Ultimate Tourney in Traverse City

This weekend was one that I've been licking my chops at for some time.  But first, I'll discuss the week.  Another normal week in general.  Softball was cancelled because of some scattered thundershowers.  Disappointing, but not all that unpredictable. 

 

On Tuesday I surprised Adela by stopping by in Holland.  We didn't do anything too exciting, but it's always good to see her.  Then on Wednesday we had to switch out of our normal volleyball courts because the apartments had some locals playing at their court.  It was still fun, although I was the only guy there and the proceedings were a little more silly than I prefer. 

 

Then on Thursday I got the special treat of Adela coming by to visit Battle Creek.  It was great!  She borrowed a friends car and rolled into town.  She thought the youth group was going tubing, but it turned out another scattered thunder shower wiped that out.  It worked out well though, because we went to Willard beach and the water was HOT.  I'm so used to Shear Lake that it was nice to get in some warm water. 

 

Now for the weekend!  It was the Great Lakes Greatest ultimate Frisbee tournament in Traverse City.  I was excited cause I've missed a lot of tournaments to be at camp the last three years and I've never been to Traverse City.



 

The warm weather was cooling off and rainclouds were the order of the day.

The other direction showed a great rainbow. Two actually! 

The tournament was run better than many I've been at over the years.  There were only 6 teams and the competition was under par (2 solid teams out of 6).  But to spite that, everyone had a great attitude and was there to have fun.  Our team became "Discs on a Plane" and we had about 3 teams worth of top lines. 

One thing that impressed me about our team (and the others) was the ladies.  They were by far the best ladies I've ever played with.  They gave our team a huge edge.  With the skill level of our team and the amount of players (14 guys and 6-7 girls) I didn't play a whole ton of points.  I usually am in and out 2 points on, 2 points off (or more sometimes).  This week I was more of 2 points on, then 3-5 points off.  It left me with a lot more energy afterwards, and I wish I had left more on the field.

Every good tournament ends up with a new mini game.  Like Wiffle Tent here.

I played well in the tournament.  Even though I wasn't in as much I played solid with a good mix of good throws and bonehead throws.  More importantly the team played great.  The championship game was close, but our wave after wave of skilled players was hard to deal with and we won the whole thing undefeated. 

A tournament of firsts for me.  First I stayed at the whole time to the finish. First that I was part of the winning team.  And the first Summer tourney since leaving for camp.  I really enjoyed it, but it was a little eye opening that I've been outside of the Ultimate community for a while.  And I'm out of shape!



Here's a shot of the bay with the random boat anchored just out of the swimming area.

As for Traverse City... I wasn't impressed.  I'd certainly visit again!  But it had some issues, maybe the biggest one being overhype!  Here are my three complaints:

1) The Bay: It faces North!  I love Lake Michigan for the sunsets.  Now it wasn't terrible or something, but it was disappointing.  I did enjoy the beach and I imagine there are fantastic overlooks and points all the way around it.

2) The Spread: It was about 15 minutes to get anywhere we were going.  Campsite to fields: 15 minutes.  Fields to town: 15 minutes.  Town to Campsite: 20 minutes.  And not city minutes.  Like... country highway minutes.  I felt like I was in Fairview again!

3) The Ritz:  Traverse City wishes it was Grand Rapids.  I like South Haven and Ludington cause there is much more of a walkable feel to it.  There is some of it in Traverse City, but I feel like if I was walking I'd be wondering what I was missing.  South Haven I can go wherever I want on foot and I can cover everything I want to do at the beach.  It's a classic beach town... on steroids!

That's where the sun sets here.

Overall it was really fun though.  Like I said, I'd go back again for a tourney or a road trip.  I think I would still prefer my other locations on the West coast. 

That's my new tent on the far right!  The field was a little pokie, but it was a good camping experience.

Discs on a plane!

A good, safe trip.  Thank God for that!  And for great weather!  And everything!

If you're wondering... I do miss Camp.  I'm having a blast this Summer, but I'd much rather be digging dirt with Mike Baker or hosting a counselor snack on the West side. 

By the way.  I'm struggling to finish blogging on Sundays.  So look for it Tuesdays.  That might be my new night for a while.  We'll see though.  Adios!

The Heat is On!

Here we are.  Another week of Summer is gone!  And now I'm realizing that the rest of the Summer weekends are planned out.  Crazy.  

This week we had a lot of church events, which was great.  So here are the pictures... a lot of them with kids from the youth group.

Craft Night at the Church.  We had several stations, each with unique crafts that will be given to the kids at the CRAN orphanage when Project Hope sends a group down in August.

My group worked on little hair accessories.  I had a lot of fun crafting!

On Thursday the Youth Group went to a public beach at Gull Lake.

The first event was hitting each other with noodles.

Then there was bocce ball all over the park.

Tim just bought a boat that the kids enjoyed.

Venue change here.  Now we're in South Haven on Sunday.  Catching some sun while staying cool.



Jordan has good form when throwing that football. 

We seem to have a connection with South Haven.  Tim likes it and so does a decent group of us.  Driving an hour is worth the relaxation and fun of the beach.  I discovered that floating along on Tim's boat is super relaxing. 

We had some bad neighbors on the beach, and I was explaining to the Colombians (Tim's newly adopted kids) that when you drink a lot you go crazy and un around like these people were.  All in Spanish of course.  Broken Spanish that is.  So then the police came, so I explained that part of it as well.  If you're too crazy the police will come.

Now it's back to work.  Some weekends I feel I pack a week into 2 days which is great.  But then I get that feeling I'm just getting off a week of vacation on Sunday night.  But that's ok.  I enjoy my work.

Stay cool this week!  It's stinking hot!

Tents and Tents and Camp

Just captions today as I try to catch up before work:

 

Softball is going well.  We're 2-2 and that somehow puts us right in the mix to lead the league.  Apparently everyone is having trouble keeping a winning record.  I'm not a "skill player" so I'm enjoying improving my game everyday.

Got a tent in the mail last week.  Looking forward to using it.  Even more so when my sleeping pad shows up.  Without a pad I wake up with a crooked back for the rest of the day and I'm still tired the whole day.

The fireworks tent is a big fundraising opportunity for my youth group.  Our youth pastor basically lives there and it's fun to go hang out with him and help with the sales and organization.  This year they almost sold out and shut down early.

That week saw Adela visit for her birthday and it was a fun weekend!

Bearskin rug on Thursday morning on the West Side!  I jumped up to camp since we had a 4 day weekend at work.  They needed lifeguards, so I was able to fill a gap while also catching up to my friends and relaxing a bit.

This is the start of the new seasonal staff house.  Looking forward to see it take shape although I also want to work on it!

I offered to guard for the STEP program on Friday night.  Good thing cause they didn't know how to play watermelon football (obviously from this picture).  It turned out to be a lot of fun and I think everyone was involved.

Ben Calhoun catching a disc.  He had some good catches.

And his friend.  Nathan Dufrin maybe?  His catch looked more epic... but he couldn't quite actually catch it.

Guarding for the water ambush.  It was a mess.  But it's neat to see all the campers gathered in one spot before the start.

And finally a funny picture.  Cody Witzgall is in the back of the rowboat.  He was rowing but he couldn't keep a straight line so Hannah Ford had to replace him.  Funny to watch this beastly kid get replaced by a much smaller girl.  And she did great!

That's it!  Gotta run!