October 2013 Halloween Camping Monroe KOA

BFC's
Another great weekend of making memories and sharing some good laughs was had by all this past camping weekend.  We could not have asked for better weather, with highs in the 70's and sunshine that made it even better.  This was our annual Halloween Camping weekend, however our first with the BFC's some of which could not make it due to understandable circumstances.  We would like to thank our founding original members, Grandma and Papa for making the long drive to visit us for the day.  Big Fire knows that they would have loved to stay the weekend but sometimes a busy schedule will not allow that.  We missed grandmas great coffee in the mornings, but we managed to get by, barely.
The focus of this weekend was on the kids as they thought long and hard all year on their costume choices, we had everything from Santa Claus to the Grim reapers, from a princess to a ninja and last, BATMAN!  And a great Batman at that, even though this was not Rece's first choice he played the role very well as you can see from his confident pose in this picture.  Even before the costumes were worn this weekend Leah and Josyln portrayed their best Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield with a few battles over the princess camping chair amoung other things.  All arguments were forgotten once it was time to trick or treat and these two heavy weights acted like best friends, besides have you ever seen Santa and a princess be mean to anyone! Grandma will not be happy about this one....... As the moms took the kids trick or treating the dads stayed back to pass out candy (watch the Tigers game) and enjoy some apple cider and good jokes.  All the kids arrived back safely and full of candy in their bags and tummies!  Some even ate so much they felt sick before bed, I wont mention any names but Noah claims he only had four candy bars.

We at BFC's encourage our members to invite guests to join in the weekend fun and this time it was Dan Pydyn along with his two children and Jeanette's Brother Don.   Both who fit in extremely well within the group, although Dan had a hard time dealing with the birds chirping and had to request ear plugs before bed, he did provide us with great company and he is welcome back anytime.  Its not to often that a guest is immediately seen as BFC material and from the moment Don arrived I could tell he had camp fire in his blood.  Don threw up his large tent in a matter of minutes, then jump over to help others.  He obviously has some experience making a fire and did not hesitate to maintain the fire. He was great with the kids and at one point stated that he has a "hard time sitting around and cant stay still".  He needed to do something, and he did, as the only adult to cruise around in the banana bikes with the kids, which is extremely hard to do!  Normally our guests ask if they can join our club and there is a long interview process involved, but once in a great while you see someone and you just know they have what it takes to battle the elements and survive a weekend with us.  At this time I would like to officially invite Don to join our club and become an official member of BFC.  We all hope he accepts this invitation and we gain another important person in our club.

Speaking of new members, Larry head of scheduling mentioned that he has a few more potential candidates that are interested in joining BFC.  After some investigation I have found that they have never camped, but are in the process of looking for a camper.  There are two reasons why they will have to go through our normal interview process, 1. They have never camped.  2. The last group that Larry requested join our group was boarder line of not making it.  (Just kidding....).  Larry please invite these potential new members for a fall/winter outing so we can start the interview process. 

Other highlights of the Halloween weekend:

• It appears that one of our members has put the his magical skills aside for some time to focus on a musical career.  Several times this weekend we overheard some great guitar music coming from the Klan's minivan.  I believe he is honing his skills to be able to play some great music for us around the campfire next spring.  Keep practicing Noah!  Papa claims he can sing, and it would be great to hear the two of you bust out some tunes while we enjoy an evening fire. 
• As a reminder the name BIG FIRE was chosen for several reasons, but one important reason was because the big fire is where we gather every evening to settle down after a long day and talk about the days events.  This was not the case this Halloween weekend due to the fact that several I Pads where brought camping.  When day turned to night all of the kids hibernated in the comfort of Larry and Jeanette's camper to play endless hours of mindsweep.  Which was kind of nice for a change!  Technology is great.  However lets try to remember why we picked the name BIG FIRE and not the name BIG GAMMERS. 
• Congratulations to Shelly K. and Jeannette for completing a 6 mile run on Saturday, running 8 min/mile!  Which had me thinking that we should coordinate a 1 mile fun run / walk around the camp ground for our next camping trip.  We could do this as a group with the focus on BIG FIRE and / or we could invite other campers.  Lets talk about this at our next meeting. 
• On Saturday some of us ventured into the freezing waters of the man made lake with rented paddle boats and canoes.  This was supposed to be a relaxing event and quickly turned into bumper boats while Noah and Adam acted like missiles ramming into our paddle boats.  Which sent Leah into a laughing frenzy, and frustrated Rece who was focused on catching a big fish.  What felt like hours on the water was really only 30 min but was enjoyed by all.   

Another great camping weekend!  Thanks to all. 

Side Notes: 

One of our own could not make it Halloween camping because she had an adventure of her own, backpacking in the Grand Canyon.  We are looking forward to pictures and stories from Shelly R. trip.  Shelly please send me some pictures and stories and I will post it to the blog. 

After going through numerous applications for a sign maker the job was awarded to Papa.  Congratulations Papa, we cant wait to see our new sign in the spring of 2014.

Last, we are looking forward to some BIG FIRE adventures during the off season.  Please let me know if anyone has any ideas on what we can do as a group during the winter.  Jill and I will also introduce everyone to our newest member, who should be arriving into this world shortly. 



Thanks
                                          Rick Grezak
                                          BFC President