I’m really excited that I’ll be able to do this.  I’ve never had the chance to go to one before, although I have been invited, just time and circumstances wouldn’t allow it.  However, I’ve decided to make it so I can’t miss one and have one myself.  I have some of their stuff already and I love using it.

The game has been a lot of fun to play. Ian actually got it for us for Mothers/Fathers day, although he may not realize that. It’s one of the few games Jesse and I can play together without getting mad at each other for running into battle and destroying all of the strategy. Plus Ian loves watching it. He’ll actually bring the game wheel to either one of us and pull us to the TV. He also loves sitting in our laps while we’re racing around the track. He even has his own character. He doesn’t race well, but likes holding the wheel and he knows which button to push to make the car go; he just hasn’t figured out that he needs to constantly push it. The only real trouble with Ian liking this game is he really likes this game and will go right up to the TV to see what is going on. He’s a definite handicap when we’re playing.

The courses are pretty fun, but I absolutely hate Rainbow Road, but I guess that is a staple for the series. I’ve done all the cups in both the 50cc and 150cc, except for the Special Cup because of that blasted course. I’ve even got gold in all the other cups, but I can’t even place for this course. I’ve even been trying to convince Jesse to play just Rainbow Road for me, I would go through the three courses before it, just so I can get past this blasted cup. No such luck yet.

Anyway, my mother is just as organized as I am, if not more so, and she was looking for her list and couldn’t find it either. She did some searches and found a couple of really good ones. Here is a list for the generic camper. It’s a pretty good comprehensive list, but I will probably remove some of the items for my own. After all, I don’t think we’ll be needing Water Purifying Tablets or Water Filtering Pump for our weekend trips.  She also found this list for families. While we’re not planning any camping trips this year with Ian, I do plan on taking him at least once next summer.  We were thinking of going this year in June,  but with buying a house and Ian being the age he is, we wanted to wait one more summer.

So I wanted to share these lists and put them in a place where I’ll be able to find them again.

Here’s the lineup:

Saturday’s Line-Up

Billy Currington bio | music videos	Chris Cagle bio | music videos
Eric Church bio | music videos	Phil Stacey myspace
Special Guest click here	Local Act

Sunday’s Line-Up

Gretchen Wilson bio | music videos	Pat Green bio | music videos
Keith Anderson bio | music videos	Jake Owen bio | music videos
Jypsi bio | youtube

Saturday night we went to Little River Casino and I actually made money. Well, sorta. Jesse and I each took in $10 and that is what we used to gamble with. I ended up leaving with $32. That’s not bad. Jesse didn’t do so hot, but he made up for it Sunday when we went back and I ended up losing all $10 I went in with and he came out with $14. Yeah Jesse!

We didn’t check it out last year, but we did get down to the Port City Street Fair that goes on during this same weekend. There was a bunch of arts and craft tables, some live music, and a bunch of food. At one end of the street, there was a car show going on, but I think we got to it towards the end. Most of the cars were gone when we went to check them out.

We definitely learned from our mistakes last year. We didn’t do community snack foods and I don’t think we spent that much on food. Beth and Jordan brought a lot of food with them, so there really wasn’t much for us to go shopping for. We didn’t go through anywhere near the amount of wood we did last year. Granted, it was warmer this year (by a lot), so there really wasn’t the need for a continuous fire. Don’t get me wrong, we had one, it just wasn’t roaring.

We ended up getting a new tent this year. After last year’s fiasco with the rain and the leaky tent, Jesse and I ended up with a six-person Coleman tent. It was a really nice tent, but there was one thing we were sorely lacking….an air mattress. That’s next year’s purchase. We have a decent tent now, we just need to fix the sleeping arrangements.

I think that’s about it. Jesse and I have already decided that we need to take Ian camping next spring (no he didn’t go with us this weekend, he spent it with grandma). I’m trying to convince Jesse that we should go for the Lilac Festival in Mackinaw Island in June. We’ll see if I can. Oh yeah, the pictures for this weekend are here. So enjoy.

However, before I can enjoy the weekend, I need to get there first. That means having to think about the packing and the organizing and the general headache of going away for a weekend. I’m taking Ian down to my mother’s on Thursday, so I have to have him all packed up Wednesday night. Then I need to pack for Jesse and I (yes, I do pack for both of us), plus get all the gear around and I just know I’m going to forget something. Plus we have to remember to leave food and water out for Toby. Why do I see the trunk packed and I can’t think of enough stuff to put in there?

