Greetings from Sherriville, Indiana

Peanuts. The Vander Pol family is completely obsessed with the game 'Peanuts'. It's also referred to as 'nertz' or, at times 'blitz' and even 'pounce' as some of my students call it. Anyway, it's a card game that they are WAY too competitive during and I feel as though it brings out the worst in everyone. Not my favorite 'family activity' by any stretch of the imagination. So, they are all in the dining room playing and, because you need partners, we needed to pair off. Wouldn't you know it... we had an odd number because another friend is staying here from out of town. NOT A PROBLEM says I. 'I will be the gracious one and sit out'. :)

Our Chicago trip started Thursday afternoon when we boarded an Alaska Airlines 777 and made the trip from SEA to ORD, O'Hare Airport. We got in at about 11:30, got our rental car, and made it to the Days Inn Hotel in 'Libertyville, Illinois'. After a night of fairly lousy sleep (not sure why) we were up bright and early to head to Six Flags Great America theme park. The air was thick with storm clouds and all of the weather channels were predicting lightning and rain. The weathermen were right. We made it into the park and on two rides before the rain really started. And apparently when it rains here, it POURS! We found a little restaurant in the theme park and too cover for about an hour. Suzanne Clark was also going to meet us there, but her mom's basement flooded, so she was home helping clean that up. She didn't miss much. We were considering leaving several times, but weather man/brother John predicted only 20 more minutes of rain. I'm pretty sure a vast majority of people at the park went home at that point. We stayed and, about 20 minutes later, the rain stopped. We saw them getting several of the rides ready, so we decided to get to the one we wanted to ride most in case they shut them down again. After 2 more rides and just when the sun was peeking out, Suz and her boyfriend Jason showed up. It was sunny the rest of the afternoon. We did several more roller coasters and then grabbed a late lunch. By that time it was getting toasty. Jason and Suz didn't bring their swim suits and the Vander Pol family was itching to try out the water rides, so, Suz and Jason went to go ride some of their favorite roller coasters while we went to the attached water park. The rides were SO much fun and the water was really refreshing. About 2 hours later, Jason and Suz came and found us. The lines were incredibly short the whole time, mostly because the rain chased everyone away. We went back to get our clothes. Sadly, my favorite Reef Sandals were not where I had left them. Everyone else's shoes were there, but mine were definitely gone. I'm pretty sure someone walked off in them. :( So, we went and found some $7 sandals in the gift shop and made due with those. We had about an hour and a half left, so Jason, Suz, Henry and I went to see if we could get a few more roller coaster rides in. A typical wait for these rides is over an hour. We walked up and got right on. It was great! Just as we were finishing the day, the storm clouds rolled in, very black. Big rain drops started to fall just as we reached the car. We said good-bye to Jason and Suz and made our way to John and Larissa's house in a torrential downpour. 2 hours later, we were at their 'new' house. It's pretty nice! After showers, everyone went to get some much needed sleep.

This morning we slept in a little. Henry and I went to the nearest mall to look for a new pair of sandals to replace my old ones. We found almost the exact same style, which was nice. Once we got home we were on party making duty. We blew up balloons, taped down table cloths and set up tables and chairs, not in that order I suppose. John and Larissa's house came with a HUGE above ground pool, so we got the floating chairs and beach balls out for that. It was a pretty hot day already at 10 am. Typical mid-west. Direct, hot sun, a warm breeze and muggy. It wasn't long before there were many of us taking advantage of the pool. It felt great. Wes and Janelle made the drive down from Michigan and got here at about 2pm. They had lunch with us and played some games. We chatted for a while and, about 3-4 hours after they arrived, they had to leave again. It was good to see them again! We packed up the party and headed inside to eat some left-over lunch for dinner. They got a bunch of Mexican from a restaurant and it was delicious. After dinner and some left over cake, we chatted for a while and watched some T.V. and now we're here.

Listening to the game in the next room, I'm happy sitting out. :)

Tomorrow we're planning on going to church with John and Larissa and then heading to the airport for our flight that leaves at 3:30. We should be in Seattle by 5:30, which is nice.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Love from Indiana!

- Lindsey and Henry

Busy, busy weeks!

The past few weeks have probably been the busiest of my year! Maybe not as busy as some of the basketball tournament weeks, but still really busy! Last week was finals week. Also the last week of school. So, I was trying to get some things finished up for the incoming 7th graders, getting tests made and given for this years 7th and 8th graders to wrap up their units and then making and giving finals. I made them WAY too long! It took the kids a long time to take them, but it took me a REALLY long time to grade them! I had 95 students who each took 7 page finals. That's 665 pages to grade! I gave them a portion that they couldn't use their calculators on as well. That was 2 pages, so 95 times 2 is 190 pages. That means I had 855 pages to grade! I had some help from a fellow teacher, but it was still a HUGE project. We also started volleyball camp this week, so I'm at school doing that for about 3 hours every afternoon this week. I have 2 days to get my room all cleaned up, do all of our laundry so we can pack for Chicago, and clean up the house so it's not a mess when we get home!

