Tubing Bumps, Jumps and Victories

Molly and Julie fearlessly attack wake.

Shanna and Hannah celebrate after switching tubes. Hey, that was nothing. We want to see all four of you out there together switch tubes!

Molly and Julie did it, now it's your turn Shanna. "C'mon, Shanna! We'll help you."

It worked! After a few suspenseful moments when Shanna was half way there, they all four pulled it off - way to go!










Is that air under your tube, Molly and Hannah?






Their expressions say it all!










Did they actually hang on through the spin, with two on a tube? Well. . . almost!

A Sunday of Biking & Boating

Wednesday night Randy replaced the faulty impeller on our boat - it finally cooled down a little outside when he did the job even. So Thursday after school Jaclyn and Stephanie went with us for an evening of boating fun. The water was so smooth so after we'd all taken turns skiing or wakeboarding, Randy agreed to cruise clear to the dam. It was so gorgeous - we were out till almost sundown. Unfortunately we all forgot our cameras, if you can believe that.

This morning we had to be at CA for the 10-mile Bike Race that started at 8 a.m. About 35 students participated, the smallest turnout in our ten years here I think. We snapped a few pictures that we'll share with kids who were in it.

Then we were home to get the boat and back to the church parking lot to pick up four of our students who are also our workers who enjoyed a couple hours on the boat with us this morning. We beat the Sunday crowds and enjoyed some nice water for skiing even. The girls enjoyed lots of tubing fun.

They even did some tube swapping back there, and tried all four of them sharing the two tubes for awhile. Julie was adding spice to the occasion with her screaming back there. She said when she drives their family's boat, she likes it when people scream behind the boat, so she didn't want to disappoint us.

Randy spun them around a few times, and we loved watching them hang on for dear life, or lose it a time or two.

It's great getting back on the boat again, after the five weeks it was out of commission while we got Ryan moved to Ohio, got started into our pre-school meetings, went to Nashville, and started school. There wasn't much time for Randy to do anything about the repair till a week ago really. It did scare us today when it wouldn't start for several tries - it's either solenoid trouble, a starter, or the ignition switch. Randy plans to delve into that later this week.

A Rather Potlucky Weekend

It was two potlucks in a row for us this weekend. Friday night was a potluck at Robertsons with the leaders of our Sabbath School - about 18 of us were there for haystacks. We enjoyed good food and fellowship in their lovely new home, and then a planning session for the new year. We were in charge of Sabbath School yesterday so got to put into practice some of the changes we decided on.

Before we left for Sabbath School, I snapped some pictures of our gorgeous crepe myrtle. It's flowering more this year than ever before and we're really enjoying it.

Sabbath we enjoyed another potluck - this time in the 50's diner at CA with the faculty who came. And we had a great turnout. It was nice getting to visit with our colleagues and their spouses and get to know some of our new teachers better. We're planning to have another one in October. In the past we've had Friday evening soup/salad suppers in the home of one of our staff members about 4 times a year. Most of us agreed we like Sabbath potlucks better. I learned that Verle hopes to be back part time starting after Labor Day. He seems to have turned a corner in his surgery recovery as of Thursday and is feeling better and eating solids again.

We seldom go to potlucks here, and so to have two in one weekend, and learn of another one for our Acceptance Sabbath School planned for next Sabbath at the home of one of our members, is quite a record! It's nice to have some of our Mexican beef casserole leftovers and some tasty black beans and rice from Pitmans who shared with us, on hand in the fridge for lunches later this week.

The Marquis from Heaven

Ruthie and Milt are the proud owners of a "new" 2004 Mercury Marquis with just 20,000 mi. on it, as of today! And tomorrow they drive it to John's in Colorado. Won't that be a swanky ride!

Enjoy the AC and luxurious leather seats too. God sure answered your prayer in a classy way today I'd say, Ruthie. And a good deal to boot!

What a Shower!