You really don’t see photo albums any more, at least not like you used to. I do a lot of scrapbooking, but I’m not really adamant about it since I have all of my pictures online. It’s easier to share them online than in albums and it doesn’t take as long. Granted, I tend to do a better job showcasing them when I put them in albums, but it takes longer. Of course, I take a lot more pictures now that I have a digital camera. That is probably the biggest impact digital cameras have had – they can hold more pictures than a roll of film. You can buy memory cards that will store up to hundreds of pictures on one stick where before you would have had to use multiple rolls of film. And even though you’re taking all of the pictures, you can see what they are all ahead of time, there are no more surprise at the photo lab. No more shots of your feet or the sky. You know if your shot came out or not.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. So I’m going to be scanning a ton of pictures and thank god we just updated the server. Otherwise I have no idea where I would put them. I have a feeling this project is going to take me some time since Ian isn’t exactly a fan of sitting next to me in his high chair for long periods of time. Granted, I’ll have nap time and after he goes to bed for the night, but seriously, this isn’t all I’m going to be doing. I’ll be lucky if I have it done by the end of the year. Plus, this is only the first stage of the project. The second stage is converting all of the VHS home videos to DVDs. This I should get done a lot quicker and sooner than the photos. I generally have the TV on for background noise, so I can be coping the tapes while Ian and I play. Plus there are a lot less tapes than there are photos. The only thing with the DVDs is I’m going to be doing an exact copy. At the moment, I don’t have any software/programs that I can use to chapterize and modify the tapes. It would be nice to get rid of the footage that is pointless (aka walking with the camera lens pointed at the street). If anyone can recommend a program, I would appreciate it. Remember, I run Linux at home, so not all programs will work on my machine. We’ll deal with that hurtle when I need to though.

Other news – the Ren Fest trip is this weekend. There is 9 of us going. Plus I think PJ said she had a few people joining us as well. This weekends them is Highland Fling, so there are going to be a lot of kilts there. I know for a fact that PJ said Chris will be wearing his. It should definitely interesting, especially considering we’ll have Ian (6 months) and Zsolt (18 months) there to liven things up. I haven’t been to this one in a couple of years, so it should be fun.

Ian has started a new trend lately. I’m not sure how I feel about it either. Usually I would nurse Ian when he was tired and that would get him fall asleep for his naps. Lately, however, nursing hasn’t been working. What has been working is rocking him to sleep, but you have to start it at the right moment. It also means he is fussy longer because the rocking doesn’t keep his mouth as busy. This is good because I don’t have to nurse him to get him to sleep, yet it’s not so good because it takes him longer to fall asleep. Although, this is the last hurdle to getting him to fall asleep on his own. He’s already figured out that he gets a bath, pajamas, and a bottle at night and once the bottle is done, I can generally put him in his crib (still awake, but drowsy) and he’ll fall asleep within 10 minutes. He still makes some noise, but he’s not crying, just making noises. We just need to work on the whole rocking = nap time routine.

Some sad news….we’re definitely getting rid of Chaos. We’ve been having some problems with her over the last couple of months and originally we were going to try and find a shelter for her or another home. However, I’m at the point where I just want her gone. We’ve made up our minds, so I don’t want to drag it out. If we wait to find her a home or a shelter who will take her, we may end up changing our minds again and who knows what will happen because of that. I’ve already contacted a few shelters and they are full due to the influx of kittens (it is kitten season). I really don’t want to take her to the Humane Society, but we may not have any choice about it. I told Jesse that if we’re getting rid of her, I want her gone by the end of the month. Jesse is having some obvious mixed feelings about it. He really loved Chaos – she was social, he could play with her, and she was starting to sit in his lap while he was on the laptop. It’s just been since Ian came home that she’s been having problems and she’s made it that we have to choose between her and Ian – and we all know that isn’t really a choice at all.

