Lots of Fun


We are back in Alto right now. I've been working a few days at my schools. Right now I'm working at four different middle schools. Hopkins, Byron Center and two in Caledonia. As I did last year, I'm working with teachers investigating ways to increase their students' achievement in reading and writing. But until school gets going in full swing, I'm doing lots of fun things.

When we were up at the cabin two weeks ago, we attended the Boys and Girls Club Ping Pong Tournament with Mom and Dad.
It was a fund raiser for their reading lab which my sister Susie runs through the EUP Learning Center. Here's Susie in the first round. She won her first round and had to face her husband Roger in the second round. I felt sorry for Roger because Susie is extremely competitive. It was a hard fought battle with the 2 of them. Roger won the first game and Susie won the second. The playoff game went to 24 -22 before Roger beat her. She didn't take it well. But it was all in fun and they raised a good share of money.

Last week Tom had to dust off his softball glove and shoes because he was called into service for Tommy's team. They were short a player and Tom stepped in. The grandkids were so excited to see their grandpa play ball because as Jack said, "He's an awesome player." In this photo, Jack is looking on admirably while Grandpa is on deck for his time at bat.

Yesterday, Tom and I went to the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo. We had a personal tour because I'm writing an article on their History of Stock Car Racing exhibit. We enjoyed our day there. We had lunch in the 1950 style diner. The waitresses wore uniforms just like my uniform from my days of waitressing at Woolworths in the Soo. This is a gas station from that era too.

Today is my last day of play before school starts for teachers at Hopkins tomorrow. We went for coffee at Rowsters which is Stephen Curtis' new coffee venture. Stephen is the owner of Essential Bean, our Caledonia coffee house.

After our coffee, we headed downtown GR for lunch at San Chez. It's one of my all-time favorite restaurants anywhere. Lots of fun times before I head back to work.

Oh yeah, we're heading to the Cabin for the Labor Day weekend. We're returning on Tuesday and then I'll be working everyday for quite a while. I love my jobs so that's OK.

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