Naiser's First Big Trip

I asked Denni and Greg to give me some information about their first trip abroad this past summer so I could post it. Denni gave me a very nice run down of the whole trip, so I've decided to post it using her words. Take it away Denni!

July 12 –16 Paris
16 –17 Basel, Switzerland
17 Bern, Switzerland (Day trip)
18 Murren, Switzerland (Swiss Alps)
19 Milan, Italy (Day trip)
19- 22 Rome, Italy
22 Florence & Pisa
23 Venice (Day trip)
24-25 Basel, Switzerland
26-28 Munich, Germany

Absolutely LOVED Paris! Greg and I were amazed that it didn’t get dark until 10:30-11:00 at night! Would love to go back and see more…which really would not be much! Highly recommend the Fat Tire Bike Tour (located right under the Eiffel Tower). If we had done this first, it would have eliminated the quarter size blister I got on the ball of my foot from all the walking we did the first day! I now know why French and Italian women are skinny!

Switzerland was the most beautiful. Bern was probably my favorite town! Angie and I laid in front of the famous clock there. (When playing this game, you need to make sure that there are lots of people around. They either look at you like you are crazy or take your picture!) We stayed in a Swiss Chalet in Murren! The small town of Murren was up so high that we had to take a tram and 2 different trains to reach it. The air smelled so crisp and fresh. The Swiss cows actually wear bells and you can hear them up in the mountains. Since it was in the 40’s during the day, our beer actually stayed nice and cold! (I could have stayed there forever and not just because of the cold beer!)

Rome, of course, had the best sights to see, but I was not impressed with the city itself and it was HOT. You have to see the Vatican and Sistine Chapel in person. Pictures cannot capture their granduere! (same for the Duomo in Milan). Florence is near the Tuscan part of Italy and was beautiful. We took a bus tour to learn about the city and it’s history. We would loved to have gone further south. (Saving that part for the next time around!)

Venice was amazing as well. How this city is built with all the water is crazy! It’s literally like walking in a maze! Wish we could have stayed the night and been able to ride in a gondola. But time was not on our side this trip…maybe next time!

Back to Basel, Switzerland – Since my cousin Angie, who lives there, was gone so much before we got to her again, she was unaware of the Tattoo (Music) Festival that was taking place in town. We just happened to stumble upon it as well as all the parades that took place. Angie and I again snapped a ‘laying down’ shot in front of a group of guys from Scotland wearing their kilts! Although I saw some very interesting outfits, I don’t think any of them got as much attention as my pink shorts did with the locals!

Munich - The first thing I could smell was hops!!! I guess with all the brew houses around, what else would you smell! I loved it! The weather during our two days was rainy and cold. We did get to take a bike tour around parts of the city and learned a little about the history. Marienplatz (town hall) is beautiful! I don’t remember the name, but there’s a street that runs in between two churches in town and during Hitler’s days, if the Jews did not salute his statue before crossing the street, many were shot to death. Today there is a path of copper plated cobble stones down this street to represent the bloodshed lost. Since it was rainy, most of our time was spent at……yep you guessed it…Hofbrauhaus! We probably couldn’t tell you much about the food that was on the menu, but we can tell you about the BIG ASS beers we had! Oh wait, Greg did eat two pig knuckles in two days! They were really good! On our last night, we met a family from Boulder, Colorado and some local ‘elder’ women. We had a great time. (I could have pimped Greg out to one of the ‘elder’ local women and made good $$!) Oh, and my last ‘laying down’ picture was right in front of the polka band!!!!

We saw so much in 14 days! Greg and I tried to think of anyone that could have kept up with us and no one came to mind. I can honestly say that these trips are getting harder as we get older. Greg keeps telling me that it was a once in a life time trip…but I’m not buying it. I can see another trip in our future, older or not!

Another Camper, 8/25/10

Camp Staley was reopened for a few days when Little Miss Olivia decided to come for a visit! She played dress up, swam in the pool, colored, swam in the pool, made a doll house, swam in the pool, ate at the Yum Yum Tree, swam in the pool, went downtown to play at the playground and go to the toy store and Oh My Lolli, and then, of course, swam in the pool! Olivia got a big surprise when Uncle Ron jumped in the pool after she kept telling him "You can't get me!". I'm not sure who had more fun, but I can tell you the whole pool room was soaked! Thanks for coming Olivia! Good luck with kindergarten this year!

