Logan's 1st Football Game, 9/11/10

Logan began his football career on Saturday, September 11, 2010 playing for the Lowell Red Arrows. He started the game off with a great kick Don said. He played right guard and defensive end. He played the entire game except for 60 seconds! Logan squared off against one of the opponent's defensive players who was about 124 pounds and at least 12" taller than him! Logan is 54" tall and weighs 72 lbs, but he never let the big guy get through the line! Awesome! Unfortunately, the big guy was throwing mud in Logan's face and grabbing his face mask. Take the high road Logan, you'll always win doing the right thing! Good game! Goooooo Red Arrows!

Gatorfest Runner Up, 9/11/10

Congratulations to Kolby for being 1st Runner Up in the Anahuac Gatorfest which is a 3-day event and brings in about 30,000 people each year! Anahuac is the Gator Capital of Texas officially recognized by the Senate and House Resolutions in 1989! How cool our own Kolby was runner up for Little Gator King! Seriously though, his mohawk alone should have been enough to crown him king! You are awesome Kolby! We are so proud of you! Peace!

Lauren and Firefly, 7/13/10

I want to back up once again to this past summer. There were so many news worthy happenings that I have to go back and mention them! On July 13th, Lauren's horse Firefly was taken to Turning Point Farm in South Lyon, Michigan for the American Hanoverian Inspection. Each summer there is an inspection tour around the U.S. for Hanoverians to be inspected and branded by German judges. Standards are kept highly selective. The Germans have run the Hanoverian Society in the city of Hannover, Germany since 1735. The American Hanoverian Society (AHS) is the sister society and is based in Lexington, Kentucky. At the inspections, foals can be registered, inspected and branded to prove they are full Hanoverian blood and meet the highest standards.

Firefly attended her first foal inspection with her mother Lucky in 2004. Firefly was awarded the honor of "Top Hanoverian Filly"! Just so happens Lauren was at this inspection with her trainer Marie. Lauren was playing with Firefly when her other trainer Karin said "Lauren, there's your next horse!". Lauren replied "Yeah right.". Lauren told me that at that time she could only dream of owning such a talented horse. But, just 4 short months later, Lauren became the new owner of Firefly! Mike and Kerri recognized Lauren's love for horses as well as her dedication and knew Firefly should be hers. Apparently, it took a lot of convincing Firefly's owner to sell her and to this day, she still regrets letting her go!

Lauren's plan was to show and breed Firefly, so the next step was to prepare her for the Mare Performance Test (MPT) where she would be scored on temperament, conformation, correctness of gaits and ability to perform at the highest level of competition. There are three portions to the MPT - Free-jumping (jumping in a chute without Lauren on her), Triangle (showing the walk and trot in the shape of a triangle to view all angles of the gait) and Riding (showing the gaits undersaddle and her willingness to perform as a riding partner). To achieve the "Elite Mare Status", Firefly needed an overall score of 7. So, at Turning Point Farm this past summer Firefly was tested. She fell short of elite status, but her score of 6.44 was a high enough score to enter her into the Main Studbook, which means that she can be bred and have her foals registered and branded with the AHS.

Lauren told me she learned a lot preparing Firefly for that moment and although Firefly did not achieve elite status, she is still a very special horse to her and it certainly doesn't hinder her ability to shine in the show ring and produce beautiful babies! Lauren plans to breed her in the next few years and will research many stallions to find the best fit for Firefly! If you want to get an idea of just how beautiful these horses are you can check out Firefly's sire Feiner Stern. Lauren says she looks a lot like her daddy! Congratulations to Lauren and Firefly on a lot of hard work and a beautiful partnership!

FALL FOOTBALL!

It's that time again! Football Season!!! Dustin and Carol came home for the first UofM game of the season against UCONN. Final score was 30-10 Michigan! Makes for a very happy boyfriend, right Carol? Next game is Saturday, September 11 at Notre Dame. GO BLUE! And for Jonathan, MSU crushed Western with a 38-14 victory! Next game is Saturday, September 11 at Ford Field in Detroit against Florida Atlantic. GO GREEN!

A New Runner, 9/5/10

Congratulations are in order for Shannon and Melissa! On Sunday they both ran a road race as part of the Great Geauga County Fair. Shannon ran a 5 mile race and and averaged a 9:24/mile pace to finish in 47:01 minutes. Larry ran the race with Shannon hoping for an easy run. Surely she would walk and he would be right there with her for moral support. He was quite surprised and proud as Shannon only walked 1 minute of the race! How are those knees Larry??? Nice going Shannon! Melissa cleaned up in the Women's 45-49 age group with a solid victory! We all bow to you Mis. You are still in great shape! Congratulations!

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!