I just had to try again to get some of these posted of Carrie & Stephanie under the Ocoee waterfalls Sabbath afternoon. Randy took several series of them having a blast under the "shower." They make me smile just looking at them.

The splash is from a guy who jumped in from the rock above them - don't you love their expressions!

Where did he come from!

The Big Surprise!

Friday I was in my last period class when the door opened and I turned around to see who was there - no, not students needing to know their passwords, but Amy and Jeremy! I wish I'd had a camera to capture that scene, but you'll have to settle for the pictures we took Sabbath instead.

There were 8 of us here for dinner, sorely missing Ryan who was stuck at his "post" in Ohio. This picture shows how those gathered round the table felt about him not being here with us. That's Carrie with her very sad face covered.

We enjoyed looking at Amy & Jeremy's pictures on his laptop after dinner. I copied several of them to my thumb drive, and thus the post just before this one.

We relaxed awhile before heading up to Ocoee to cool off along a mountain creek.

Unfortunately Jaclyn slipped on the slippery, slimey rocks as soon as she set foot in the creek. She fell hard, knocking the wind right out of her. This picture is the last of the series I took as she was going down. I felt so bad for her.
It was cooler there than at home, and refreshing just to put my feet in the water.

Carrie & Stephanie took the plunge and enjoyed the refreshing water. And once again, the blog refuses to post any more pictures to this one, so you'll just have to imagine what they looked like sliding down the slippery rocks, splashing into the water, and with the heavy duty "shower" pouring from the rocks above on them. Or check Jaclyn's blog for pictures she's posted already (you can link to it if you move the mouse over "Jaclyn's blog").

Amy & Jeremy's Summer Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Amy and Jeremy of their summer out in Maryland.

The weekend we were there in June they went to get some hay for Jeremy's horse early Sunday morning and loaded it into the barn. Looks like they were having TOO much fun!

Amy and Jeremy share their musical talents with the church there.

They helped out at VBS too, and this is them on their way one evening - notice Amy's high heals.
Amy got a great deal on this leather jacket to keep her warm when they're biking later this fall and winter. Now THESE shoes look a little more fitting!


They both took an A & P class at Cecil Community College. Meet their instructor. Yes, we're jealous of the dress code for teachers there.


They managed to squeeze in some good times on the boat in spite of the A & P class and work. Sunset pictures are always favorites.

Since this post won't accept any more pictures now, I'll leave you to imagine what the rest looked like - of them skiing and kneeboarding, hiking beside some lovely waterfalls, celebrating Jeremy's August birthday, vacationing with his family in PA where they did miles of mountain biking (where Jeremy came upon a mama bear and her cubs on their bike trail - fortunately he turned tail fast enough that she didn't feel threatened or come after him - no, he didn't take the time to whip out his camera for that event!).

Some of our Teacher Friends & Family at the Convention

It was great being at the convention with Ryan. Here we are at our last breakfast together Wed. morning. Ryan hopes the 2012 NAD Teachers' Convention will be in Toronto. Imagine that. . .

One of the things that made the convention so special was seeing so many of our colleagues and students from "back in the day." Randy passed the camera off to me for this shot of two of our former Kingsway students. Rose, who was one of the best workers I've ever had, is now PRINCIPAL of a school on Vancouver Island and Tim is chaplain and teaches at Bass.

I hadn't seen Eileen in years - since our 30th reunion 6 years ago I think it was. She promised to come see me when she comes to Southern this year, since both her boys will be here. She's still teaching 7th and 8th grade at the elem. school at Mt. Pisgah Academy.

We were so surprised when we spotted Heidi at a meal one day. She, like Ryan, got in on this fabulous convention right on the heels of college graduation. She enjoyed a visit/camping trip with her folks and Caleb before coming to Nashville. She'll be teaching part time this year in Loma Linda.

It was especially hard getting with Jo-Anne since she couldn't use her Canadian cell phone service while here. We enjoyed the times we did scope her out. We sat together at a couple of the general sessions. The speakers were very inspiring, especially Ron Clark, Disney Teacher of the Year for 2006, and Elder Henry Wright.