I do have good news – my sister is getting married! She’s been with Jayson for two/three years now and have been living together for the past year. He proposed to her two weeks ago and they are getting married at the end of September. Yeah, it’s kind of soon, but the wedding that they are having, there is no need to wait and plan. They are going to be married in a hot air balloon. That is how they met, while crewing for Tim and Missy (or through, not sure which one) and they are constantly at all the balloon rallies in the area (that they can get to). It was only fitting that they get married in a balloon. They are going to throw a reception, but not until November. The balloon ride is hard to pinpoint since there are so many factors to go into it. But now I have two months to do a bridal shower and of course she adds another wedding this year (she’s #6 for me this year). This is going to be a busy fall.

Alright, enough rambling on.

The weekend theme is Highland Fling – “Kick up your heels with traditional Scottish music and the annual Highland Games.”

Ticket Prices:
$17.95 for Adults
$8.95 for Children
I can get tickets ahead of time at Kroger if you want to give me your money while we’re in town the weekend of Aug 12th. I’m going to find out if tickets are cheaper the younger the kids are. Ian is definitely going after all.

Directions:
The Festival is located in Holly, Michigan off I-75, exit 106, on Dixie Highway between Pontiac and Flint.

I-75 Northbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Grand Blanc), stay in left lane of exit, travel two blocks.
Turn left onto Dixie Highway, southbound. The Festival is two miles
south to the right.

I-75 Southbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Dixie Highway – this is a left exit). Merge to the right.
The Festival is located two miles south on the right.

Website:
Michigan Renaissance Festival

Weekend Themes:
Buccaneer Beer Fest: Aug. 18th and 19th
Grab your tankard and set sail to Hollygrove for adventure and fun.

Highland Fling: Aug. 25th and 26th
Kick up your heels with traditional Scottish music and the annual Highland Games.

High Seas Adventure: Sept. 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Drown yourself in laughter at the Swab the Deck game or Perfect Pirate Contest

Wonders of the World: Sept. 15th and 16th
Join us as we celebrate cultures from across the globe with International Dances and Song.

Shamrocks and Shenanigans: Sept. 22nd and 23rd
Celebrate everything Celtic during our Irish Heritage Festival.

Sweet Endings: Sept. 29th and 30th
Parting is such sweet sorrow, but we make it better with our tasty Chocolate Festival.

Ticket Prices:
$17.95 for Adults
$8.95 for Children
I can get tickets ahead of time so we won’t have to wait in line, but in order to do so, I’ll need to know who’s interested and have their money in hand.

Directions:
The Festival is located in Holly, Michigan off I-75, exit 106, on Dixie Highway between Pontiac and Flint.

I-75 Northbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Grand Blanc), stay in left lane of exit, travel two blocks.
Turn left onto Dixie Highway, southbound. The Festival is two miles
south to the right.

I-75 Southbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Dixie Highway – this is a left exit). Merge to the right.
The Festival is located two miles south on the right.

I’ve also started thinking about things we could do different this time around. Hopefully Jordan, Beth, Brad, and Erin will be up for it again (they said they would be, but it’s not like it’s soon); however, we did learn some things that we can’t do again. One being that we each buy our own snacks. Granted, this isn’t what got me thinking of food though. I was actually thinking about bread. We easily went through three loaves of bread the four days we were there (two of those days consisted of driving the 3 hours to the campsite). I was also thinking, we wouldn’t have to reserve our campsite months in advance. I’ve always heard that finding a campsite between Memorial Day and Labor Day can be a pain (which is true), so we opted for the weekend after Labor Day and it was dead, more or less. We could easily pick out the campsite we want to go to and than wait until Labor Day weekend before making the reservation. Technically, we wouldn’t even need the reservation, we could just show up. The more I thought about this, the more I realize how much our plans could change if we did do this. And I’m not thinking negative changes either. I mean, think about it. We’ve decided on where we’re going camping. We haven’t made any reservations yet, but we know we want to stay in Manistee. The weekend before we’re plan to go on the trip, we check the weather. Oh no! It’s going to rain the entire weekend. All we would have to do is find another campsite in another part of the state that doesn’t have rain in the forecast. Or if it’s suppose to be really cold, we could go farther south instead of going north. The entire weekend wouldn’t be contingent on the fact that we had the reservations already, because we wouldn’t. The more I think about this, the more I like the idea.

I’ll probably forget about this come next summer when we really start to think about it again, but that’s why I’m putting this here. Between Jesse and I, one of us should remember it. Hopefully. Now I want to go camping again. I had forgotten how much fun it could be until I went and did it again.  Now I can’t wait until we go again next year.  And who knows, maybe more people will join us next year.