Pathfinder Friends

Gabriella and Danielle, another good friend, after the ceremony called Investiture. The Pathfinders receive their Honors for the year and are advanced to the next level in the club.

Courtney and Marnina are good friends. They are only a year apart in age but you'd never know it from their height :-)

Gabriella enjoys Morgan's friendship alot. I guess Morgan is quite the cut-up !!

The Pathfinder Club holds true to the Pledge and Law. Here you can see the wording of the Pledge. These words are repeated enough that they become engrained in your memory. I used to be a Pathfinder and can still recite them all without hesitation 25 years later !!

Here the entire club poses for one last uniformed photo. They had an awesome year !!

Gardening Dreams Coming True

This area used to hold, at different times, a dog's kennel, a swingset, and a swimming pool. We hauled away the yard of sand by hand in buckets and wheelbarrows (you can see the pile of it in the background) and are calling this our garden this year.

Grampa Schmitt came over with his tiller and prepared the ground for us. Only two different times did he come across a Leaverite rock. You mean you don't know what a Leaverite rock is ?? It's a rock so big that you "Leaverite there" !!

My very sweet and generous neighbor donated some extra strawberry plants she had in her garden. I worked the sod out and made this little square for them. I'll put in a short fence with a covering because I do not want to share with the birds !!

"2-D" in 3-D at the Forty

Every family should have a Lab in it. This picture is why ;-)

Every family should have bonfires. These smiles are why :-) Dominic forgot about his MP3 player in his pocket till Gramma asked him if he ever uses it.....so he just had to demonstrate.

Everyone who has a Lab in their family should go for long explores in the forest with them. This pose is struck often on our walks together. She is like a statue for a few seconds, listening, smelling, looking.....we try to help her by holding still ourselves when she is striking a pose !!

Keyboard Practice

Francesca loves to sit at the keyboard and tinker around with all the different music that we play for Happy Hour. She is getting pretty good !!

SHMILY

I found this on my counter the other day....Dominic and Francesca surprised me with a SHMILY. It stands for "See How Much I Love You" :-) Dandelions never looked so pretty !!

Picnic at Van Riper

Van Riper State Park has little cabins you can rent. They are cute, we just borrowed its picnic table for our supper together.

My sister Lynne came with her boy Kyle. She brought, among other things, Basil Lemonade. It was wonderfully unique tasting and delicious !!!!!

We did our fair share of swatting at the bugs, but the view of Lake Michigamme was worth all the suffering :-)

Tootsie was a little sad because the water was not accessible here. She didn't quite know what to do with her self. She spent most of the time at my feet under the picnic table like a good doggie.

First the hike at Craig Lake and then the picnic at Van Riper. A great day for all !!!

Craig Lake State Park

There had been turtles on the log.....they saw us coming a mile away. Still a memorable scene !!

Francesca beginning the hike at Craig Lake.......

This park is Michigan's most remote state park, and we were afraid of bears and other large creatures so you can't hear us in this photo but we were making lots of noise !!!

Dominic standing near a VERY old tree stump, holding his precious Gatorade that he bought with his own money thank you very much !!

Water ??? Stick ??? Kids ??? A perfect recipe for a good time in Tootsie Land :-)

Todd

Todd's friends have all the nice toys!! See how happy he is riding in someone else's sports car ???

Todd and I on our way to dinner. See how happy we are WITHOUT the kids ?? :-)

A virgin daiquiri and pasta. See how happy he is ???

Fumee Lake Fun

Fumee Lake Natural Area never disappoints. Here is a plant that I have never seen before. It is spring so I'm sure that whatever it is, it will grow up into something more identifiable. I think I'll need to go back and check it out at a later time to see if it has changed. The pic of course doesn't do it justice, it was so fuschia. Really neat against the somewhat drab spring landscape.

They installed a new wrought iron gate at the entrance. This place is so pretty and unique and needed a better 'first impression'.

Blessed with sunshine for our hike, the kids are doing some shadow play here. You can see all 5 dogs and all 4 kids' shadows.

I LOVE watching them enjoy each other and nature, too. So very blessed.....

Our little, well kind of big, "pack". The little lake is only 1 mile around but there is still much to see and do. The larger lake is 5 miles around. We hiked that one only once. We do this little lake's hike all the time. And always enjoy it !!

GLAA snaps

I rarely get all 5 children together lately. So here they are. Vincent is 16, Gabriella is 14, Marnina is 12, Dominic is 9, and Francesca is 8. This is in the boys dorm hall.

Francesca and I eating in the Cafeteria at GLAA.

Vincent and I waiting in line at the Caf. Yes, he has passed me up.......vertically I mean :-)

More waiting for food.....Gabby is holding her packet fror Academy Days. She may attend GLAA next year as a Freshman. We'll see what the future holds first.

Vince is here with Julie, his best girl. They are in love *SIGH*.......How can this be ?????

Visiting Vincent

Vince outside his dorm room. He rooms alone, and he had already sent a lot of stuff home, so it looks bare in there !!

Here is his 3rd job, working as desk monitor. The other 2 jobs are Cafeteria and music scholarship (trombone).

"HIS" corner. He owns this area. And loves it ! He's got the process down to a science. Yeah, I know its not that hard...but to do this work and LOVE it takes a hard-working dedicated awesome guy. Great work man !!!

Oh the eyes for the girls, and the girls give the eyes right back. Sitting next to Vince here is his current girl Julie. Beautiful, sweet Julie. Nice to finally meet her, after all the talking he did about her on his last homeleave.

And the boy needs food. Snacks, drinks, general munchies. He's so happy when his Tupperware is full !!!

Pathfinders Bible Achievement at Andrews

Marny is standing by the sign for her club the Wilson Wolves. This is before the competition on Sabbath afternoon. Jeremiah is stuffed into their heads so much right now.....They all did so well !!!

Pioneer Memorial Church is so beautiful. It was full of nervous Pathfinders and staff. And of course nervous friends and family members !!

Cindy Berger is putting up our sign. There were only 3 teams from Michigan: Battle Creek, Berrien Springs, and Wilson. SO PROUD of our team. They took 2nd place !!!

The campus of Andrews is just stunning to behold. Whoever keeps up the grounds is doing an incredible job. The Magnolia trees were in full bloom and the blossoming crabs weren't far behind. It was freezing when we took this picture though. OK, 40 and windy, but it felt freezing !!

Tree Huggers

Dominic and Francesca enjoyed the trees on our walk today. This forest is about 1 mile away from our house and runs along a river. It was beautiful as usual this time.

Some of the Cedar trees that line the path are probably well over 200 years old. I LOVE them !!! Nothing, for me, is quite as romantic, mysterious, and refreshing as being in a forest filled with these aged wonders !!!

A tree hugger in the making :-)

A tree hugger in training :-)

Summer in April

Just walking around in the woods during the 70 degree afternoon.....Time very well spent.

I love to walk behind them and watch as they enjoy the forest. The river is nice and high, but not too high :-)

A rare picture of Gabriella...She likes this spot the best.

We frequent this river bank in the summer. Francesca couldn't resist testing the water, she went right in first thing !!! I guess she has a bit of my water baby quality about her :-)