Going to Grandpa's

This was another Summer week that kind of goes into the blend.  Along with a weekend that was very different. 

 

Softball was cancelled Monday, but it just gave me more time at the Bombers with Mike and Randy.

 

Softball Tuesday was the normal.  We provided about half their team and they went on to thrash us.  Still fun to get out and about.  Then Wednesday I played Soccer with the Chin Youth Team before joining with Grant Penrod for some Tennis at KCC.

 

Thursday night was an odd one because Ultimate Frisbee switched from the usual awful field to KCC's extra field.  Turns out some other folks play there.  Some of them knew the details of Ultimate, but that doesn't mix well with our folks so much.  Either way, we all played together and it went all right.  Future weeks I think we'll split off to Wednesday nights though.

 

Friday I rode my bike into work.  Terrible idea.  It took about 25 minutes cause I have to avoid the Dickman on my bike.  By the time I got there I was a hot mess, and had to clean up a fair amount.  I won't do it in the future cause it's not worth having to change and dealing with randomly SUPER hot days against rainy days and etc. 

 

This particular time on the way home I saw the remains of the motorcycle that was wrecked Friday afternoon.  All that was left of the bike was the middle third.  Some of it burned but I imagine most of it was knocked off by the force of the impact.  The car looked like a truck hit it.  Pretty awful and pretty evident that the rider didn't make it.

 

But... the world keeps spinning.

 

Friday night I spent with Dad out at Grandpa's old house.  I got to see his bees and then go for a motorcycle ride after changing my oil.



Dad is in their flight path, kind of getting low and out of the way.

 

The flying one is blurry, but you can see he's carrying pollen in his little pollen sack on the back.

He has about 5 combs started.  I think it'll be neat to see the results in the coming months.

Going into light speed.  It was a chilly dusk ride.

He has the microphone system that is pretty fun to play with.

 

Saturday I played disc golf and shot a personal best of +1 there.  Now anything over that will be disappointing.  But that's ok.  I had the pleasure of doing that with the Moody's and then we watched the movie Flight.  Not so much the redemption story I was looking for, but also not awful.  Definitely rated R for a reason. 

 

And finally Sunday I went tubing with some of the Youth Group and the Wygants.  I haven't been real tubing for years and it was fun to go again.  I saved a couple rollovers by pulling myself back on, but also biffed a couple of times.  At least my pants stayed on the whole time.

 

The girls had a lot of fun together and a lot of crashes too.

My favorite part nowadays is falling asleep on the front of the boat.  Except when Tim stops fast and drenches me.

So another week is in the books.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm hired into Denso.  Waiting for the official dealio in July, but I've signed on to continue in my Packaging Engineering role.  It's fun to see how these 6 months away from camp have gone.  Still missing it though.

Outdoor Activities

This was a banner week around here.  Steve and Jen Knapp were up from Florida for the week, so I got to see them twice.  Once in Caledonia for a game night, and then once at the Riegel's to grill out and hang out.  I have pictures of this... but on the other computer that struggles with blogger.  But it's on Facebook for sure!

After that fun I got to see Adela for the rest of the weekend (I picked her up on Thursday right after work).  On Saturday, Mom thought it would be fun to head to the zoo!  And it was.  Here are some pictures.  I have many more Facebook.

That goat could eat like... 5 pods in one lick.

A peacock.  Mom got calling to one of them.  Like son, like mother?

My turn to feed.  I was so busy taking the picture that I didn't even see him eat this.

Gotta love the giraffe's.  Well worth a dollar to feed them!

In the fountain at the Arboretum.  I've been in there, but just for frisbees.

On Sunday we went to church, where power was out.  It was fun to have just hymns and a more quiet service.  Nice to know that church isn't dependent on the power grid.  And afterwards we went to South Haven!

I love South Haven but haven't been able to go because of camp the last three Summers.  So we packed kids in the cars and took off.  (Again, most of the pictures are on Facebook). I was excited cause they finally updated their parking lot to a debit card paying system.  No more guessing if they're ticketing or guessing if someone already paid for your spot earlier in the day.  Just go and pay and no problem.  They even have parking attendants with iPads that can actively check on every spot.

We all played a little of everything, walked the pier, and even snuck in a bit of a nap before driving home with some Yummy Taco Bell in our bellies.

Giant picture of this ship at South Haven.  The distance made it look all foggy.  

And that's all I have to say about that....