Dustin's Photo Shoot with Dwyane Wade

Dustin had an amazing belated birthday gift this year: he had his first photo shoot with an NBA star, none other than Dwyane Wade! It all came about because through his friend, Jeff Nelson, who started the non-profit US Empowered, an organization that empowers highly effective teachers to guide under-performing students in low income schools to successfully enroll in and graduate from four-year colleges.

Dustin originally photographed their largest event of the year, the Annual Graduation Gala, where there were numerous items on silent auction, and a handful of *priceless* items up for live auctions. One of the most sought-after items was a package in which 5 people would be able to play a full basketball game against Wade and "the President's Men." The President's Men consisted of 4 of President Obama's best basketball friends growing up. The package sold for over $10,000 and included a photographer to make sure the winner had plenty of photos of the priceless event.

The game was played on August 14th at the East Bank Club and was a very private event. Dwyane was a great guy and spent time with everyone at the event, hung out with all the kids, and played a great game of basketball. Dustin photographed the entire event, but if you don't want to wade through all the photos, you can find the best of the best HERE.

Racing News from Kzoo

Going back again this summer, let's talk about July 31st when Mike won the Modified Division at US131 MotorsportsPark with his Super Bad 1983 C10 Red Chevy Pickup!! Mike won out of 80 cars and it took 7 rounds. That win netted him a nice $1250 and moved him up in the year-end standings to 7th! Winning time: 8:70; Speed: 153mph! The top 10-point leaders from each division qualify to race against several teams from other Midwest tracks at the Team Finals. There, they compete as individuals as well as for team points. Team Finals will be held at US131 September 16-19. Congratulations on a great win Mike and good luck at the Team Finals! By the way, would you mind giving Kerri some of your winnings so she can meet me at Von Maur?

Now, the sweet looking Dragster you see belongs to Erin. It seems she has found the need for speed like her dad. Kerri tells me that she is faster than her dad! Erin's fastest E.T. is 8:46, although she usually runs 8:70 at 153mph. Very impressive! They have recently started running her car on alcohol and are planning motor modifications this winter. Apparently, these times are way too slow! For more photos and info, go to http://www.dragaction.com/ and click on DragAction, page 2.

August 9-13 - Davis in Irvine

As I mentioned in the previous post, Davis attended the 2010 Speedo Junior National Championships in Irvine, California last week. The top swimmers in the nation (19 years of age or younger vie for a spot on the Junior Pan Pacific Team to represent the U.S. in Maui, Hawaii later this month as they compete against Australia, New Zealand and the top Asian swimmers. According to Melissa, the Speedo Jr. National Championships is a great experience to showcase the best younger swimmers. And just how did our Davis do?

• Monday - Aug 9th: 200Fly - seed time 2.07.97; finished 2.07.58 - 64th out of 137, 1/2 second dropped
• Tuesday - Aug 10th: 200Back - seed time 2.07.22 (ranked 24th); finished 2.09.32 - 54th out of 137
• Wednesday - Aug 11th: 100Fly - seed time 58.26; finished 57.75 - 88th ou of 153, 1/2 second dropped
• Thursday - Aug 12th: 100Back - 100.12, broke 1.00 (although the clock did not stop when Davis touched the pads) he was 3rd in the heat and it showed him 8th (few tenths dropped)
• Friday - Aug 13th: 400IM Medley Relay - Davis was 3rd swimmer with Butterfly (he opened up the lead!) 3.56.00 - 9th out of 41, seeded 30th, took 4 seconds off time (Everyone swam their personal best in the relay. Congrats to them all!)

The Lake Erie Silver Dolphins finished 36th out of 100 teams in points! That's awesome! Go Dolphins! For more information, visit http://www.irvine2010.com/ and make sure you click on the Junior Nationals link. Also http://www.swimnetwork.com/ shows some of the final races. It was great fun getting to watch Davis via internet and texting back and forth with Larry getting swim times and stats as well as texting Davis to cheer him on.

