Beach Bound Broadway - Week of Aug. 6th

Mid-week workout!

"You are what you do, not what you say you will do." ~Carl Gustav Jung

This summer has seemed unusually warm for our area and the beach has continued to beckon us northward.  Saturday, we drove our customary hour + to hang out with Oma and Opa.  It was a beautiful beach day and Cam's former bath chair makes a perfect lounging water seat. 

At 4pm, though, we headed south on the beach and after passing 4 cottages, we had reached our destination.  We had front row seats to an original outdoor play written by Cam's cousin, Maya. 
Maya spent 3 weeks crafting the story of a teacher posing as an alien who came from another planet.  Her entire family, as well as her grandparents, aunts, uncles and younger cousins, all had parts too. 
None of us had ever gone to an outdoor theatrical production.  As spectators, we were even offered appetizers and drinks. 

Five acts and an intermission rounded out the 30+ minute production.  Maya indicated they had limited rehearsals, but everything went off without a hitch.  Cam thinks his cousin is famous for creating her own play and directing it!

We watched a beautiful sunset that evening and spent the night at Oma and Opa's.  The next day was a picture perfect beach day again.  Auntie Jo and Will popped in for swimming and fun in the sun.  It's unusual when the big Lake Michigan waters are so calm and we couldn't even count all of the boats we could see.
Auntie Jo and Will surprised Cam with birthday presents!  The entire Narnia series(one of her childhood favorites) in a single book and some really cool Field of Dreams souvenirs from the actual Field of Dreams in Iowa, which Auntie Jo visited.

It's always a bit of struggle to leave the scenic view and make our way back to Grand Rapids.
But when you have a Cam with a positive disposition, well, it's pretty easy for everyone to see the bright side of life.

Camology Quotes:
Cam is a follow-through kind of guy.  If he says he will do something, he will do it.  And if you say you will do something, he will not let you forget you need to do it.  When Cam and Jane were shopping for a present at a local department store, they encountered Peter who helped them with a purchase.  He mentioned taking a survey on the receipt.  Cam said "we will do it."  Upon looking for another item, we couldn't find anyone to assist and found Peter again.  He went above and beyond and laughing, said again "as you know, there's a survey you can take."  Cam again indicated we would do it.  I said to Peter "the minute we walk in our house, Cam will remind me.  We promise."
As expected, upon arrival home, Cam said, "Mom, we need to do the survey now."  With so many other things to tackle, we still took the five minutes to complete.  A few days later, we heard the following message on our home answering machine:
"Hi, my name is Janet and I'm the store manager at the Woodland Stores Macy's and I wanted to call and thank you for the compliment you submitted for Peter.  I'm so glad he was able to help you and provide you with outstanding service when you were in.  I also wanted to let you know that we did recognize him in front of our whole store at a store-wide meeting right after I received your feedback.  We really appreciate your business!"
Cam heard the message and was especially happy that Peter was recognized at a store meeting and Jane was incredibly proud of her son and his dedication to getting things done!