it's almost july?!?!

I cannot believe how fast the summer is going! Luckily, the first half of the summer is the busy/teaching part and the second half is the fun/vacation part. Mikel will be working throughout (with time off obviously for vacations.  


Thursday is my last day of summer school and I have to say I'm excited! It's been a great summer with two good classes but no work is always better than work! During summer school there's always more of a mix of students (not all kinesiology majors) in classes which makes it interesting at times. Different departments definitely have different cultures/expectations/levels of proficiency expected. It is a shock to some. The good news is that I get paid all summer even though my appointment ends on the first so I'll be collecting paychecks on vacation-- just how I like it! I actually do have some of my own school work to do the second half of the summer but at least now I'll have some time to myself to think straight and I won't have to deal with students. 


It is shaping up to look like we are going to have a busy July. First, a couple days in Seattle before an Alaskan cruise with the Bushman clan. Then, Mikel will head home as I do a couple volleyball camps in Idaho before we both head to Georgia so I can work another volleyball camp and we can do a lot of exploring! August should be fairly calm and then school starts on September 1st! 


Right now, thinking about planning and packing and we're excited about our upcoming adventures!

We love our dads!! Happy father's day!

And our grandpas!!

We wish we could visit more often but we're thankful for the time we do have!

another good catch

GO NUTS!

We were thirsty and it was Thursday-- a match made in heaven! 

Yesterday was a beautiful day and the Lansing Lugnuts had a home game and it was Thirsty Thursday. Our friends Shad and Jake (who go to dental school at University of Michigan) were in town helping another guy we know from Idaho move into an apartment here in East Lansing. He was on our intramural volleyball team and went to ISU; now he's going to medical school at MSU. Another Idaho connection here in Michigan! 


We all went to the baseball game last night with another friend Casey. It was a great night!

After that, we walked over to a bar that had dueling pianos and listened to them play for awhile... very cool! (this is where my picture taking skills failed)


Then, of course we had to head downstairs to watch the end of the basketball game. I had been watching updates on my phone all night but I had to see the end! GO LAKERS!!

East Lansing can sleep easy...

After all this madness, Izzo announced that he is staying at Michigan State and everyone can sleep at night again. I've been meaning to post these pictures but was in a small fight with my computer and camera. 

Before Izzo made his announcement, a group had formed trying to keep Izzo in East Lansing. They formed this website We Love Izzo! and put up thousands of signs all over campus and town. Their goal was to put them lining all the streets where Izzo would travel (from his house, to Breslin, and throughout Lansing and East Lansing). There were tons of little ones and a few large banner sized. Considering they are on the side of the road, the road that we drive down, it makes it problematic to take pictures (of course, not when I'm driving) but here's a couple...

Everyone is relieved he is back and has said he will be a Spartan for life!

I'm just excited we only have two and a half weeks of summer school left (at least for the session I am teaching)! 

Welcome Back...

Tan lines!! Yes, we're officially welcoming back our tan lines (well, right now they're more like burn lines). We've been enjoying the pool and outdoor furniture at our apartment complex. Before we were both too pasty white to even have tan lines but we're making progress. We can't sit out for too long at a time but it's nice to see some sun!


Also, Mikel went fishing today for bass but ended up catching a couple Northern Pike! He's never caught one before but had a good time.

On another side note, there's been lots of talk and stress around these parts about the possibility of Izzo leaving for the Cleveland Cavaliers job and we're torn on the issue. On one hand, it would be REALLY interesting to see what happens around here if he left and all the fall out that would occur! People would go CRAZY! In reality though, I think he should stay here at MSU. I think he's a fantastic coach and part of what makes him special is his connection and loyalty to Michigan. I do think his coaching style may be a better fit for the college game but who knows... if anyone can do it, it's probably Izzo!  

I worked at a bunch of high school graduations last weekend. Here are some highlights from the graduation speeches:


"I really didn't prepare anything..."


"I really don't like to speak in front of crowds..."


"Oh man, I really hope these weren't the best years of our lives..."


"And then, when I got kicked out of my next school..."


"Well, I really don't have anything to say..."


In all fairness, there was some lovely graduations and some fantastic speeches but I had to share these tidbits!


---------


We've been keeping busy, enjoying the sun, planning out the rest of our summer, and I just presented on conflict resolution to high school students and a leadership conference. Off to work at Breslin! 

OK, time for an update...


I wrote a couple days ago that things were super busy and I was not kidding! I said our time was including lots of school, mosquito bites, cookie dough, science nerds, travel, a swimming pool/rock quarry, and work...


The cookie dough, travel and swimming pool/rock quarry were all from our Naperville trip. It was a great trip and perfect timing! A anniversary trip that was paid for by work obligations. A little work in the morning and some relaxing and hanging out in the afternoon!


Summer school has started and I'm teaching two classes: Healthy Lifestyles and Ethical Issues in Athletics. I'm team teaching them with Brett and they've been a blast! The good part is that the classes only last the first session of summer school that ends July 1st. So after that, no more teaching until September! I am doing an independent study project with my advisor and working on a  lot of research so that is the school work I am doing! The bad thing about summer school is that classes are either twice as long or they happen twice as often so it's a lot of time in the classroom right now but by the end of the month I won't be complaining! Also, I do have Friday's off so it's really nothing to complain about!

As for the mosquito bites-- with summer and warm weather comes mosquitoes here in the humid state of Michigan. I can't complain much because they don't bite me much but Mikel gets ATTACKED. We actually had to buy a fly swatter and we haven't killed one fly but TONS of mosquitoes. I guess it's the price to pay for warm weather.

Last buy not least: the science nerds. Yes, they've been everywhere! MSU was the host to the 2010 World Finals for Odyssey of the Mind. I had never heard of this before but apparently it's a really big deal some places. It is a science/creative team problem solving competition where groups of seven (I think) work together to present solutions for planned and spontaneous problems. NASA was the sponsor for the event and there were over 800 teams from all over the US and the world. I saw teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Mexico, Canada, Poland, Germany, Korea, Japan and lot so of other places. There are four divisions (3rd grade through college) and five different "problems" on different topics. The competitions are related to everything from nutrition to building vehicles to building structures. It was a pretty cool event and it was all over our campus. They were using tons of different buildings for competitions and the majority of the participants were staying in the dorms. 

The fact that this was a huge event combined with the fact that most of the student employees from Breslin are gone for the summer meant that I was scheduled for a ridiculous amount of hours. I learned everything I needed to learn about Odyssey of the Mind. At one point I saw a high school kid dressed as a sandwich and playing a bassoon. I wish I could have taken a picture. I will be happy when the paycheck comes but I was pretty burnt out by the time it was over!

Other than that, Mikel and I have been enjoying the pool, planning our next adventures and working a lot! Things are good here!