A Week at the Beach

Brenda and I have lived the good life this past week in South Carolina. Our good friends,Joel and Catherine Fletcher, have a beach house near Pawley's Island. Joel's father and mother are originally from the south and bought homes along the ocean. Since they normally rent out the home we stayed in, we quickly accepted the opportunity to spent a week at the ocean in the "off season". Joining us and the Fletchers were Kent and Jennifer Whistler and Bruce and Sharon Billedeaux.
The house is in a beautiful location - every morning we enjoyed our coffee on the front porch looking over the ocean. The weather was perfect with many sunny days and temperatures in the low 80's. A great surprise was biking on the beach. When the tide went out, the beach would turn hard and was over 60 feet wide. We rented beach bikes and we could ride for miles. How cool.

We joined the Whistlers on a day trip to Charleston (1 1/2 hours away) and had two incredible seafood meals. We did a self walking tour of Charleston and enjoyed learning about early U.S. history. The old southern homes and cobblestone streets were great.

We cooked most of our meals at the beach house and the cooking team of Kent and Brenda was a hit.

What a great way for Brenda and I to transition to our lives as empty nesters!!

The Proof

Back on January 9, 2011, I wrote a blog about the disconnect between college academics and college football. The impetus for my posting was the praise being given to the football teams from the SEC conference for their bowl game successes. My point was that the real measure of college success was in the classroom not the football field.

This past week U.S News and World Report completed their annual academic rankings of the major colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal used this information in preparing an article on the collective academic rankings of the various athletic conferences.

The Big Ten has an average national ranking of 50 led by Northwestern at number 12 and Michigan at number 28. How did the SEC rank? An average ranking of 103 with academic heavyweights like Mississippi State at 157 and LSU at 128. The only worse conference was the Big 12 (average score of 120) with Texas Tech burning up the classroom with a rank of 160.

So where do you want your kid in school?

Top 10 Reasons You Know You're An Empty Nester

10) A gallon of milk goes bad before it is used
9) The dishwasher hasn't been used in three days
8) The mail is always in the box when I get home from work
7) The trash can is at the end of the driveway
6) Quiet
5) No one says "What Next Dad"
4) 3 computers - only two users
3) I turn off the kitchen lights at night
2) The kitchen calendar is empty

and the #1 reason...

1) The bedroom door doesn't have to be locked!

Taking Dad To See The Tigers!

For Father's Day, Kevin, Craig and I took Dad to a Detroit Tiger's game over Labor Day Weekend. The Tigers are playing great this year and recently won their division and are off to the playoffs.

The day was hot, 94 degrees, but we were able to have Dad sit in the shade. The Tigers were down 8-4 in the 8th inning when a huge rain and lighting storm came in. We held out for about 1/2 hour but then decided to head home. As we were leaving we listened to the game on the radio. Of course when the game resumed the Tigers hit two home runs in the 9th inning and won the game in dramatic fashion. Another highlight was sitting behind Tiger pitching ace Justin Verlander (see photo).

Despite missing the exciting ending, we had a great time. Dad has been a lifelong Tiger fan and it is fun to share his excitement.

27 Years and 3 Months

27 years and 3 months ago, Brenda and I brought Bryan home from the hospital and thus began our lives as parents with kids at home. Today, we took Philip to Kalamazoo College and tonight we have no kids at home. For over 27 years I have had the same routine as I have gone to bed: turn off the lights, lock the doors and either tuck little kids in bed or say good night to older kids still reading or playing on the computer. Tonight will be different.

Is it sad? An accomplishment? It is had to say. You certainly experience some odd emotions as your life as a "daily parent" comes to an end.

But overall we sense a great deal of pride and excitement for our four children. They have moved on to great experiences and achievements. Our enjoyment as parents continues to grow and expand.

I guess in a nutshell, we have done good and we look forward to the future!

Laurel's White Coat Ceremony

The kick off of medical school includes the Matriculation and White Coat Ceremony. We attended Laurel's MSU ceremony last Sunday in Grand Rapids. Grandma, Tommy, Phil, Brenda and I were all able to attend. They did a nice job with the ceremony and we were so proud of Laurel. FYI: medical students wear the short white coats during their four years of medical school. When they graduate (as Keith will in May) they receive their MD degree and the official long white coat worn by the doctors.

We also had a tour of the medical school facilities. They are beautiful and have a great view of Grand Rapids. What a great place to study. From the medical building you able to see my very first office - 7th floor of City Hall.

What is this? Another Family Side Business?

As my regular readers will recall, I was surprised last month to learn that Bryan and Keith run an interior design business on the side. Now Brenda has discovered another family business secret. As she was wandering the wine isle at World Market she came across Mulderbosch, a rose' wine. Who would have thought that Grandpa's family from the Netherlands would also be running a family winery down in South Africa? So now we know that the wine genes come from both sides of the family!