Davis is now on a well deserved two week no-swim sabatical. He will start training for a short course Junior National in Atlanta, Georgia, December 9-11. Also, next summer he will travel to Stanford, California for a long course Junior National. (He starting to travel more than Uncle Ron!)

Congratulations Davis! We are all so very proud of your accomplishments and wish you strong arms and record breaking swims!

Ohio Staley's Swim Meets, 8/2010

Larry has shared the Lake Erie Silver Dolphin 2010 Newsletter with me. Unfortunately, it was an attachment and I can't highlight it here. Check with Larry or me if you would like to read it. Davis is mentioned under Life in the Fast Lane for the Central Zone Sectional Meet in West Lafayette, Indiana. He qualified for the Junior Nationals in the 200 fly and 200 back! Congratulations Davis! Melissa drove out to watch Davis swim in that meet. While there, she had a chance to visit with Cheryl. Nice! A double whammy on that one Mis! This week, Larry is in Irvine, California with Davis at the Junior Nationals! Also in the newsletter under the LESI Long Course Championships, you will find Miss Shannon Staley mentioned for placing in the top nine! You go Shannon! Be sure and scroll down and see her photo on that same page. To keep up with Davis in Irvine this week go to http://www.swimnetwork.com/Events/Meets/2010/August/Jr-National-Championships.aspx
to see live coverage of the meet. Davis swims around 5pm today. Good luck!

Early Birthday for Dustin

Since we wouldn't be able to see Dustin on his birthday, and he decided to stay on until Sunday, we decided to have a quick birthday celebration for him. Both sets of parents went in together and got him a gift from his long wish list - a new camera! Happy 29th Birthday Dustin! This year, it's on Friday the 13th! Scary! Enjoy the last year in your 20's my son!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday last week! Dustin stopped in on his way home from New York to Chicago just for me! He worked with me to get this blog set up as well as another project I'm working on. He took me out to lunch and then later, good friends Norma and Callie picked us up and took us to Ashley's in East Lansing. We all went to Enso for my birthday dinner. Brittney met us there as well. It was a great evening! Thank you all for making my birthday so special! The birthday cake was deee-licious! We missed you Ron and Jonathan!

Welcome to the new Staley Blog!

With a little, no, a lot of help from Dustin, I have started this family blog to be a single place to post all the happenings that are news worthy in the family. When family news breaks, contact me with all the information (and a photo or two!) and I will post it so we can all marvel at each other's accomplishments, birthdays, anniversaries, victories, milestones or anything else you would like to share with the rest of the family.

So without further ado, let's get started!

Although I'm starting this blog in August, I would like to go back in time just a bit to talk about what a great spring and summer we have had this year. First of all, the big event was, of course, Ashley and Jonathan's wedding! (password: branoff) April 24, 2010. It was truly a beautiful day with emotions flying everywhere and one stunning couple tying the knot! What a wedding! We are so happy to have Jonathan in our family! (Here are some links to all the pre-wedding festivities: Engagement photos, Engagement Party photos, Shower photos, and there are videos on Dustin's Vimeo site of Save The Date, Shower and video shown at the wedding.

In May Dustin's girlfriend, Carol, turned 28! Dustin, Carol, Ron and I flew up to Mackinac Island in the Bonanza to celebrate. Grandma Patterson drove up and joined us. This was Carol's first visit to the island and I do believe she got to experience all the island had to offer in just a short amount of time. Of course, our in-family photographer, Dustin, snapped lots of great photos!




In July, Camp Staley opened for business and we had six great kids come to stay with us. We welcomed Shelby and Landry from July 7-14, Breighanna and Carlee (Album 1, 2, 3), July 14-21, and Abby and Shannon July 21-24. We all had a great time and I loved having them here!

Also, some great news for Davis! He has been invited to train at the 2011 Olympic Training Camp for a week! Congratulations Davis! We are all so proud of you! Davis swam in the Sectional Championships at Purdue July 21-24, 2010. I'll have more info on how well he did in a future post. This week he is swimming in Irvine, California at the USA Junior National Swim Championship. Today he starts out with the 200 fly. Good luck Davis!!! Updates to follow.