Happy New Year!!!

I've already broken my resolution to take photos and blog on a daily basis. The New Year finds Mark, 'Cede and I healthy & happy with a very good Christmas Holiday behind us.

We spent Christmas Eve eve with our staff having pizza and catching up on everyone's lives since canoe season.

Mark & I "had our tree" before heading downstate to spend Christmas Eve with Mark's side of the family. We spoke with both sets of kids numerous times. Mark & Kristin sent a goodie basket and Michael & Teresa sent "way cool" ski jackets and pants.














We are all set to stay warm on the trail with a little "something, something" for apres' ski.


My sister-in-law, Jen, and I both made mom & dad a calendar on snapfish. What are the odds of that? Everyone can always use more than one calendar, right? Mark & I got a Reciprocating saw from Mom & Dad. We can't wait to make sawdust!!















Christmas Day was spent with my side of the family. As always, mom prepared a wonderful meal. My niece, Emily, is learning to be as awesome a cook as her grandma.


We came home to find our sign leaning precariously.
Mark spent the afternoon winching it back into
place and rebolting, but the high winds on
Monday prevailed.
I swear I was no where near that sign with my new saw!










We hosted the nicest people over the holidays!
We had some first timers from Columbus for the week. Hal & Sylvia skied all over the county. They enjoyed Hartwick Pines, Forbush Corner, Hanson Hills, & Cross Country Ski Headquarters. They also stopped at The Cross Country Ski Shop for accessories and advice.


Also joining us for the first time (but not last time - they have already rebooked) were Mike & Judy and Cheryl & Tom. We all played Apples to Apples and Scattergories in the evenings. We were joined by regulars, Eric (who is very good at Apples to Apples and skate skiing) and Shaun & Matt who were gracious to take our photo. They did let us hold their turkey. Matt officially joined us for Scattergories , Shaun ad libbed her answers while making snacks.








Since our busy week-end, it has been
really cold with only snow flurries.
According to 'Cede (and me)
there is still plenty of snow to play in.

We are expecting new guests tonight and tomorrow night and hope to see all of our regulars this winter.

Thanksgiving 2009

We spent Thanksgiving on the road this year. After all of the wedding hoopla, the kids needed to stay "at home" and Mark, 'Cede, & I had the opportunity to deliver a load of Christmas trees to Dallas, Texas. Even though we were not with our extended family, we have a lot to be thankful for including our family, two wonderful new daughters-in-law, a great 2009 canoe season, friendships made over many years and serendipitous moments in every day life. We are thankful for all of our guests who have added to our happiness in so many ways. We are thankful for the staffers who have touched our lives.

We delivered 600 Michigan firs & spruces. We were one of three deliveries to the Moomey Family lot. They have been selling Cadillac grown trees in Dallas for 31 years. What a great couple.

We enjoyed a day or two of warm weather and then headed back home with a trailer full of sale flyers for the next week's Sunday paper.

We now have a couple inches of snow and are waiting for a storm predicted for Wednesday. X-C skiing is imminent

'Cede and I have been busy getting ready for winter. It doesn't seem like November without a dusting of snow. Today we found dandelions in the yard. We put up the storm windows anyway!

We have been very busy this fall. We married off two sons and continued to have a steady flow of customers. We sent the last canoe down river on November 3. Jack & his son, Dan, have been canoeing with us for many years and even though we had put equipment away, we couldn't tell them no on the beautiful day they were here.



Staffer Allie was Grayling's Football Homecoming Queen.

Here she is with her best friend, Katie.


While we were gone to wedding #2, Tracey came out of retirement to help Jim hold down the fort. Our "nurses & spouses" group was here for their annual week-end. We hear that it snowed in the afternoon. We were sorry we weren't here, first of all we missed a fun group of guests and secondly, we are kind of ready for snow.







Late in October, a group of knitting ladies took over the house (including some locals and one of our regulars, Kay).



Our most recent guests were a church group from Detroit. Christine and the ladies have been staying with us for about ten years and we always look forward to their visit.

Dave Forbush dropped off brochures for X-C skiing this week. There is a new trail at Forbush and we are just waiting for snow!

Mark, 'Cede, & I will be heading for Dallas in the next week or two to deliver Christmas trees. We will try to keep you updated on our adventures.

Mark & Kristin Got Married!

Our oldest son, Mark Jr., got married October 10. We have known and loved Kristin for several years, but had never had the opportunity to meet her family.



