A Day Off

Cal didn't have to work today, so he spent most of it at home.  He has worked quite a bit this summer and has done well with tips.  He has decided to invest a small part of his money and save several thousand for spending money at IU.  He has also been a lot happier this year as he hated working in a factory last summer.  It paid well, but it just wasn't a lot of fun.  This summer he has been outside working with his friends.  He has also learned how to interact with customers which will benefit him greatly in the future and has played a lot of golf.

Cam and I were home most of the day as well.  We did make it to the library.  We were looking for the book "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."  They couldn't find it, so we put a hold on one.  I also had him go with me to Ace to help carry bird feed.  Usually Meg goes, but without her here, he became the designated errand runner.  We got in a bike ride/walk and a game of ladder golf before the rain hit.

Doug, Cam and I had plans to golfing when he got home.  Cal even talked about going with us.  Once the rain started, however, Cal and I opted out.  Doug said he'd take Cam.  I told them to go without me and I would come and pick them up if the rain got heavier.  I worked on my photo album while they were gone.  After an hour or so, I decided to check on them.  They were just approaching 16 green and although they were soaked, they wanted to finish out.  Glad that Doug was game for taking him.  I hate being wet.

After golf Doug, Cam and I went to the new Italian place in Warsaw for dinner.  Cam had never been there.  He really liked it.  We brought Cal back a pizza.  While we were eating he was able to finish his midterm for Macro Economics and catch up on some assignments for next week since we will be gone.

Strangely Quiet!

It has been strangely quiet here the past twenty-four hours.  Meg left yesterday with Bethany's basketball team for a four day trip to Vincennes.  I have heard from her via text several times since she left and Cal and Cam are here, but without Meg the quantity and frequency of conversation at our home has diminished.  Although, I miss her, I am proud of her for going with the team.  It is a wonderful way to get to know her classmates.

Cameron had been wanting to go see the movie "The Mummy."  Since Meg did not want to see it we thought that this would be the perfect day to go.  We first went to Kohl's to do some shopping.  Cam wanted to find a pair of pink shorts to match his flamingo shirt.  He got a lot of complements on it yesterday at the golf tournament.  He thought the shorts would make it even better.  Unfortunately, we struck out.  Either the shorts were way too big or the wrong color.  We had a lot better luck with the movie.  I was afraid that it would be too scary for Cam or I, but it wasn't.  The mummies were kind of fake looking so that helped.  The storyline was good and we both liked Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll.

Tonight Cam had soccer.  I dropped him off and Doug picked him up.  I had to vote in the Tippecanoe Township Advisory board special elections.  Soccer went well for Cam.  Cal worked during the morning, but was around the rest of the evening.  HM came over later.  We enjoyed watching them spend quite a bit of time trying to get the ladder ball golfballs out of a tree.  Cam threw them up there when he was trying to avoid letting me win.  They moved them, but they are still stuck.  Hopefully, the next storm knocks them down.

A Fantastic Round of Golf

This morning Cameron had his third junior golf tournament of the year.  Normally, my parents take him to these events, but as they left for Las Vegas yesterday, I gladly volunteered.  His tee off wasn't until 10 a.m. which meant that we didn't have to leave for Erskine Golf Club until 8.  Cameron was in the first group and started off pretty well.  He bogeyed the first hole, but hit the ball well.  One of the boys in his group birdied the same hole, so he was two down to start.  From there Cam turned it on and played fantastically.  He birdied the next hole and except for one fast downhill putt and a drive in the trees, he scored almost perfectly ending with a 39.

Cameron still had to wait for three groups to finish to find out how he placed.  He wasn't too nervous as he knew that 39 was a great score especially since it was only two over par.  I was impressed with his playing today.  It definitely was a lot different than when I used to walk with Cal in the junior tour.  Then players weren't even allowed to talk to their parents.  Now they can have a caddy.  Almost no one had a pull cart when Cal played, now everyone does.  The caddies were even pulling the carts for the players.  Cam said that they could give help except around the green.  I didn't pull his cart for him except between the green and the tee.  That way I didn't have to watch everyone putt as putting makes me too nervous.  I did talk through Cam's thought process as he played, however, and for the most part Cameron didn't need much help.  He and Cal play a completely different game.  Cal worked on hitting the long ball.  He had the size to do so.  Cam instead had been working on course management.  He plays a lot like I used to when I played competitively.  It's a lot easier to watch.  His drive was a lot shorter, but it didn't stray too far from the fairway.  Cal calls that kind of game boring, but it was the way I loved to play.

It took about forty-five minutes for all of the groups to finish and the scores to be calculated.  In the end Cameron finished in first place and took home a very nice trophy.  The win also qualified him for the tournament of champions that will be played at the Notre Dame Golf Course later in July.  Proud of his work this summer.  Glad that I could be there to watch.

Soccer Practice Duo

Tonight both Cam and Meg had soccer practice at Bethany from 6 to 7:30.  It was the first time that Meg had driven Cam to Bethany and it went pretty well.  Not only did they ride over together, they actually ended up practicing together with the middle school boys scrimmaged against the girls.  Cam thought it was a lot of fun and felt he played well.  He had learned from watching Meg that when he gets put in at midfield drift toward the forward line.  It worked for him just as it had always worked for her and that way he didn't get as tired as he normally would at midfield.  Meg's take on practice was that the middle school boys and high school girls do a lot of arguing and trash talking when they play together.  Other than that she enjoyed it as well.

I was glad that Cam went to soccer.  He was still tired from his tournament yesterday and he had also walked 18 holes today at Raccoon Run.  He and Meg had piano lessons this afternoon and we stopped for ice cream at the Chief beforehand.  Thus, he did have some time to rest.  After going he decided that he will definitely be going back on Thursday.  Meg won't be able to join him as she will be in Vincennes with the basketball team.  

