Today we took the family to Michigan’s Adventure, which is Michigan’s only amusement park and it is owned by Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. We had such a great time! It was fun hanging out with my wife and kids, as well as some of my extended family.
We went on all of the big roller coasters and my kids even went on some. Hannah went on Thunderhawk and Caleb went on Shivering Timbers, the Wolverine Wildcat and Thunderhawk. Both of them had to be bought to ride them, but the loved it! Hannah would have gone on more, but the sun kind of got to her.
We spent the whole afternoon at the waterpark, which was a lot of fun. The park has some great slides and killer wave pools. We had a blast there and the fact that it is included in the price of admission makes this park a great family park.
It was a fun day as you can see from the picture I had fun on the Flying Trapeze. It was also cool to see Brian Edwards & his family there.
The family and I will be heading up north tomorrow (Monday, 30 June 2008), and I do not know how often I will get to blog. But you can always follow me on Twitter, because I will be updating that regularly.
Kermit Love, who was the creator of Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and most importantly Snuffleupagus, died last week Saturday (21 June 2008). I know this isn’t major news, but as someone who loves Snuffleupagus, which is why I have my blog address as “thesnuffy.com”, I was sad when I ran across this news today. As a kid I always loved when Big Bird would meet up with his best friend, Snuffy. It brings back such fond childhood memories. I even had a book where Snuffy met his friend Todd Porter that my grandma and grandpa had made for me.
If you did not know, which I didn’t realize until now, that Kermit Love portrayed the character of Willy the hot dog vendor. He also created the Snuggle bear for the Snuggle fabric softener. And I know many of you might think that his name was the inspiration for Kermit the Frog’s name, but Jim Henson had picked out that name before Kermit Love came to help create the Sesame Street characters. I was really amazed at his accomplishments when I read them and it is kind of sad that there wasn’t more news regarding his passing.
You can read more here about his life and passing.
Last night I emailed Eric Thuemmel, who is the person in charge of the Firecracker 5K, about the race and asked him if it was a race around a high school track or if it is a road race, because on the Run Michigan website it indicated it as a road race and not track race. And he emailed me back today and told me that indeed it was a road course that it “starts at the high school, runs to 1st St. beach, does a loop of the beach area, and then finishes at the high school.” So I have decided to run in the Firecracker 5K.
I am both excited and nervous about this. With this being my first ever 5K and actually my first ever run I think that is somewhat to be expected. If you would have told me last year when we were up at Manistee for the Manistee National Forest Festival that the next year I would be running a 5K, I would have laughed. But after losing about 50 pounds and getting into the best shape of my life I can now see it as a possibility. Hopefully, this will not be my last 5K.
By now you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with my post about mullet-boy. Well, let me tell you. In the reply email that Eric sent me after I told that I would then be running in the 5K he told me that he knows who mullet-boy is, because he was a former student of Eric’s at Ludington High School. I died laughing after hearing that because how ironic is that? He also told me that mullet-boy is very proud of his mullet and would be pleased of his notoriety. And he should be proud of his mullet, because it was one righteous mullet.
On Saturday I begin a 10 day vacation and I am really looking forward to it. We are taking our annual vacation for the 4th of July up to Manistee, MI for the Manistee National Forest Festival. I have been going up there since I was a kid and it is exciting to take my kids every year.
This year we are going to be braking tradition and we will not be going to the parade on the 4th, but instead we will be heading about an hour south down to Michigan’s Adventure. We went last year on July 5th and had a blast. My friend Brian had gone on the 4th of July last year and he said that there was hardly anyone there, so we decided to do forgo the parade and go to Michigan’s Adventure in hopes of it being the same way again.
We don’t actually leave for Manistee until Monday, but I plan on going deep into vacation mode as soon as the clock strikes 1:30p on Friday and I clock out from work. And then I don’t have to go back to work until Tuesday, 8 July 2008. I am looking forward to the break and being able to spend some good time with Kimmy and the kids. It is always a nice and relaxing time when we go to Manistee and one of the highlights of my year.
Some of you who are faithful readers of my blog may remember that I had set a goal of being able to run in a 5K race this summer and that I was planning on running in the Firecracker 5K during the Manistee National Forest Festival. Well, I am not going to be doing it because I found out that the run takes place on a high school track and I wanted my first 5K run to not be running around in circles on a track. I want to run along a road and see some different sights, so I will be checking out the Run Michigan and I will find a place nearby that is doing a 5K and run in one of those instead. UPDATE!!! I will be running in it. See this post for the update.