Having school over is definately wonderful! However, I will feel much better when I turn off my lights and lock my door for the last time in the next few months! Hopefully it will only take a few more hours to get the room clean! There's TONS of stuff that I could really do to clean the room out, but I might just have to get the necessities done and call it good.

I'm all geared up for a busy and fun summer! We start things off this weekend when we go to Chicago with Henry's family. His brother John and his wife Larissa each just graduated with their masters and they're having a little schindig. We'll fly out Thursday night and get into Chicago fairly late. We're staying at a hotel in north Chicago since we're getting in late and going up to north Chicago Friday anyway. Friday is our day at 'Great America', a Six Flags theme park. Suzanne and her boyfriend, Jason, are meeting us there and their spending the day with us, which is great! Saturday is teh graduation party. Wes and Janelle are hoping to make it down, so we should be able to see them this Saturday, which would be fun. Sunday we'll go to Church with John and Larissa and then fly home.

Monday I'm going over to Ann Collier (a mom of some of our basketball girls)'s house for coffee and to trade a few recipes. I will definately be on the receiving end of that. :) I'm excited for that.

Next Wednesday night Henry and I are hoping to drive to Montana for a quick weekend visit. It's supposed to be for our Anniversary sort of, but it's turned into a more economical, relaxing weekend in Montana.

We'll get back from Montana on Sunday and I will fly out to Emo, Ontario Canada on Wednesday morning. I'm speding a weekend with Michelle Veldhuisen in Canada and then we're going to Montana for 'THE BIG EVENT' on Sunday July 6th. We'll spend the week there hanging out with the Hoekies and other family there. Excited to see you all! Henry will come out on Wednesday night and then we'll all go home on Sunday, the 12th. It will be a VERY busy month! But it will also be a lot of fun.

On a complete side-note, Chief got groomed yesterday. He looks SOOOOO cute! I'll see if I can get a picture of him and post it on here. Don't hold your breath.

Henry and I just finished some spaghetti with Vip and now we're watching Henry's favorite teenage soap opera. It's cheesey.

Hope you all are doing well! We'll most likely be seeing most of you within the next month. Hooray!

Until then, we love you!

- Henry, Lindsey, and Chief Walter Winston

Fabulous Friday Fights... I mean Nights

The week is finally over! Just one more week until 2 1/2 months of vacation and traveling. I have SO much to do before then!

The week went well. It started off warm and only got warmer. Monday and Tuesday were in the low 80's, which is quite unusual for June around here. Wednesday and Thursday got up to the high 80's, even 90's in some places. Let me tell you, those temperatures are hot enough in a classroom. Then 24 sweaty 7th graders come charging in! There was lots of sweating and some complaining, but we all survived. Today was finally cooler, in the mid 60's, which was actually a welcome change! We'll save the sunshine and heat for days where I can go to a lake or pool. Not be in a stinky, sweaty classroom with whiney kids. :)

It was a BUSY week with everyone trying to get ready for finals. There are also award ceremonies, yearbook ceremonies, and faculty meetings packed in. We had our middle school yearbook party this yesterday. The only problem was the yearbooks aren't here yet! We had to keep the schedule because the high school had things scheduled and there would be too much cross-over with high school and middle school teachers. So, we had a 2 hour party, in the 90 degree heat. Again, lots of sweat. the kids all brought different food and activities. I brought our Wii and a few games for the kids to play. There was much rejoicing. We had a whole line system set up so that we could rotate kids through. I thought it went really well! We had more food than an army could have eaten, so we all ate leftover snacks today. Overall, a very fun party.

The girls basketball team started their summer league program this week, so I was at practice Monday night and games Tuesday and Thursday nights. I guess I like and care about those girls or something. We have a good time. I love every one of them. :)

I LOVE Friday's! Mainly because I can wear jeans to school. Everything just seems so much better when I'm wearing jeans (or capri's this week!). Today we were reviewing for finals in all of my classes. We're all a little testy and ready to be done with the year! After school I had a few students in my room playing card games. I didn't have time, but played anyway. That's when you really get to know the kids! After they left I started trying to organize the mess that is known as my desk. I got all of my current grades recorded and entered, which is quite the task! Henry got home at about 5:30 and put dinner in the oven (the casserole that I made last night and put on time-bake while we were at Henry's game. Apparently the power went out while we were gone. We got home to blinking clocks and a stone cold casserole. Chicken Nuggets to the rescue! Vip had dinner with us.). I got home at about 6:15 (LONG DAY!). dinner was delish, if I do say so myself. We took Chief out for a nice walk and I'm now watching Henry trying to do Yoga on the Wii. Apparently he's frustrated the 'trainer' told him to 'picture your spine stretching'. Henry said, 'picture me punching you in the face'. That must not be his best activity.

Anyway, we're just having a boring night here at the Vander Pol house. it's nice after a long week. Vip might come over later. Or, we'll just put a movie in and fall asleep on the couch. We'll have to see.

Henry is golfing tomorrow and I'm undecided as to what I'm going to do. Steve and Harriet invited me to a parade with them and then to a farmers market. It might be fun, but I might just want to bum around the house and get things done. We'll have to see what happens.

Hope you all are doing well! We love you!!

- Yoga Henry, Typing Lindsey, and Snoozing Chief Walter Winston