Camping 2009

Well the good news is we don't appear to have any leaks in the trailer! We were a little concerned since the tree fell on it last month. (If you didn't see the pics you can click here to check it out http://picasaweb.google.com/Benhausen/FallenTree?feat=directlink )

We had a good time camping for the weekend with my sister, Kathy King, and her family. Since Kathy doesn't have a camper she asked if they could borrow a couple tents from us. Worked out well until early Saturday morning when a storm blew through and it was discovered that the large tent had a couple leaks (we'd never had it up in the rain before)! They went home to dry out for a couple hours. Later Saturday was very enjoyable when our brother, Bill, and his longtime girlfriend Connie came to spend the day. Our niece Stacy also came with her daughter MaKenzie and her fiance Matt. A very nice day with some rousing games of tetherball, time spent in the pool, and having a picnic dinner of dawgs and brats cooked over the campfire. Of course I also posted pictures of all this too! > http://picasaweb.google.com/Benhausen/Camping2009?feat=directlink

Long OverdueUpdate

My Bad! I have sadly neglected my blogging. What can I say - life got in the way! Since my last post I have completed another tax season (my 9th!) and am now enjoying my summer free of taxes. Guess that's not completely true since I do have to complete my 24 hours of advanced tax classes if I'd like to work again next year.

Reinhard had a total of six weeks of layoff between December and January. He has been working steadily since then which we are extremely grateful for - especially being in the auto supplier business. At the moment he is in the middle of a one week layoff, but that's okay since we have plans for camping for four days at the end of this week with Kathy's family. Hopefully we have dry weather since Kathy's family is camping in a tent. :D

Mandi decided that CMU was not a good fit for her so moved back home at the end of the fall term. She worked at the H&R Block District office as a Client Service Coordinator during the tax season. It would have been nice if she could have worked in my office, but wasn't allowed since I'm the boss there. Hate those rules. With the District office just across the street from mine we were still able to car-pool quite a bit so that was fun and a nice bonding experience. When tax season ended she took a couple summer term classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and really enjoyed them. She has now registered for a full time schedule starting with the fall term and is making plans to move down there with several friends. Mixed emotions about all that but I guess that's part of our job - getting the baby birds prepared to be able to leave the nest.

Joey is officially part of a couple now since he and his girlfriend, Kayla, decided that they are in a relationship. He took her to their first prom in April and they looked adorable together. (See picture above) I found it surprising that it costs just as much to rent a tuxedo for our son as it does to buy a prom dress for our daughter - and at least the prom dress is ours to keep! He has squeaked through his Junior year of high school and is all set to start his Senior year in September. Man, am I starting to feel old!! :-)