Simply Youth Ministry has so many great products that are created to help youth workers jobs easy. And they have some of the coolest games for youth groups. They just came out with the second version of their
Race This, which is such a fun game to play. If you have ever been to a sporting event and seen those games where each section of the arena is a character on the screen and if your character crosses the finish line first then you win a prize, then you know what Race This is all about.
I have used this product before and it is always fun and a great way to get everyone’s attention focused up front. They have a free sample of the game that you can download so you can try it out. But I would just say that you take my word for it and buy it.
I had such a blast at Cedar Point, but of course I have a blast every year. It is one of my favorite youth group traditions. Cedar Point is one of the best amusement parks in the country and having the most roller coasters makes it even better. I didn’t get to ride the Top Thrill Dragster, but I did get to ride the Blue Streak for the last ride of the day, which has been a tradition of mine since I used to go to Cedar Point with my best friend when we were kids.
For dinner we went to Johnny Rockets and if you ever been to a Johnny Rockets before you will know that it is a 50’s style diner and that they will crank up the music and the waiters and waitresses will do a choreographed dance. Well, aXiom’s very own Tom Henry jumped up and danced along with them to the Car Wash song and I captured it on my LG enV. You can see the video here….
But before that we had started a conversation about drivers license photos, so I pulled mine out. I have hardly ever looked at it since I got it taken, so I was shocked when I looked at it. I showed the girls at my table and they were shocked as well. One girl said that it looked like me 2,000 pounds ago, but it was actually about 50+ pounds ago. I posted the picture here along with a current one of myself, so you can compare them. I must add that it was so nice to be able to fit into the seats on the roller coaster much easier than last year.
It really is amazing to me when I look back at old pictures of myself. When you are losing the weight it is a slow progression, so you don’t realize it as much. But it is nice seeing little reminders like this, because it reminds you of where you do not want to be again.
There is nothing more thrilling than seeing a teenager sporting the mullet. Look at this beautiful mullet I saw while at Cedar Point today. I was standing in line for the Millenium Force when I saw mullet-boy and was trying to find a way to get a picture of him. Finally, he stood against the wall with the Millenium Force’s hill behind like he knew I wanted to take his picture. And now I posted it here for your viewing pleasure.
Of course I have to mention the guy I saw wearing patriotic spandex. The right leg had the stripes and the left had the stars. If I see him again I plan on getting a picture, because that is not something you see everyday.
Now it is time to eat my lunch after taking one of the students to first aid, because she got her hand smashed on the Sky Ride. It seemed to be okay, but I think her parents may take in for x-rays tonight to be sure. Another fun-filled day at America’s Roller Coast.
I just slipped away from our church gym to finish this column. I wish you could be with me for the experience. Our youth group is sponsoring our “first ever dodge ball tournament”…complete with enough energy and testosterone to make you think that you were at the NBA playoffs! We got the idea a few weeks ago when we kept hearing about all the crazy dodge ball competition that was getting national TV time. Every fall, our youth ministry sponsors “The Pumpkin Bowl” (a flag football tournament that even Bret Favre would be proud of). But judging from the excitement and laughter I just experienced today in our dodge ball frenzy, our youth group is probably starting another proud, yearly tradition.
What’s my role in the competition? Well, I’m would definitely win the award for “loudest, most energized cheerleader” in the gym. I’m also getting my aerobic workout for the day, running up and down the sidelines, shouting for everybody. But since I’m leaving town in a day for vacation, I keep running back to my office to get some work done. Then I reappear in the gym, scream my guts out for awhile, and try to slip away unnoticed to get some more work done. Granted, I would be much more productive work-wise if I simply stayed at my desk, but that option today is simply unthinkable.
You see, I’m living out youth ministry’s seven biggest words; and I’ve learned a long time ago that this principle is a simple one that you cannot violate if you want to experience effective youth ministry. What are the words? I’m so glad you asked: “The one who spends the most time wins.” Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But just trust me. Aside from loving the Lord and making Him smile, these seven words comprise the “big one.”
It was also cool to see Brian Edwards & his family there.
