Jobs and Tomatoes

Ok, so I need to tell all of you that I now have a long term sub position at Grand Rapids Middle School as an 8th grade earth science teacher up to Christmas break. (16 weeks) I'll teach 5 of the 6 earth science classes. It'll work really well because Katie can drop me off on her way, or I can bike the couple of miles. I kind of want to get a used moped for the winter months, but that is still in talks. So, I am employed through the end of the year, but who knows what will happen next year. I can always go back to part time researcher if I need to.

Also, I put some pictures of my tomato plant to show you how resilient the thing is. A week ago, we got about 6 inches of rain in about 5 hours and the gutters were overflowing. It just so happens that my garden (consisting of one tomato plant) was under the gutter. I tried to move the plant and in 2 seconds I was completely soaked. It was quite the storm. But the plant rebounded and is doing quite well. I am always amazed at how well those plants can stand themselves up straight again. The two pictures are only a week apart.

Here are some pictures from the fireworks this past weekend.

Happy Anniversary....

.... Ashley and Ben!
Hope you had a great day yesterday.

Born in the USA

My first official photoshoot. Here a few of my favorites. (mom, if you have any sendable actions I would love to share! ...and by share I mean take...) More on life soon, happy Independence Day!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Hey Family. It has been a while since I gave an update, so before I leave for another two week vacation the North-Atlantic coast I had to clear my memory card. I also thought it would be a good time to update everyone on the happenings of Rach and I. The first of my three posts here is of some strawberry pictures. I visited Grandpa and after a mere hour of picking in only a couple rows, I ended up with 5 gallon pail of strawberries. After a few small donations, some cutting, freezing (which can be seen in the photos below) and sorting, I ended up with 3 1 gallon bags packed with strawberries to help me preserve a piece of summer. I like to try and buy local, but it doesn't get to be a better price than free. Thanks Grandpa. Great jam too Grandma.

Now I have two more posts below on Ludington State Park and my newly built deck. Enjoy.

All decked out

I did it, I built a deck. neat huh? Here is are some pictures.


Here are a couple pictures I dug up from before the deck. The top one is the entire backyard minus the garage to the left and the second is the portion of the yard around the corner behind the garage.
I had to stop and think a lot. "How was this going to work again?"
Hooray for safety.
Measure twice, cut once.Scroll slowly as the top of the deck magically appears.
Voila! A deck.
The front.

The back (with Lou and I)Rach and Reuben on the deck.
Our first deck party was with the care group.

Summertime

Here are a bunch of pictures from Ludington. We had a great trip with our friends. Despite the bad weather that led up to the trip causing the park to close and our sites to flood, we were able to come up with some sites on time. We even avoided some small storms. They came in and we watched the rain over the lake and then thy missed us. We had a total of about ten minutes of rain over the four days. Very nice. Check out the captions for more about the action in Ludington.

Here is Rach and I in our kayaks. Proof that we actually ride them in the water.

Rach floating.

We stopped at the dune on lost lake with our boats. The hurdle form is still there even down hill. You'll notice the knee driving forward on the trail leg as I pull my elbow back. You will also notice Matt trying to fly.

Picture of one of our beautiful sunsets over the lake. Good clouds this night. The picture is almost as good as the one that follows.
Rach and Reuben at the nice sunset.


Here the men are taking care of breakfast. The amount of meat made it obligatory for the men to be in the kitchen.

The men's obligation allowed for coffee and chatting over breakfast for the ladies. how pleasant.
A less pleasant interaction between the men and women were the numerous games battled over between the two groups. There were many guys vs. girls games throughout the trip. We kept track of the victories and this year the men ran away with the trophy. The trophy is being worked on by me above. As it is in the picture, the trophy currently is still a work in progress, but the accomplishment is no less meaningful for the men.

We took a small hike toward the lighthouse, but started running out of light so we pulled off trail to enjoy the sunset. Here I am burning in thought (get it?) as I ponder the magnificent landscape.On the way, the men posed for the album cover of there future band, The Victors of Ludington. The Victors, from left are Matt Baer, Reuben Sportel, Bryan DePotty, and Eric Timmer.

A shot of the second sunset viewing through some dune grass.A rare sighting of dune ninjas was caught by accident. We didn't know it happened until we looked at the camera. Rach was just trying to take a picture of the clouds at sunset when the burst into her frame and disappeared into the sand below.
Here is a nice posed shot of the Ladies of Ludington. The Ladies are from left, Amy DePotty, Katie Baer, Jeni Timmer and Rachel Sportel