This summer has been crazy busy and there isn't much more left! Jim and I had a fantastic time at the Avondale High School Class of 1991 Reunion events the weekend of July 22-24. We attended the Friday evening event at Hatchy's in Utica and were so pleased to see and catch up with Christy Michalec, Jennifer Schoenherr, Kelly Drake, Christie Frericks, Adrienne Collins, Donna Syck, John Hartwick, Mike Catalano, Matt Swigart, Jennifer Frohock, Deon Pugh, Dan Garavaglia, Brian Remington, Charles Watt, David Watts, and many more.
Saturday morning we took the opportunity to drive around the area and found that things have really changed. All sorts of roads that used to be modest two-lane highways are now four- or five-lane boulevards, and the Squirrel Road environs are practically unrecognizable. The high school is about three times the size it was when I attended there. We also drove through Rochester and stopped at St. Paul's UMC, where we were married in '95, and found they have added a new memorial garden outside. We couldn't resist doing a self-portrait there.
We went to the event at Stony Creek Metro Park where it was great to see Charles Watt, Andy Smith, Joel Kuhn, Marc Smielewski, Joe Cox, Kim and Tony Burean, Stephanie Hubbard, Heather Nehr, Erik Dahl, Jennifer Schoenherr, and lots more. People stayed as they could, dropped in and out, and in general it was a fantastic time.
Jim and I met Kim and Tony for dinner at the Red Ox Tavern in Auburn Hills and a few more folks joined us after dinner for the reunion event: John Hartwick, Heather Nehr, Joe Cox, Gordon Hall, Stephanie Bell and Deon Pugh. It was small but nice and we all had a terrific time in which every sentence began with the word "Remember..."!
Last week I took the kids to the Frederik Meijer Gardens for a visit. We walked around the long boardwalk trail through the swamp and saw lots of turtles, a couple of frogs, and lots of geese and swans. We enjoyed just hanging out in the children's garden until it got too hot in the punishing sun!
Way back on the 4th of July, we enjoyed the Grand Rapids fireworks at Front Seat for the Fireworks at the Public Museum. It really was the front seat! The fireworks were so close we had to lean back and look way up to see everything! It was tons of fun and we were fortunately nowhere near the shooting at Rosa Parks Circle...
We've been enjoying Uncle Shawn and Aunt Lori's pool about once weekly this summer. The kids can't help themselves with the inflatables; usually there are four or five in the pool at a time!
We've been trying to visit more and different beaches this summer, to decide which is our favorite. The closest Lake Michigan beach is Holland State Park though, and that's where we were this time:
A couple weeks ago Megan and Emily came to stay with us for a day while their mom was in Costa Rica and their dad was working at the Grattan race track. We all had a great time and the girls didn't want to leave when their dad came back to pick them up. :)