Unfortunately, we forgot to use the camera the first 3 days we were there. . . but to help me remember later who all we saw, I'll list the others I enjoyed seeing: from Kingsway - Greg Bussey (their new president!), Jim Roy (author of SOUL SHAPERS and a very good presenter), Gary Dooks, Jo-Anne, Jim & Carole Ryan, Connie Solomon, Mrs. Carey, Betty & Peter Bayer, Glen Wilson, Peter & Jane Cheeseman, Jim Chant; from SVA - Gene Sigler, JJ Henline, Randy Graves, V. Wensell, Dorenda Dodge, Wendy Dean; from Wisc. Academy - Siglers; from Fletcher - Brent Yingling, Janet Novak, Jesse Cone.

I can't begin to list all the students who came up to us who are now teachers. Catching up with them was really fun. April Dukeshire, who Randy taught at Kingsway, came up to him and paid the ultimate compliment. She said he is the reason she's a math teacher today. She said she talks about him to her classes all the time and really appreciated all he did for her. That's the kind of payback that keeps us going.

The Grand Ole Opry Hotel/Convention Center Snaps

About 6500 teachers from across North America (yes, that includes Canada!) converged Sunday on the Grand Ole' Opry Hotel/Convention Center.

Here's Ryan in his very lovely room, with his own private balcony overlooking the lovely indoor gardens. See Carrie's blog at http://carrieiverson.blogspot.com/ for a great night shot from his balcony. He shared his room with another single teacher from MVA.
Here's one view of the lovely gardens and waterfalls that we enjoyed in air conditioned comfort. Outside it was upper 90's to 100 every day.
It's hard to get a picture that shows the size of the place. Here's one angle anyhow. We walked around part of the outside of it Tues. night when the shuttle service wasn't running, so we had to hike to our hotel across the street.
We watched an acrobatic show and then a light show Tuesday evening after supper with the Hunts family and friends. We forgot to take any pictures there - we were too busy eating all the great food Connie had for us all.
Driving out of the Grand Ole Opry Hotel area, right across the road you could see where we stayed at the Radisson along with lots of other local conference teachers. Most of the time we had good shuttle service, thanks to the Highland and Madison Academy buses and drivers.

The Old Spaghetti Factory in Nashville

Sunday noon we met up with Jo-Anne, Ryan, Carrie, and the Hunts and lots of their family and friends in town for the convention for an enjoyable and tasty meal. It was like old times back in Toronto. They've taken the nasty fruit out of the spumoni ice cream!
We waited awhile to be seated since there were 21 of us, plus a few cherubs in high chairs. Connie's 4 granddaughters were there (from CA and NC) and so sweet!
We had to split up at several different tables, but we were in the same area so I got to hold Madeline awhile before we left, Laura's youngest.

Ryan's Office and Soccer/Ball Field at MVA

While this site is letting me post pictures, I'll throw a few more on here that we took in Mt. Vernon. This is Ryan's office where he and Randy spent several hours assembling his new desk and bookcase. (There's another advantage of yard sales - the furniture you buy there is ALREADY ASSEMBLED!) Ryan was pleasantly surprised when his principal took him to Staples his first day there this summer to pick out new office furniture.

This is up on the soccer field where Ryan led out two days last week with the soccer camp with 13 MVA students who are on their co-ed soccer team. I say "up" because you have a long hike up the hill to the church and beyond it to get to this field.

The track goes around the field, and beside it is the ballfield.

This fitness room is at the gym. There is nice equipment like this in both dorms as well, new a year or two ago. They have an individual fitness program for each student that Ryan will be helping with.

Ruthie's ND Camping Trip

Ruthie sent me these pictures of their camping trip/canoeing last weekend at the ND camp right up at the Manitoba border . . .

and the field of sunflowers they saw en route. What a poster this would make!

This is the quilt Ruthie has been working on with Kathy since May for her guest room bed.