Once they got home Meg went to Pat's Chicago Dogs to have dinner with Nate Haines.  She has been enjoying the newfound freedom that having a driver's license brings.  I did finally get the truck cleaned out today, so she can call it hers.  I am interested in seeing if Cal claims it back for the next couple of days while she is gone.

The Playoff

The next stop on Cameron's junior golf tour was today at Harbor Shores in Michigan.  It was the furthest away and the most expensive, but well worth the time and money for him to play in it.  This was the same golf course that Doug had gone to several times to watch the seniors play.  Cam's tee off time was later than normal - 3:52 as everyone had to start on number one.  We got a text from Mom to let us know that they actually teed off about 30 minutes later than scheduled.  I didn't hear much from them the rest of the day and by 7 p.m. I decided to try contacting them.  No one answered or texted back.  I wasn't worried, just more interested in how he did.

While Cam was gone Meg and I went shopping in Goshen.  She has a busy four weeks ahead of her with a trip to Vincennes with the basketball team, our family vacation to D.C. and her two week stint at Camp Crosley.  We knew that this was the best day to spend purchasing supplies.  We found everything pretty easily except for a pair of hiking sandals.  Since we had time before tennis we decided to try Concord Mall.  It had been a long time since I have walked through it.  I was surprised by how few stores there were.  We did find a pair of sandals at J.C. Penney's, but they were out of her price range.  We tried one last store - Shoe Sensation - and they had exactly what she was looking for and well under half the price of the ones at Kohl's and Penney's.

I dropped Meg off at tennis as it was at Goshen Middle School.  It was when Doug and I were heading back to pick her up that we finally heard from everyone in Michigan.  Cam had played exceptionally well finishing tied for second.  Each one of them were at less than 5% on their phones so they were calling from one of his opponents' mothers phone to let us know that they were headed to a playoff.  It was well over an hour before we heard from them again.  Cam had finished third losing by a stroke on the third hole of the playoff.  We didn't talk to them again until 11 p.m. when they pulled in our driveway.  Everyone was exhausted, but extremely happy with Cam's round.  He had just enough time to show me his medal and give me the hole by hole details before he headed to bed.  

Michigan

We had wanted to take Meg and Cam back to Michigan ever since we visited last summer.  Originally, we planned on going over Mother's Day weekend as it was also their tulip festival.  Unfortunately, I was still recovering from my bought with pleurisy, so we had to postpone until today.  Even though the tulips were no longer in bloom at Windmill Island, it was still beautiful.  The weather was cool for June, but everything was in operation.  We stopped first at the hand cranked organ before touring the windmill.  Both were just as pleasant as we remembered and we enjoyed them immensely.  After the tour we walked along their path, enjoying the flowers and the horses.

From Windmill Island we headed into downtown Holland for lunch at the New Holland Brewing Company.  We decided on appetizers to share and although they were all delicious, the pepperoni pinwheels were voted as the the family favorite.  We spent some time after lunch walking through the shops.  Cam found a four sided Rubrik's Cube and I bought a bird puzzle.

Our next stop of the day was Saugatuck.  We loved eating in Holland, but Saugatuck definitely has the better shops.  We were bummed to find out that the Christmas shop was cut in half, but Glik's made up for it.  While there Cam found a flamingo Hawaiian shirt that fit him perfect and Meg bought a few shirts as well.  I was pleased with my purchases for the kitchen and for Doug's birthday.  Doug broke off from us to do some wine tasting.  Our last stop was Kilwin's.  Cam bought ice cream and Meg picked out fudge to share.

We had decided earlier in the day that we would stopped in South Bend on our way home for dinner.  We had thought about going to Evil Cheque Brewing Company yesterday after mini golf, but Meg needed to get back early.  Tonight we had plenty of time and were actually able to play another round of golf before we ate.  Unfortunately, the outcome was the same with Doug sinking a hole in one on number 18 to win.  Not sure that Cam and I will be able to recover.

Happy 1st Birthday Joshua!

Today my Mom's family gathered to celebrate Joshua Pancoast's 1st birthday.  It was special to everyone especially knowing how challenging it was for Jeannette to have a child.  When her twins died a year and a half ago I know that I prayed that she would one day know the excitement of raising a child to his or her first birthday.  Thus, it was a lot of fun celebrating with him.  It was also the first time my Mom's family had gotten together since last August when LaMarr was here visiting.

The weather was a little cooler than originally forecasted, but the children didn't mind.  They all went swimming and Cameron had fun on the Millennium Falcon float.  We were able to catch up with everyone and found out some scary news about one of the cousins.  Hopefully, it will pass into nothing.  There was also a mishap with my plate and the sliding screen door, but it made for a great story later.  Joshua was one of the few one years that I have seen really get into devouring the cake.  He finished it off pretty well while covering himself and his high chair with red frosting.

Overall, Meg, Cam, Doug and I enjoyed the afternoon and were glad that we could be there for the celebration.  Afterward we stopped at mini-golf in Mishawaka.  It has been awhile since we had played.  Doug was once again the winner, although it was a lot closer than the last time we played.  Once we got home Cam went over to Mom's to play games.  Meg had a tennis match with Nate and Nathan which ended at Joe's ice cream.  Doug and I had dinner at Kelly Jae's.  We hadn't been there in quite some time and it was nice to get away.  We all met up at our house for a bonfire.  By the end of the night the shelf was almost gone, but we still have enough wood for one more fire.  It was a wonderful way to end a cool summer day.