Let the Boating begin ....

We have finally got the boat in the water. When the boat would not start I attempted to fix the problem myself. After unsuccessfully working on the motor I had it taken to a marina where they fixed what was really wrong with the boat and also repaired what I had tried to fix.

All's well that floats well.

On Friday we went to dinner with Kate and Roger to Andiamo's in Rochester and then went to a play, Jeckle and Hyde, at the Avon Theatre. A good friend of ours, Jeff Stillman had a part in the play. It was a musical version and was done very well. After the play we returned to Kate and Roger's house to watch the 7th game of the Stanley Cup. Detroit versus Pittsburgh. The Red Wings lost 2-1 and now that the season is over and we can resume what little normalcy we have to our lives. Better luck next year.

Polly went to New York for a wedding with her sister Sarah and Mark stayed on their boat with the girls on Friday night. But by Saturday the girls asked Mark if they could stay at Camp Ortonville with us. Of course we said yes. On Sunday morning the girls wanted to do more things than we had time to do. They got up watched cartoons, had waffles for breakfast, went into the hot tub, went for a bike ride, made water balloons, played with water from the hose, and wanted to go for a boat ride.

Watching cartoons is exhausting work.

Waffles are becoming an Ortonville Tradition.

I'm never sure who has more fun.

The ammo.

All Grace needed was a balloon and a puddle of water.

Water and a driveway... What fun.

We had a wonderful time on the boat even though the water was freezing. We got the girls back to Mark tired and hungry. Sorry Mark. We got back home exhausted from too much fun.

I received an e-mail from a friend with an article on diet and exercise. It ended with the following advice:

'Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride'

Life is Good.

Life is just Blogging along.

It's been a little while since I last wrote. Retirement is not easy. It is is amazing how anything ever got done while I was working, cause nothing gets now that I'm not.

Since last I wrote much has happened and it would be a long boring list to anyone who actually reads this. But since I realize so many people just hang on all the things I write ( Who am I kidding? ) I'll list a few.

Of course the Grand-daughters always top the list of things I comment on. Sadly Judy and I have not been over to see them as much as we want to. I cannot imagine being as far away as some their other Grandparents are and not being able to just go and see them when-ever we want to. Sorry Dick and Nancy and Steve. When we see them we will kiss them both for you guys.

Two weeks ago Dick and Nancy were in town from Maryland.

Nancy and Judy

Dick and Grace

While they were here Isabella had a music recital at her school. We all attended and of course Bella was the best child at the performance. She sang with the class, performed on the xylophone and dressed up for a musical number with part of her class. Such talent and only 8 years old !!!

Not sure what was really going on here. Bella is in the Black and White wig.

Two of the cutest girls in the audience.

Since that time we have been busy. I'm trying to get our pontoon boat into the water, but had trouble getting it started. My brother Steve tried helping me and after no luck starting it I decide that he carburetors needed to be rebuilt. When that didn't work I called a marina and had it taken to them to be fixed. They told me that it was the ignition and since someone messed up the carburetors ( I didn't tell them it was me ) they need to be fixed as well. If warm weather gets here I will be ready.

Last week-end I had my annual golf outing near Battle Creek. This is the 25 th year I have been going with my golf buddy Mark. He organizes the 4 day tournament. We play at the Gull Lake golf courses, it's called the Ham-bone Invitational. Our four-some plays to see who pays for a ham we bring along for breakfast, and a traveling trophy. We won it this year. Did not play well but as always had a great time.

Judy spent the long week-end in Mancelona with her sister Sandy. Visiting her Aunt, Uncle and cousins. It was cold and Judy complained that they didn't even have a campfire while up North.

Yesterday I played golf in an outing put on by my High School, St. Ambrose in Detroit. It's for graduates from all years and I golfed with 3 guys I have not really talked to in almost 40 years. I had a great time reminiscing with these guys. Talk was about family and work but it was mostly about playing football since 2 of the guys were Michigan All-State players in 1968. We had a pretty good team back then for a small school. We lost only 1 game in 4 years.

The best news is about Judy. She has been seeing a neurologist about her headaches and after trying several medications she has found one that seems to be helping. It's called Topamax. It's side effects are dizziness but the Dr. says that will subside. Judy had another angiogram Thursday at Harper hospital to check the coiling and stent she had done in March. Everything is still in place and the doctors are happy with what they saw. This is finally some good news for Judy. She has suffered so much since January.

Life is Good in Ortonville.