It was a great week!

I spent the last week camping with my sisters, on the shore of Lake Michigan near beautiful Grand Haven, Michigan. This campground is only about 20 minutes away from where I live, so the husbands were able to come out for the weekend. The older girls were able to spend a lot of time with us, although they each had to work a little throughout the week. Here are a few pictures showing you how we spent some of our time.

We didn't do a lot of campfires, because it was quite warm, but we enjoyed the evenings we did have them. Of course we had some good campfire treats too!
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We had a lot of really nice weather, but there were a few periods of this:

This storm came on Wednesday and it looked like a small river was running through the campground! It only lasted a short while though, and then we saw this:

I love rainbows, and the promise they portray.
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Laura and Aaron spent Sunday afternoon and evening with us. Here they are standing on the Gazebo overlooking the lake.
Left to right: Heather, Bob, Laura, Aaron
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While we were standing in the gazebo, Bob got a call from Andy. Heather, Laura and Aaron went for a walk on the beach while he was talking.
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I love to watch the sun set over the lake. Here are pictures from a few different days:

This is the walkway to the beach, lit up in the evening.

The campground is landscaped beautifully. Everywhere you walk there are different flowers blooming.

The gazebo near the lake is used every weekend for weddings.

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We took a walk down this trail and enjoyed the woods surrounding the campground.

Here's one last picture of Lake Michigan. We had a great week, spending time with family and relaxing.

We're back!

We are back and a good time was had! Before I tell you about our week, I have to clear something up. A few of you commented on how brave I was to camp in a tent... I have to tell you, that I don't camp that way. Bob says that what I was doing doesn't count as camping, but it works for me. I got the chance to use this beautiful camper, by bidding on it at our church's mission auction and winning! (Thanks Nate and Brenda!) It has hot and cold running water, a bathroom and... air conditioning! Now that's my kind of camping!
I'll post some pictures from our week tomorrow.

I'm outta here!

It's been quite a week. You may remember this post I wrote about a month ago about having the state inspectors come to the nursing facility I work at. Well - this week we had another inspection. This time it was the Federal Inspectors. I have worked at this facility for 18 years and only remember them coming one other time. Apparently a certain percentage of facilities are chosen randomly and are inspected, following the state survey. They are checking to see if the state survey and their survey are in agreement.
I must say that these inspectors were much more human than the ones we had from the state. They were not as intrusive or as demeaning so that was a nice change. They were very particular, but I think that goes with the territory. They left Thursday evening. Now we wait for the official results to be mailed to us and then we begin a plan of correction.
So - it's been a busy, stress filled week, but now I'm off. I have next week off and I'm going camping with my crazy sisters, Terri and Cheri. Our husbands are coming for the weekend and then leaving us to fend for ourselves. I won't have a computer so I'll be suffering from blogging withdrawal. I'll catch up with you all in a week!

Bob and Andy's Camping Adventure

You will have to excuse this late post - I'm still catching up! This is from Bob and Andy's camping trip that they went on last weekend.
Ever since Andy was about 10, he and Bob have taken a few days and gone camping in the Manistee National Forest. They rough it, going in a tent and have no electricity or running water. They target practice, take lots of walks and just enjoy spending time with each other. This past weekend they were able to spend a few nights doing this before Andy left. They've never done it this early so it was a little colder and not very green, but they had a good time, regardless.

Here is their tent sitting in the middle of the woods.
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The scenery was beautiful, even though there weren't many leaves on the trees yet.

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This is a panoramic shot Andy took of the lake

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You always need a campfire, right?

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Even when there's a lot of beauty around you, but don't forget to look up!