Our first stop in Michigan was the Woodchip Campground. This is our “go to” campground for the Grand Rapids area. It’s like an outdoor oasis in the middle of a suburban area. Whenever we are in the area we try to meet up with two of Pat’s friends from high school. This time they introduced us to a new eatery. It’s always fun to meet up with Kay and Lynn whether it is in Florida or Michigan.

My sister, Susan, and I arranged to meet our Uncle Jack at his new place in Spring Lake. Ever since our father passed away in 2010 we have tried to stay in touch with his brothers. Jack recently moved into a retirement home and is dealing with the change in living arrangements. His daughter, Barb, joined us and we were able to have lunch together and walk around his new community.

After that Pat and I drove down to Holland to see my other uncle, Norm. He is in the process of moving to a retirement home near Cleveland where he can be close to one of his two daughters and they can help him when he needs it.

From Woodchip we made the short drive to Lansing to stay at our local favorite, Lansing Cottonwood Campground. Here we saw our dentist and I had my final checkup on my knee surgery from the summer (All was good there!). Some of our Lansing friends have gotten into ukulele playing and this weekend was Mighty Uke Day (MUD). Our friends were participating in a ukulele flash mob in downtown Lansing and we enjoyed watching their performance.

Even though we were only in town for a short time I was able to play at Open Mic Nights at Moriarity’s Pub and the Blue Owl Coffee.

Our daughter, Elisabeth, flew in from Tacoma, WA to be with us for a wedding later in our stay. She was able to do some shopping with Pat and see some of her friends. She and our son, Dave, treated Pat to dinner for Mother’s Day.

Last year Elisabeth had nominated me to be inducted into the Central Michigan University ROTC Hall of Fame. Around Christmas time we were informed that I was to be the 2019 Inductee. Pat, Elisabeth, my sister, and I drove to CMU on Tuesday, May 14^th where I received my plaque from the Professor of Military Science. I was thrilled to be honored for my service to my nation and community in this way.

Later that week we drove to Saint Joseph, MI for the wedding of our nephew, Brian, to his fiancée, Leah. The wedding was in a pavilion on the beach at the local county park. Everyone was holding their breath about the weather and they couldn’t have been any luckier. The weather was cold and rainy until the day before this 3:00 PM ceremony. Then the skies cleared, the temperature rose, and it was a beautiful ceremony. The wedding couple was pushing their luck with the reception in an open air patio, but their luck continued through the reception.

On Sunday Dave drove Elisabeth to the airport on his way back to Lansing and the next morning we were on our way to Milwaukee.