Alma has come and gone and other miscellany

     Well Memorial Day weekend brought along with it the first Highland Games of the season and it was a great time. There is nothing better than getting together with friends catching up after the long winter and even longer spring. The Alma games is associated with the Alma Highland Festival held each year at Alma college. The festival includes music, highland dancing, clan row and other things Scottish. I was pretty happy overall with my performance this week considering this was the first game of the year, I actually finished in 2nd place this year,  my best @ Alma ever. I even managed to win an event (the stone put which is by far my worst event). I have to give props to JT who won the whole thing but especially his performance in the sheaf. Vicki and I made a weekend of it heading down Friday night and staying at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort. Neither one of us are gamblers but the room and food were great we enjoyed a fun weekend and staying closer to Alma definitely helped with the fatigue factor. We are already planning to do the same next year.


  Tonight my youngest graduates from high school and as I write this I am wondering "where did the time go?" We are well into the post-graduation planning, college is picked, financing acquired, and Monday we will get him enrolled @ GVSU. Tuesday our daughter is flying in to be here for his grad party and as I speak she is finding out the sexes of our first grandchildren. We are pretty excited for her and Brad.  I am confidant that they will be great parents and after the stress of figuring out the schedule that is a must with twins their lives will be a joy. I have to take a moment and say to my son, "I am so proud of you and the young man you have become, your sensitivity towards others and sense of right and wrong will serve yourself and others well throughout your life. As you move onto the next phase of your life always remember who you are and where you come from. You are a child of God made in his image, put on this earth for a purpose. Your mom and I are so very proud of you and know you will be successful in all you do."

 Well that's it for now time to go get a workout in before Graduation tonight then continue to train for the games, the next one is in 2 weeks in Spring Lake on June 15 time to build on what I started in Alma.

                                                                                                                God Bless,

                                                                                                                              Jay

Spring At Last Maybe???

    Well it's May 15th and there is still a little snow left in the parking lot behind the house and we actually got about 3 inches of snow Saturday night. It's been busy around here getting ready for our youngest graduation including getting the house ready for the grad party, and that's when it all started. Friday my father-in-law came up to help me paint the garage we had a couple of pieces of the exterior wall sheeting that needed to be replaced, as we got into it we realized the entire front needed to be replaced. At 10 am it was bright sunshine and all the old wood was down and we were getting ready to install the new. At around 1 pm it started to rain but we still had to get it covered up and we finally finished it up around 5 pm IN THE SNOW!! We will finish up the trim work and possibly get it painted this weekend. As if that wasn't enough we have been having problems with the main sewer line going to the city system. We live in a house that is about 100 years old and the line needed to be replaced, we were hoping to get it done this fall but it decided it couldn't wait so that was done on Monday. So along with everything else I have to do I now have to level and reseed half of the front yard so much for having a decent looking yard for the graduation celebration.


    On a happier and more exciting news. We are getting ready to celebrate our sons graduation from Gaylord High as that time grows closer our Wednesdays are filled with awards banquets, honors convocations etc for the entire month of May. Our daughter is now 18 weeks along in her pregnancy with twins. She sends us a weekly profile picture and she is absolutely glowing. Sean graduates on May 31, on June 3 we take him to GVSU for freshman orientation and to get his classes scheduled, the next day Beth is flying into Detroit so after we are done in Grand Rapids we will head toward D town and get a hotel and spend the next day shopping @ Ikea and some Scottish and Irish stores we like in the area ( Ackroyds Scottish Bakery here we come) We will also hit up Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market as we don't have them at home.

   We are also coming up on the Highland Games season with our first competition is Memorial Day weekend at Alma. Unfortunately my friend and Highland Games mentor Dale will be unable to compete this year due to an injury. I seem to have finally improved my technique in a couple of the events and I am starting to get some distance. I'm hoping for a better year this season I was a bit disappointed in last year. These games mean more than just competition to Vicki and I, we have made some pretty good friends and are part of a group where we are accepted as we are. Sometimes I think we are looked at by some people in a way that I think is unfair because we have interests that are different from most people we know and I think they may even go so far as to disapprove which is really to bad. Well that is enough for now I have probably said too much as it is.

                                                                                                              God Bless, Jay