Orel Family

John Fogerty at the Toledo Zoo Amphitheater (photo: John Fogerty facebook page) Growing up, I had 3 musical heroes. First, there were the Beatles. And eventually there was Bruce. But along the way, there was also Creedence Clearwater Revival. CCR released just 7 studio albums. Six of those albums were crammed in to an amazing 30 month period, as John Fogerty cranked out 3-minute masterpiece after 3-minute masterpiece. Being too young to see CCR play, I waited... a long time. I didn't see John play live until the 1990s, and last night was still just my 4th show -- and two of the other 3 weren't full length performances. In recent years, John has come around as an opening act for performers like John Mellencamp and Jimmy Buffett . No offense to those guys, but... really?  I couldn't bring myself to pay money to see Fogerty in that role, not for artists I didn't especially want to see otherwise, not even this past Saturday when Fogerty opened for Buffett in Detroi...

July 3, 2014 One of the few vacations we take is a trip to Michigania Family camp . This is a one week camp on Lake Walloon in Northern Michigan. For us, this has meant celebrating July 4th at camp. Sometimes the camp celebration is on July 3rd or July 5th due to details of the camp schedule. This post is a retrospective of some pictures from July 4th celebrations at camp. July 4, 1999 1999 Our first year camping as a family, and July 4th was our first full day of camp. It was very hot, and Aaron -- then 2 years old -- was already a ball of sweat when I took this photo of him trying on my sunglasses. In the background is the old dining hall. July 4, 2002 2002 Elianna was 14 months old. The heat broke just in time for the parade. July 4, 2006 2006 Elianna, now age 5, at Ceramics, Arts and Crafts, working on a project. July 4, 2008 2008 July 4th was the last day of camp in 2008. This is Elianna at the closing ceremony, overlooking the lake. July 4, 20...