The Turner Family

Don't know if it's officially a "blizzard", but the weather that's been tearing across the upper midwest has hit Traverse City. Went to the garage and snapped this photo looking down our driveway. You can see a few flakes flying around and probably about a foot of new snow.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, wherever and with whomever you gather. We're actually cooking this year, hosting our friends the Remleys, a couple of their daughters, Glen's cousins and children. It's been many years since we cooked a big dinner like that - really looking forward to food and fellowship. Hugs to all of you!!! Cyn and Glen

This tale begins on October 24th, with a group of unsuspecting pumpkins innocently posing for a group photo. Soon, chaos and mayhem descends on these poor defenseless gourds. Vegetables being disemboweled ! Pumpkin cannibalism ! Inter-racial cannibalism ! Note the glee on the face of the young human. Disgusting ! Post-slaughter celebration - coupled with a three weeks late birthday party for Josh. One week later - on the actual Halloween, Sophia and Seamus. Seamus was sure his Spartan needed face painting, so he applied his own. It's not clear what it signifies.

Devyn was practicing her flute and discovered the family pet chihuahua liked to sing along. So, she decided to record him singing. Enjoy the video.

Tiffani and my one word DALMAC summary: awesome! The weather was occasionally brutal , poor enough for some of the rest of the time, and delightful on the final day. But the sheer fact of riding 325 miles over 4 days with (dwindling) like-minded people was really inspiring. Then, a day off for Labor Day , and WHAM! Back to school and my new job. The timeline of our DALMAC: Day 1 Thursday's route took us from the  MSU Pavilion to Vestaburg, which we managed by 1 or so P.M. But, of course there was a complication: in all of the lists and preparations , I had decided to chill our four water bottles in the refrigerator, and you can sense where this narrative is going: we discovered they were left at home when we were en route with Dad and the kids to our departure spot. And Dad, of course, shoved the slight panic aside by volunteering to drop us off, then retrieve our bottles, and meet us somewhere north later that morning. We hooked up with an ex-student and -athlete of m

Three of my co-workers and I went to the Mackinac Bridge to do some business with the folks there. After we concluded our business, we were asked if we wanted to go to the top of the bridge. This is a view from the south tower looking north to St. Ignace from on TOP, 552 feet above the water. This is inside the tower close to the top. The elevator can't go all the way, so you have to climb through several of these "portals" to get closer to the center of the tower. The wires are for some lights. The lights are not in the entire tower, just were you walk to get to the hatch that leads out on top. The portal to the top. There are about six of these sections you have to climb through to get from the elevator door level to the top. You have to climb with your arms above your head while you go through the portals so you don't get stuck. From l to r: Mark Gove, Tom Feldpaucsh, myself and Duane Becker Enjoying the view and chatting with the gentleman from the Bridge

As many of you know, Ahni somehow talked me into running half of the Accra International Marathon in late-September. The rainy season in Ghana lasted longer than we've experienced previously, so it was cooler than the rest of the year, making the training runs nearly tolerable. We ran during the week but then on Sunday mornings we would meet as part of a larger group to go on long training runs. The kids would ride bikes with us on the weekends, which was helpful having a bottle of water readily at hand. I was overcoming an injury so my runs were a bit shorter than the others, but I did manage to run 10 miles two weeks prior to the race. The night before the race we co-hosted a carb dinner with our friends and running partners for all the runners from the embassy, a couple teachers from the kids' school, some visiting FAOs , the race director, and John "Maddog" Wallace . Maddog is a 72 year old Floridian who has run over 300 marathons on seven continents and in

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN from the "Pumpkin House" in Traverse City. We took advantage of the nice weather and put up our Hallowe'en decorations. I think the neighbors expect nothing less from us.

Looking for an opportunity to camp in our new RV before the summer closes and fall activities begin, we got lucky with a final minute reservation -- the last available site -- at Yankee Springs State Recreation Area , on Gun Lake . Packing, then driving an hour southwest, pulling into the site, we were setup in no time and swimming soon after. This trip's purpose was to familiarize ourselves with the workings of the rig before our planned big trip next summer, and the whole endeavor proved successful. The refrigerator and freezer worked cold and flawlessly, the stovetop boiled water, the microwave reheated coffee, and we slept with just the vents and windows open on Friday, but the air conditioner blowing freezing cold Saturday night. Another nice feature included the space to unwind, stretch out, or change one's own scenery as you're traveling. A quick cleanup and loading later, departure this morning from the campground was quick: overall, a comfortable success. Thanks

Considering everyone's schedules, culinary and libationary interests, and worldwide locations, the Turner / Novak / Schumey / Crocker / Simon / Miller clans celebrated Bil and Kay Turner's 50th anniversary on June 29th --  six weeks after the actual date, but not a moment too late --  at the Waldorff Brewpub and Bistro . With guests traveling from South Haven and Traverse City, Hartford and Franklin, Amsterdam and Accra, all present honoring the couple were filled with good cheer and good food alike. Mazel tof Eagle Turners. Chris getting the scoop on RV ownership from cousin Shea. Self-inflicted photograph? The invocation by Glen. The proprietor chatting up the honoree. The surviving Novak sibs. The Accra Turners. Cousins Jack and Sarah. Whoa, that's a good looking family. Turner children. Fees Road Turners. Is it a movie premier in Cannes? The over-exposed, paparrazi shot. Traverse City represents. As does Rockford. And Har