Just kidding.  I'm also having fun with sports.  Had a good Softball game Monday night.  I'm so excited to run the bases again.  I've missed that part of it.  And only 7 or so games left in that league.  Tuesday I skipped Softball in favor of the Knapp's.  Wednesday was lively beach volleyball.  It even included an almost arrest with 3 cops running around the apartment complex we were at.

This week Monday softball was cancelled for my team because of a scheduling error.  So I joined the boys for another Bombers game at CO Brown stadium.  It's really a blessing to stay connected with some of camp on a weekly basis.

I'm already getting sad that Summer will end.  So I'll be sure to make the most of it!

Can't keep me off camp property!

Actually... you probably could.  But they haven't tried too hard yet.  I spent the weekend up there getting recertified in lifeguarding.  This is 10 years since I was certified at Michigan Tech and it has changed my life.  It let to my Summer jobs, which led to my Full Time Jobs, which led to camp, which led to Denso now.  

Our LG review class all loved their manikins.

They did not love the super cold water.  I was backboarded twice and a shivering mess both times.

We had some spectators.  Nice of them to stop by and show us what it looked like to be warm.

Our class joined the Beach/Walmart trip.  This is what happens when you harass people carrying swim noodles.

Nice pic of chapel.  Paul wasn't quite capturing the under 6 crowd.

But the box hockey did.  I joined them for a bit during the end of chapel.

This was my drive home.  The camera makes it look better than real life.  Hard to see through the rain.

Even at home I got to see Mike Baker and Randy Harris on the down swing of their bus trip.  Watched a Bombers game with them after my softball game.  I'm hitting like I should again, so that was fun.  Always better when I get to run the bases a little.

Camp is starting and I'm sure a lot of people will be surprised by how it actually work.  I sure am praying for the Summer Staff to learn fast, and play hard.

Summer Schedules

This week I didn't get much for pictures because I was too busy actually doing stuff.  I don't like taking a break to snag pictures in many cases.  Plus it can be sorta awkward. 

On Thursday I went to Holland and had dinner with Adela and some of her family.  She made some burgers and we played a game of Scum afterwards.  A lot of driving but definitely worth it. 

This weekend was the first I spent here in Battle Creek.  I had some plans to go out and about to the East side of the state but then I had ended up with a bunch of Battle Creek events to work on.  Friday evening I rode my bike to Kelsey Snowball's open house before watching a bit of baseball at Wattles Park and then finishing off with watching Star Trek (2009) with Ethan and Liz.  I really put off the long bike ride, but 11:30PM seemed like it was late enough.

All told it was a good start to the Summer biking season with about 20 miles logged in.  I don't really like riding for the fun of it, but when I have a destination I like it a lot better.  Hopefully this is the start of the good habit. 

I started Saturday with a look at a house.  I have some friends flipping it and while some of the details were enticing, I probably want to save up more of a proper down payment for a while.  Also, coming off a missionary stint I'm not a big fan of locking down on a house.  That payment can cripple a run at raising funds as a missionary.

As the day went on I had a bit of an impromptu softball practice.  I spent the afternoon with Josh Nye and Matt Garrett.  We just horsed around outside and played some softball.  Brian Murphy joined us for some basketball and playing some Zombies on the Xbox.  Next thing I know I'm going to bed at 2am!

As for the Summer Schedule, it looks like I'm locked in, or close to it.  Here it is:

Monday- Softball with Battle Creek Bible.  It gets my competitive fi in for the year since Garrison Hills only plays in a slow paced, low skill level league.

Tuesday- I do like the slow paced league sometimes.  It's usually great outfield practice and I like the fellowship with folks from my church.

Wednesday- Pick up volleyball.  I've got a small group of folks that are planning to play throughout the Summer.  Looking forward to seeing how this comes together. 

Thursday- Pick up Ultimate Frisbee and Youth Group.  Youth Group is different every week obviously.  Ultimate Frisbee is just up the street and it's great to be close and give me the option to do either. 

Friday/Saturday- Weekends are saved up for trips to camp, Ultimate Frisbee tournaments, and the other things that come up throughout the Summer. 

Sunday- Obviously I'm here for church most weekends, but sometimes the events of the weekend spill over into Sunday.  Today I played Tennis and other weekends there will be other one day sports. 

It's a good start to Sumer athletics!  I played Frisbee, basketball, softball and tennis.  I like being tired and soon I'll be back in mid-Summer shape.

Any time of season is a good for laying in the sink.