for the Walhalla Plaid open in a few weeks up north. I actually had some great chips and putts which is typically my Nemisis in golf. Guess my short game has improved by hitting balls in the back yard for Cameo!!!

Summer Night In Saugatuck

Walllys Bar & Grill, Saugatuck MI

Grissens, Bareman and DeVries....

We decided to stay in town this weekend as it was suppose to be cold ( 60's ) at the cottage. Saturday night we headed to downtown Saugatck to Celebrate Chad Baarmans birthday with us and the Grissens. Even through it was cold in town it was still "gigin" so it was a good night!

It felt more like Fall than July though! After dinner we headed down to the new Water Street pub and Grill for 1 more , ( formly Billys Boat House) Not much has changed with the exception of the price increase......

July 4th 2009 Kayak trip

Davey, Pam ,Scott, JJ and Todd on the river

Scott was finally convinced to swim, Burr!!!!

I was lucky enough to spend 11 days in Walhalla over the holiday weekend and we had great weather. Kate and Gary came to stay with us and we had a great time. It could have been a little bit sunnier on July 2 and 3 but overall it was great to be away. July 3rd we watched fireworks at Emerson Lake Inn with the "locals" . ( Lots of out of control kids made this interesting but fun). July 4th we floated on the Pontoon boats with the Vandeburgs/ Swifts/ Jalvings and then watched Fireworks at Monica and Londi's . It was once again a great show!. I would have photos put I dropped my camera in the sand on July 3 ,so thus the lack of photos for most of the week. Bummer

Scott had to head back to Holland on July 6/7 /8 to work but then was back up for the annual Kayak event on the Pine River. You can see from the photos it was a beautiful day and they had a great time. I stayed back as I was quite ill with some bug or food poisening or something! I hope to have a new camera this Friday and will update the blog again with what Photos I do have hopefully! I have a great one of Cameo jumping off the dock!

Summer fun at the Cottage 2009

Chase and Logan doing Bubbles in the Lawn

Matt and Kim on the pontoon boat on Sunday with us and Swifts.....

Spencer and Karlee tubing on the Lake ( burrr!!!)

First we have to "borrow" a tube from Jalvings as ours seem to have holes in the so far this year... :-(

It has been a busy summer at the cottage already this year. Spencer and his friend Karlee were up tubing on the lake the weekend of June 12/13 , and our friend Matt Neiboer and Kim McClain were up the same weekend ( staying at Matt's dad's this time) to celebrate Kim birthday with a Quad adventure. This past weekend, my Niece Andrea and her husband Kevin and their two boys (Chase and Logan) were up. The rain stayed away during the day so we were able to do some beach time, play in the lawn time, and Kevin and Chase went fishing on Crystal lake. It was great to spend time with all our guests so far this year. The Sun Always Shines in Walhalla!