Wow, who is this strange bunch?

Thanks to Lauri-O for digging up this gem...circa 1991. Sadly, Jimmy did not recognize his father in this picture....and Mack is a bit freaked out by the length of her godfather's hair!


I'd be remiss if I didn't wish my wonderful spouse....you know, the drip to my chinese water torture* a

Happy 40th Birthday


*Ha! got to use it before he did!

Now that is the boost I needed!

Since Mike has been too busy to post you guys are stuck with me...again!

Last night I was at colorguard rehearsal chatting with a couple of the parents. Now as the years go on I am getting closer to the parents ages than I'd like to think about. These particular parents will still be around with their youngest, a senior, when Mack is a freshman in the guard.

Long & short...we were chatting about the upcoming trip to Cedar Point the band is taking and if I was going to go. Unfortunately, it is the same weekend as the Detroit Marathon so I can't. I mentioned that my husband is running his 5th marathon that weekend. They were impressed and asked how old he was or something to that effect. I boastfully said he'd be 40 on Thursday (tomorrow). Again, impressed they said wow...you're only like 31 aren't you?!!!!?

Needless to say I had to pick my jaw up off the floor! I thanked them profusely for the compliment but then let them know I am 38. His turn to be shocked.

I have to say, that little exchange ~ it made.my.night!

In other news...

Big huge thanks to Dad & Cheryl, we had a great time on Mackinac Island. The kids are still talking about it and can't wait to go back.

We chose the Shepler line because during the summer months they offer a ride under the bridge on their 10am run to the island. It was great...not a view you tend to get of the bridge every day. They slowed down and gave you a lot of history and building facts.

Jimmy got over his fear of the ferry ride and actually enjoyed it. Though he found it to be a little chilly.

We stayed at the beautiful Windermere Hotel. Can't beat the view or the relaxation factor sitting on that porch with a book or just enjoying the company and meeting new people.

We did the obligatory bike ride around the island. Jimmy did great considering he's on a smaller bike and has to pedal twice as much as the rest of us. The kids loved stopping and playing in the rocks. Jimmy, being the avid collector of rocks had to bring a few home with him.

Jimmy got himself a rifle and proceeded to guard us everywhere we went the rest of the week. He even had to take it into the fort with us. While at the fort he got the hat to complete the outfit.

After the fort Mike & I took the kids to the sites in the middle of the island. It turned into a 2+ hour hike without a map (thanks Mike). Fortunately we have a good sense of direction and another tourist came by while at Sugarloaf and loaned me his map to get our bearings, and a way home. While walking through the woods Jimmy took the lead and protected us along the way.

It was tough getting on that ferry and heading back home.

Now it's time to get ready to send the kiddos back to school ~ YEAH!!! But first the kids & I are taking one more small camping trip with my mom. That should be interesting.

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Mike got his assignments for Dances with Dirt on September 6th. He will be doing 3 legs:

*Butt Kicker~ Abyss and Death by Mosquitoes areas are good opportunity to sprain an ankle. Nasty decline & climb in middle followed by Butt Slider should make ankle swell doubl in size

*This Sucks~ Swamps can make it hard to get legs out of the earth. Plain old wicked, only the best get to run it.

* Vertigo ~Couple of nasty downhills that may give you vertigo. Portions of nice trail, road and hill climbs, off trail running and a flat ending. Mountain climbs and butt slides in middle. No rivers but some wading thorough high grass. Open area can be brutally hot.

Gee, that sounds like fun doesn't it?

I'll see if I can get Mike to sit down and post his thoughts soon.

Thanks for reading

I'm getting too old for this....

I can't believe that after 2 1/2 years away from the insanity that I am back teaching colorguard. What was I thinking???? Last spring I ran into the band director from the local high school (1/4 mile door step to door step from the house) at Meijer and he asked me if I'd be interested in coming back and running the colorguard this year.

I had to get back to him, even though the time commitment was far less than it was when I was there last. They are not doing competitions, just one for the heck of it, only Friday night football games. After some family discussion and temporary misplacement of my brain I accepted the position.

Fast forward to this week. We are having a pre-camp at the school...8am - noon for the whole band and 1pm-4pm for the guard and percs. That is 7 hours of high school drama and the equivalent of doing aerobics in a steam room. Seriously, Monday and Tuesday was about 92 degrees in the shade and muggy as all heck. Just standing still you broke a sweat. Of course due to shrinking school budgets the air conditioning is not on in the school so it's almost hotter in there because at least outside there is the occasional breeze.

So far the week's gone pretty good. We're doing a Doors show~ the music is enough to make you want to gouge your eyes out...just ask Mike, he loves it when I write the work at home and have to listen to it over and over and over ~ go ahead click the link and take a listen. Mon & Tues we had to work at the pace of spin for 15-20 minutes, take a 5 minute water break...it was hot and we were all dripping with sweat.

In the afternoon session where it was just guard & percs we took a brief break around 2:15, went inside for a potty break and found the band room empty. The percs had left??? One of the girls texted one of the percs and found out their instructor let them go early, they had nothing else to work on . Nice. Now how the heck do I keep my girls there going over the same 2:05 worth of work over and over and over?

Tuesday after beating the dead horse to a bloody pulp I let them go a little early so I could have some time to write the 2nd song's work for today.

I just can't believe how much energy this crap takes. How did we ever do it? This is only pre-camp too, next week is band camp from 8am - 9pm all week. (Un)fortunately I won't be able to be there since the family is taking a little vacation on Mackinac Island with my dad & step-mom. Looking forward to a relaxing week on the island! I'm going to need it.

On other fronts....

Mike will probably post soon to lament his back to basics running since his Garmin crapped out on him. He called their tech support and the battery is D.O.A. He can pay $99 and ship it to them and they will send him a refurbished one....not sure if we're too happy with that since it's not even 2 years old, but what can we do? Going for his training runs has been a terrible experience for him because he has nothing to pace himself on....can you believe it? How did he ever train pre-Garmin?

Eh, well....