Goodbye's are hard. . .

It's my last day.

Seven years is the longest I've been in a job. Longest I've been anywhere since I left home after graduation.

Alternative Ed. is tough, and the last seven years have been full of really hard times that I would never have imagined facing. There have also been MANY fun times and inspiring moments. Several coworkers have been there with me through it all and we have definitely formed strong bonds. To those friends: thank you, thank you, thank you for being there! I'll miss seeing all of you every day!



One of the beautiful times at ETC (photo taken last year)

Cheeseburgers in Caseville fun!

The Cheeseburger parade is a very fun parade...lots of laughter and candy and. . .



BEADS! BEADS! BEADS! (I can still hear all the little kids yelling!)



Yeah, I'm all that. . .get a picture of me. . .


...Mr. Unknown-Photographer. . . . nah, don't think he caught the cutest kids. I watched this guy for a while, figured I should continue my surreptitious photographer-paparazzi shots... wondered if he was from the BC Times, and if so, why ALEX wasn't here in his stead to hang out and see the flamingos. ???


They had the nightly concert on the beach afterwards. Kelsey thought that was pretty cool.

Surprise!!!!

We surprised dad with a 70th birthday party - 3 months early! He and mom will be in Texas on his birthday, so we figured it'd be fun to have his party at Caseville. We told him that there was a surprise party to celebrate my new job (!!) in order to have him keep ME away from the cottage yesterday morning!

Dad with three of his sisters.



(Almost) 70 years young!


Yep...my nephew was dressed in this shirt as a joke. Ha. We'll see if he can resist the force. . .!


Extra entertainment on a windy day.


Being blown away on our outdoor toilet. . .fertilizing the flowers??

Cheeseburgers and Volleyball...

The Cheeseburgers in Caseville festival began friday - a ten day celebration of summer, jimmy-buffet-style! Laid back, fun events spread out over two weekends and the week in between.

My first cheeseburger of the year:


For the price of a $5 button, you can get in to free concerts at the band shell all week. It's great fun to watch the outfits (especially the hats) as you listen to the reggae music!


Saturday morning 5k standouts. My nephew, Tyler, got first place in the 5k run in his age group, and his friend, Jason, took second. Way to go, guys!


I skipped the 5k to save energy for the volleyball tournament. Unlike our showing 2 years ago (where we lost every game), Chad, Christy and I were able to pick up a fourth (Brandon from Ortonville) and fought long and hard (from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to earn second place trophies!!

Below, pictures of John and Michelle, who won the tournament playing with only two. John wins every year with a different female. Great fun playing them, even though we did our best to tire them out so we could take first!

Here, I tried to get a picture of John's jump serve. I told him later that I needed him to do more so I could get a good picture of it. However, he wasn't happy with how the jumper was going, so he reverted to his unfailing overhand serve.




We are the champions. . . .the Volleycats with John and Michelle.

Family fun.

I took a quick overnight trip to Caseville this week - the timing was perfect, with Gina,Kevin and the kids up and 90 degree weather!

Kevin and Jordan.


The water was unbelievable - mom even went in!



Saturday we were all back at mom and dad's house, and tested out the neighbor's pool. Pretty scary that Kelsey thinks she can swim (at 2 1/2 years old), but we figure that we'd better let her work on it, since she has no fear!

Today was our family reunion. . .

My cousin just got her 4th and 5th adopted children, twins from Guatemala. You can see all five with her here, along with her dad, my uncle Clarence. FIVE KIDS UNDER FIVE and she's single. WOW!


Kelsey made a friend of our cousin's son - they bonded over hats.


Finally - a main event at our reunion's - scrambling for money in the sawdust pile! Unfortunately, the age groups don't go up to 34. All of my niece's and nephews did well though!

Scots support the Loons and Tigers. . .

Well, this was quite a week for me in many ways: the last week of Camp Iknowme 2007. . . a new roommate. . . second interview at Alma College. . .and two Alma Alumni gatherings at baseball games. After all of the fun and adrenaline, I shared my niece's nap time yesterday for two hours!


This Loon's game was the most exciting yet for me - we won with a homerun from Carlos Santana in the 10th inning!



On friday night, my brother-in-law and I went to the Tiger's game in style with an alumni group - I saw my first Tiger's game from a suite!! Great view, great people. . .unfortunately, they didn't pull out a win, but it was a fantastic night anyway!


Our suite was about two away from the press box. . .incredible!


The diehards who didn't rush out at the end of the game and fireworks. . .