The Turner Family

If for no other reason but to stimulate blog submissions, enclosed is our second weekend activity, a trip up to the St. Johns Mint Festival with just Tiffani and Sophia. Even hotter than the previous day at the air show, we walked around the craft (crap) show, attempted to buy some mint ice cream -- inexplicably, they were out! It's the primary reason for attending?! Sophia refused an elephant ear (heat? or the chance that they were actually derived from elephant's ears?), and we paid a buck to wander through a packed little trailer with exotic and sometimes poisonous reptiles. Here's Sophia with an oversized bunny and a tortoise... And now with an unfortunately-penned junior crocodile... And again with the tortoise and stew-ready rabbits -- that white one could feed a small village, eh Jason? -- complete with Tiffani and the hind-end of a male kangaroo. Incidentally, why are people currently insisting on taking their dogs everywhere? Just as the bottom picture was taken...

Noting in the previous Sunday's Lansing State Journal that there would be an air show at Mason's Jewett Field , the little kids and Tiffani and I piled in Dolores for a hot afternoon at the airport. The highlight of the show was to be a B-17 bomber, the Yankee Lady , part of the Yankee Air Museum organization. The event drew a bit of a crowd , and folks were lined up to pay $425 apiece to ride the giant, mature, historic aircraft, one of only twelve still flying. Because of the weather, we parked ourselves in the shade of a hangar, just adjacent to the plane, wondering what the expectant crowd was all doing watching this beast too. But, we learned it was about to takeoff, so with the approaching start of the engines, Tiff and the kids left to a distance safer for eardrums. It's interesting how long of a process it is to start these engines, each motor taking quite a bit of spinning and warming up before full combustion, one engine at a time. Inside motors first, right t...

We had several family members in Saturday's Cherry Festival Grand Royale Parade. It was a perfect day for marchers and spectators alike. Devyn was marching with the high school band (she'll be in 9th grade this fall) She's in the last row, second from left, with flute The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians also had an entry in the parade. Family members in the color guard: Glen's cousin Al in blue shirt, Glen in yellow shirt, Dennis in sailor suit, Glen's brother Ed on far right with feather flag.

As most of you know, President Obama and fam made their first trip to sub-Saharan Africa on 10 July, choosing Ghana instead of Kenya , his father's native country, for a number of reasons, including democracy, economy, human rights, etc. The US Embassy Accra was very busy for the last few weeks preparing for the visit, single-mindedly focusing on the event since about 22 June. Our office had major roles in ground, air, and sea security and support. I worked with the Secret Service as a liaison with the ground forces, or outer ring, of security, ensuring direct coordination between the two elements. The Navy chap did basically the same thing, but was primarily concerned with Ghana Navy security patrols down near the Cape Coast Castle and infamous door of no return. The Air Force chap was responsible for helping receive the dozens of C-17 Globemasters that we ferrying all the gear necessary to support the visit. Luckily for him, a USAF command and operations group was one of the fir...

The original purpose of the road trip was to go to Reno, NV for the Women's National Bowling Tournament. But over 5000 miles, we managed to take in a few other sights. You'll probably see this recapped in the annual holiday newsletter, but we thought we'd post the highlights here. GOLDEN SPIKE TOWER, NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA www.VisitNorthPlatte.com North Platte, Nebraska is one of the largest classification yards for trains in the country. Union Pacific uses this yard to separate and reconstitute trains going across the country. For example, a train coming from the west coast with a load of Toyotas for several destinations east of the Mississippi might need to pick up some Wyoming coal cars also going to points east. It is here that the cars are separated from the original train and put together for their new destinations. They do this by driving the train up a "hump", separating the cars and letting gravity roll them down to their new train. There are hun...

Straight up from the dually truck behind the small car facing you is Karen's van facing away. Doesn't look good! Now they say we won't get to see or remove it until Friday instead of Wednesday. Picture is from the Lansing State Journal Monday. Wood TV 8 says there are 1,000 cars stranded.

Someplace in this mess is Karen's van. This was supposed to be a country music concert that spanned two days. They made announcements later in the day about the rising water, but it was too late for the kids and many others. Josh moved the van several times trying to get it as high as possible. He looked at this picture and says the van is in the center of the "pond" on what appears to be some visible green. Hopefully the water never reached much higher than the tires. Can't even get near it until 24 June. For more pictures: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/central_mich/Officials_on_B_93_Birthday_Bash_flood

Hi turner family!! Its Cori!! I got an account on the blog!! I'm still trying to figure everything out but I think I got it. What is every body up to?

Abbey (number 4) ready for the toss at the beginning of one of three games during a Saturday tounament in East Lansing. Uncle Jason, Grampa, Grandma, and Cory came to watch the last game of the day. Started out very overcast and dreary, but cleared off and got sunny in anticipation of all the visitors. Abbey again ready at the draw after a goal was scored by the bad guys. Abbey attacks the net as her friend Madison (22) looks on. Abbey with the ball charging down field. Not as easy as it looks from the sidelines. Abbey shows the athletic ability she obviously didn't get from her Dad while back peddling to defend her goal from the opposition. Later that day we took the sticks to Grandma's house for dinner and Abbey, Cory and Uncle Jason played catch in the backyard for quite some time. This practice or words of wisdom from her Uncle must have worked as she was more aggressive the rest of the season digging out ground balls against opponents. Great first year overall ...

The games yesterday were wet and the fields reflected the weather, as did the kiddies. Tiffani suggested a picture after the game, with both a front and back shot, but only some of the troops cooperated or understood. That's Seamus's distraction -- er, best buddy, Max -- on his left. Dylan, 4th from left, had no qualms about walking directly to each puddle to stand in, reveling in the quality of the mud, flicking it with his cleats toward the goalie coach (me) like a bull preparing to charge.

In the instruction phase, it's all about the confidence. In the aftermath, it's all about the freedom. Family friendly edit Original, adult version

So, we're exiting the High School after working out and playing basketball with the kids on Sunday, and with the wealth of rain we received over the weekend, there was a commensurate wealth of worms on the sidewalks and pavement. Tiffani offered a Big Mac to whomever chewed and swallowed a worm, to which there were no acceptors of the challenge. Cue to our turn on to Belknap Street a few moments later, and the peripheral notice of the giant puddle that appears every spring behind the house on the corner (recall the rain mentioned in the previous paragraph). The weather was cool and gray, certainly not swimming conditions in the midwest, but a new challenge was proffered: submergence in the Belknap Lake would also merit a Big Mac. The results... Big Macs all around. Sophia charged out of the van for the water, but Nick's chum, Ezra, was the first to actually log roll through. Warm showers, and then a hot lunch .