Our neighbor loves to talk about his hometown, Petoskey. And the way he talks about it, it’s as if it’s the most perfect place in the world. He says the summers are beautiful. Everything’s green. Lake Michigan always has boats out on it filled with people having fun. The sun sparkles on the water, and it really never gets too hot.
We’d have to agree with him. We pulled into his parents’ place Friday afternoon. His parents live on a pretty piece of property out in the country. Diana’s father helped them build the home, and many family hands went into its formation. That makes for quite a special place.
The boys got right to enjoying having the space of a country life.
So did Melbee. She ran around until her tongue was hanging out. Then she’d run around some more.
Then she’d do this…oh, what a life!
Friday evening, we went down to Boyne City to Stroll on the Street. Fun and fancy cars park down the middle of the downtown street, along with boats, and musicians play on the corners. It was drizzling, but that didn’t keep the crowds away.
This was a beautiful wooden boat. It was absolutely a show-stopper. And this is the monster truck that pulls it – a Ford F-650!
Brodee found his dream car.
And Dayne found a challenge…
This street performer was amazing kids and adults alike as he stood as still as a statue. Many kids tried to make him flinch by saying funny things or clapping, etc. But nothing. He was impressive.
The statue guy challenged Dayne to a staring contest. It lasted a solid three minutes at least. Dayne even took his hat off and laid it on the ground, hoping to cash in on his short stint as a street performer. For a second, Dayne lost his concentration and blinked. It was over. But the copper guy gave him a fist bump, acknowledging a worthy opponent.
This is a $1M+ Lamborghini racing boat. It has a matching truck that pulls it. The boat alone is 53 ft.
Boyne City bay as the sun begins to set.
We attended the Petoskey SDA Church with Ralph and Diana. One fun surprise of the weekend was finding out two of their grandkids were in town. The boys had a lot of fun reconnecting with their friends.
We all took turns driving/riding around the golf cart through the woods.
The boys were allowed to drive the golf cart. Elation, to say the least!
And we picked wild raspberries. They were divine!
Diana suggested we visit the bay in Petoskey. It was such a fun memory. I’ll get out of the way and let the pictures speak for themselves…
The perfect afternoon was followed by the perfect evening – hotdogs and smores around a fire.
We’ve come to know Ralph and Diana from when they come to AZ to visit. And what’s really special and in no way a coincidence, and I sincerely mean that, is that they’re Seventh-day Adventists, too. My sister and her family moved next door to Charlie and his wife about twelve years ago, not having any idea. Because of that, we’ve gotten to share a friendship and share a faith, and that makes for very meaningful fellowship. It’s like being with family.
A few years ago, Ralph was in a terrible motorcycle accident, by no fault of his own. He was hit by a trash truck out near their home. As a result, he ended up losing his left leg. He has had to struggle through many things because of that, as you can imagine. And Diana has struggled with him every step of the way. It was devastating and has brought so many challenges. But God has carried them through it all. This world is full of sin and hurt. Believing in God doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. Bad things are a result of sin. And because we live in this world, sin will affect us. But having God to guide us through it all is the only way to truly make it. We can’t do it ourselves. Ralph has learned to rely even more on God than he did before, and he’s not shy about sharing what Jesus has done for him. He and Diana are both amazing people.
While at church on Sabbath, we read in the bulletin that there’d be a church work bee the next day. Diana mentioned that the work bee coordinator has been discouraged by the last few work bees due to low attendance. It’s hard to keep a facility up with volunteer help, and even harder when there aren’t enough volunteers! We decided to go help out Sunday morning. With five Malos, that’d be ten extra hands. Hopefully that would count for something!
Melbee was such a good girl. She waited quietly in the shade for us to be done.
After working all morning, we took the kids from the work bee to putt-putt. (The boys have played more mini golf on this trip than they have their whole lives up til now!) Ralph kept score for the boys group. And he walked all eighteen holes, up and down tricky stairs and ramps on his prosthetic leg – amazing!! The boys loved his company.
And now, here’s where you get to meet a third amazing person. His name is Ben, and he’s in the picture up above with Albert. Ben in on the left side. They worked the rock screen together at the work bee. They got to talking, and Ben invited us up to see his rock collection. You see, as we were all working with rock that morning, we found several Petoskey Stones.
They’re stones that end up with a pattern on them that’s unique to the Petoskey region only. People love to go to the beach and look for them. Well, some Petoskey Stones had ended up in the church’s landscaping, so we found a few while working. Ben told us he had a really large rock collection and would be happy to show it to us.
This is Ben’s rock collection! He’s building a log cabin home and has driven all around the state of MI in search of the perfect rocks. He has 200-300 tons of rock here in his 22′ wide fireplace. He built it with the help of a friend. That made sense…until he said his friend was 83 years old! What?! His friend was there as an adviser. Ben did all the placing himself. It’s been a 2 yr project because it takes time to find the perfect rocks.
Ben is also Paul Bunyan and cut each of the trees represented above and put them together to make the roof supports. He had to hire a crane to place it.
This is the outside of his fireplace. The rock Albert is standing in front of (the one that’s half the width of the fireplace) comes with a fun story. It used to be in a cow pasture, and those moo-moos loved scratching their sides on it. Ben saw that rock and knew it’d be the perfect corner for his chimney. He asked the farmer if he could buy it. The farmer told him he’d never be able to move it. Ben assured him he could.
Ben and a friend cut down these trees, cleaned them up, and built this. Is that not amazing!!!??? And if he doesn’t know how to do something, he figures it out. Go figure!
Ben also gardens. He has seventy tomato plants simply because he likes to share with friends, various peppers, squash, fruit trees…etc. Oh, and he sewed his own duffel bag from alligator skin. And two matching pairs of suspenders. He cans, as well. What doesn’t he do, you ask? I asked. He doesn’t quilt. I thought, surely, his line of work lends itself to knowing how to build like he does. Nope. Ben is in the medical field.
But this isn’t all that makes Ben an amazing person. A few years ago, he lost the love of his life, his wife, to illness. Ben misses her terribly still. But he keeps going. As much as Ben likes the rocks in his home, there’s another Rock he relies on daily. God gives him the strength and fortitude Ben needs. He’s inspiring, and we so appreciated being able to spend time with him and become friends. And come to find out, we go to church with his niece back in AZ. Small world.
After Ben got done showing us around his home, we headed to his beach. It was a perfect day for some cool Lake Michigan water…
Max and Melbee had a blast running up and down the beach.
The water is just breathtaking.
The stair climb to get back out is an excellent workout!
Later that day, after our visit, Dayne voiced an observation that was a really worthwhile point. He noticed Ben still has projects at home to work on, but yet he took the time out of his day to come to the church work bee and help. Dayne thought that was really kind. And then Ben took the time to visit with us, after he’d already taken time to help others earlier in the day. Excellent thoughts, Dayne. Those are the kind to remember.
A Malo Walkabout 