Retreat memento

After our Sunday breakfast at Tower Hill one of the women passed around a basket of rocks she had painted and let everyone choose one. Andy took the mouse and I chose "think pink."

My friend, L, sent these pics she took Friday night in New Buffalo.

This pic of Andy grilling was taken by our friend, K. She has a nice, big camera while the rest of us were taking pictures on our phones. She always posts great, clear pictures.

Sunday in Tower Hill

The weather was so nice they planned worship outside.

Can't say I'm a fan of the pre-packed, Covid-safe communion.

Saturday in Tower Hill

Andy was up early as usual and enjoyed his coffee on the cabin's screened-in porch. Good thing there was coffee in the cabin because the coffeemaker in the dining hall wasn't working.

We saw these wild turkeys after breakfast. There were a lot of them. I saw deer Friday night but they were too far away to get a picture.

We went to Dinge's Farm. I wanted to get a sunflower head so I'd have seeds to plant next spring but the sunflowers weren't dried yet. We did get squash and a pumpkin for the front porch.

We took an after-lunch nature hike through the woods.

My artsy nature picture.

Andy and I walked along Lake Michigan. The waves were strong but the water felt good.

Andy was helping with dinner prep so I stopped at our moderator, D's, wine and cheese gathering. The weather couldn't have been better.

The camp's caterer couldn't provide dinner Saturday night so we were on our own to cook. Andy cooked the burgers. We also had brats.

A friend, who's a better photographer than I am, took this pic of Andy grilling.

Our friend, L, did all the shopping so the refrigerator in our cabin was stuffed. It was the best meal of the weekend.

After dinner we played some trivia and other games. This was our team's tower ...

This was the obvious winner. After the games, Andy helped start the campfire and I went back to the cabin for some conversation before turning in a little early for bed.

Friday in Tower Hill

Since we weren't able to go to Germany, we were able to fo to our church retreat at Tower Hill Camp in Sawyer, Mich. Andy and I stopped in New Buffalo for a beverage before heading to camp. We left earlier than usual so it was nice to have the drive in daylight.

We shared one of the new cottages with our friends, L and B.

We debated between Redamak's and the Stray Dog for dinner. We ended up at the Stray Dog and had to wait at least an hour for a table.

That gave us time to see the sunset in New Buffalo.

Waiting for dinner with friends C and L.

The lovely ladies had the cabin next to ours and joined us for dinner. It was a long wait but dinner was good. We sat in the upstairs patio and the weather was perfect.

Camp craft

You never know what L is going to bring home from camp. She must have spent a lot of time making all of these clay snails. She also dyed a camp T-shirt, made a candle in sand and painted a picture frame.

Our camper is home

It was so quiet without L at home this week. It was nice to hear her sing along with the radio the entire way home ... for about two hours straight.

Camp life

The counselors at L's camp take photos during the week to share with parents. L looks like she's having a good time.

Camp pics and Tokyo

L's camp shared photos from the week and here are a few. I think the above picture was between taking a goofy picture and a serious picture. Of course, everyone is serious in this photo but my L (middle of second row from the top).

I'm assuming she's reading a Bible passage to the camp in this photo. It was church camp, after all.

L was concerned the creek was too high this year to do a creek walk, but they did!

It's always fun to wrap a fellow camper in toilet paper.

And what's camp without a canoe ride? She also swam a lot and played on a slip n' slide.

E's group left Akita Saturday. They had to be at the airport 11 a.m. Japan time to fly an hour to Tokyo. The message last night was short and sweet. We got a bit of a longer email this afternoon from her teacher, who is up early Monday (Japan time) to go to a fish market.

Sunday, June 29

We got to Tokyo! More later.


Monday, June 30

Good morning! It is 4:45 am. A group of us are going to the Tsukiji Fish Market this morning. Most of the kids are staying and sleeping in.

We got to Tokyo okay yesterday evening. We went to Tokyo Tower in the evening. It was so pretty! It was like floating in a giant jewelry box. We got back around 9:30 and we were so tired, we all went to bed.

The goodbye in Akita was very emotional hard. Lots of tears. Deaton Sensei pulled the kids at the front, I pushed from behind and Joe Sensei took care of the run-aways. We all went through the security and dried our tears. Our plane was delayed for a little bit and we finally boarded the plane an hour later. As we were walking to the plane, we saw the students and families on the roof of the airport waving. We couldn't believe that they were still there! Just when we recovered from our tears, it started again .... It was so sweet of them to stay and see us take off. The goodbye party was emotional too. It was held at the very prestigious hall in the city. Very fancy. We had a great time with the families and our students did a great job with their speeches. Everyone spoke from the heart and it was very touching. A lot of tears there as well.

Oh, fish are waking up. I have to meet them! More later.

Camp crisis

The last thing I wanted at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday was a call from L's camp. Apparently, a lot of the campers were getting violently ill - headaches, followed by stomach aches, then projectile vomit. We drove to the camp with a woman from church and picked up L and her friends, L and J. J whined the whole way home about being sick, missing her mom, etc. I was ready for the trip to end. At least the traffic was light. We didn't get back home until 1:15 a.m. That's when I snapped this pic of L. She was disappointed they shut camp down early, but said she had a good time and would be willing to go back next year. We don't seem to have good luck with Pilgrim Park.

Here are a couple of pictures the camp send via email Tuesday before they decided to shut down camp. L is in the boat in the first one. She said she did swim in the pond. She said the pool was newly refurbished this year. It looks inviting.

Camper L

L is at church camp this week and the camp organizer sent a link to some online photos. She claims everyone is having a good time. I hope so!