We drove to Chantilly,Virginia a little bit nervous about what we were getting into. Meeting for the first time at the wedding rehearsal could have been a bad plan. We wasted our time worrying. Kristin's parents, Mike & Debby, are charming.

Kristin's brother, sister, and their families went out of their way to welcome us. The rehearsal went smoothly and then we drove to Clifton, VA for the rehearsal dinner.



Mark & Kristin with best man, Mike Pasini and his family.











Saturday was a whirlwind before we all showed up at the church. Kristin kept her mother on pins & needles getting to the church. She cracked us up when she reminded her mom via cellphone that we wouldn't start without her.





The groom and his entourage answer the "what's under the kilt question"















I do, I do!
We are so happy to have Kristin in our family. Who else would wrangle Mark and lead her guests across the dance floor with all of the steps to "Thriller"? She delights us!

Michael & Teresa Get Married

What a week! We started on Wednesday by carving lanterns out of white pumpkins, something about the pumpkins and working on them until midnight made me think of Cinderella. It was hard work, but Teresa (my new daughter-in-law), her sister, Maureen "Mo", our son Michael, and his friend Brian made it so much fun. By Thursday, the pumpkins needed to lie in cold water waiting for the big day. I could have used a little of that myself.

The rest of the week is a whirlwind of tents, decorations, errands, manicures, etc. We also had the pleasure of providing a canoe trip to Everest Academy and various other paddlers. On Friday, Tim had the honor of driving lake to lake when he picked up New York friend, Michelle, in Traverse City and then crossing the state to pick up canoe campers in Oscoda.

Michael & Teresa were blessed with beautiful weather, wonderful friends & family, and a perfect ceremony & reception.

It was a magical, fairy tale evening... and they lived happily ever after!

Two Week Countdown

Our summer ended with a bang. We had such a great Labor Day week-end, both weatherwise and plenty of business. Now that summer is officially over, we had a lot to do. Between busy days and rainy weather, we were behind on maintenance. Allie, Sara & I spent an afternoon on the porches. The girls scraped and I painted behind them. Rocking out to "Queen" made the day fly by.

Mark held down the fort,
renting canoes & kayaks.
'Cede tried to figure out if she could "dog paddle" a kayak.

We started our two week maintenance countdown at the close of business on Labor Day. Never has a title been more appropriate, we LABORED! Our to do list had been growing all summer and our son's wedding was right around the corner. Our number one priority was to sealcoat the driveway.















Many thanks to"Jim-Daddy", Matt, Ryan, & Joe.

We finished all of the other jobs in our maintenance marathon in time for the wedding and it didn't stop us from having wonderful guests.

We had a new group of kayak ladies who traveled in style. They paddled from Grayling to Mio, 49 miles, but they chose shuttle service back to Borchers B&B every night instead of camping.

Janette writes, " .. We enjoyed the comfortable accommodations and the wonderful breakfasts. Also, a special thanks to Tim for the good service and for his good nature in putting up with all our nonsense. He was a great sport."

Our Fort Wayne crew was back and as delightful as ever. The Tucker's daughter, Abigail, is getting married in November. Deb & Cheryl & I talked weddings.

Labor Day Week-End

The Caplinger/Brown families were back for Labor Day Week-end. They have been staying at Borchers on this week-end for about a decade. It's hard to believe that Olivia is off to college this year and that Jim & Mary's girls are old enough to enjoy canoeing.

We were so busy with canoeists and kayakers that we only had a minute or two to sit on the empty kayak racks for photo ops.
The Bezeau group took almost half of our fleet on a canoeing/camping adventure. We had so many groups of family & friends enjoying the great week-end.
It was our pleasure to award Ryan Foguth the Borchers MVP plaque. Voted on by his co-workers, Ryan was elected as the staffer who best respresents the customer service and work ethic that Borchers staffers strive for.
"Hilly" celebrated two decades on the planet, sharing his b'day celebration with us. The girls are always happy for an excuse to call our friends at Dairy Queen. Matt McDonald won the Borchers Bi-Athelon. His skill at backing up a van & trailer did not match those of Tim Riley or Jim "Hilly" Hilbrecht but combinined with his fancy footwork and "celebrity" teammate in the "kayak race", Matt added his name to the Borchers' trophy for 2009. Meanwhile, Allie illustrated her proximity to the cone (furthest) in the driving portion of our contest.

Labor Day always marks the end of the summer and transition to our fall season. We appreciate everyone who made our 2009 season a success.