TRIP TO MICHIGAN AND MORE FAMILY FUN

Dear Family, We are finally getting around to document the great events of the summer.  After the reunion we travelled back to Michigan for a week of further reunion and fun.  Here is what Mom did for a long time.  We are still moving from Michigan.  Here is Mom going through the remaining boxes from the barn.  She found treasures as displayed on the mantel in the farm house.  We found all the trophies from Junior High and High School.. things like Rob's pinewood derby trophy, Cheryl's debate trophy, numerous most valuable player awards from all the teams and it was one giant memory lane. 

We stayed at Mary and Mark's for a few days and also stayed at the farm.  There were more mini reunions.  Rob showed up for his 20th High School reunion at Andover (Mary went also).  We went to Leo's for old times sake and here are Mom, Rob, Mary, Kati, Mark, and David.  We went to Leo's multiple times on Telegraph and in South Lyon. 

We went to watch David at his Karate Dojo.  We went to Al's farm in Munith and that was so neat.  I have somehow lost the pictures but we watched Al milking the goats wearing her baby.  They have a working farm with calves, sheep, goats that are milked, chickens and ducks and a large hay field that Paul cuts and bales.  They have a vineyard and a large garden and we sampled the produce.  This was so fun and amazing to watch Al at the farm as she hated working on our farm as a teenager.  They are almost self sustaining.

I gave two Patriarchal Blessings on this trip, one to James and one to Scotty.  Here is James who is taking online high school and college courses.

We did James at Al's farm and it was a wonderful event.  We also visited with Scotty in his home and here is a picture below.  He is one tall strong young man and we enjoyed this experience with his parents.

We spent a lot of time at the farm.  As Mom sorted through boxes and shipped individual treasure collections to the kids, I got on the
John Deere and brush hogged the 20 acre hay field to keep it from overgrowth.  Bryan and
I spent a lot of time together and we seem to work as a natural team.  We cut grass, trimmed trees, checked on the bees,  and spent a lot of time exploring his new 40 acres to the south of the farm.  Bry now has one mile of property between eight mile and seven mile roads.  He has fixed up the new barns, raised a dilapidated house, planted hundreds of trees on the lower forty acres, and constructed a bridge across a swampy part.  Al and the kids came out and here is a shot of the Kybota which is the best taking the kids around the farm vehicle.

Here are Al's  kids at the haunted Oak tree.  I had forgotten how beautiful Michigan is in the summer;  there are so many trees and everything is so green and healthy.  Here is the path to the back woods at the farm.  There were several barbecues at the farm.  I was surprised to see Stefan Mueller and his family in the Bloomfield Hills ward.  We knew him and his family in Stuttgart during our mission.  We had a barbecue at the farm  and Stefan, wife and kids, father in law (from Landshut) came and we had a Feldschiessen event that was a lot of fun.

These is a lot of game on the farm and we saw deer every day.  The kids did not want Opa to find out about it.

Bryan had the old Ford Tractor restored and here he is on it.  It purrs like a kitten and is as old as Bry himself.

We seemed to party every day; we have such a good time being together.  Jeff and his family also came to the area. Tammy's father passed away in Ann Arbor and we attended the funeral.  Jeff, Tammy and their kids were there as well.  Before we left, we had another barbecue on Wing Lake with Al, Mary, Bryan, Jeff and their families attending.

Here is Mom in the background, Mary, Opa, Al and friends. There was canoeing, swimming, water games, fishing, tree climbing, retriever dog training and more barbecue.  We had such a good time in Michigan.  It was great to go to our  old ward and visit our neighbors, the Breers, as  well.  I had a great time working with Bryan.  It was the best trip to Michigan .

Thanks to all there for the wonderful time,

Mom and Dad