Sunday, June 30, 2013

Ahhh, gotta love summer! - June 30, 2013

Hey there, hi there and hello there to all enjoying the summer fun!  Cannot believe the year is halfway over, where did that time go?  It has been a pretty fun month full of good times at work, visitors, trips and even some relaxation:)
It's that time at the Duck, yup business planning indeed.  Like I told my wife, a good part of my job has become a professional story-teller to help folks see where we're headed and why.  I really think that colleges and universities need to start teaching the art of building a story and how to turn ordinary information into extraordinary.  Speaking of awesome, the whole team started the month giving back at the local foodbank packing over 300 boxes for the community during our quarterly team building/volunteer gathering.  It's always fun to get out in the community, sweat a little and give back outside the walls.  O yes, and fun Fridays took a new look with
The start of the month was wondermous with some great visitors from Iowa.  The Urells, Fishers and even a Bridgewater joined the Klein Hotel for max capacity at 10 people:)  We had fun eating lots of food, hanging out by the pool and chasing the dog around the house with the boys.  Then we ventured over to the water at Myrtle Beach for a family getaway building sand castles, riding on a massive ferris wheel and yes, dressing up like we're in the 20's, Native American's and the Colonial times.  Thanks for the family for making the trip, it was a blast. 
Then, just this weekend we had a visit from our good friends the Demkos.  With just a couple months left before baby Mercedes, Jenny did some great work on a pretty sweet blanket (and yes, she used a plate to measure, hilarious).  We had some nice relaxation, delicious food and fun by the pool with some friends.  Having a weekend sleepover with some great peeps, what a great end to the month indeed!!
Speaking of my wife's mad skills, we found a great use for them in making some Courage Capes for the hospital she works at (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/tinysuperhero-capes-empower-sick-kids-article-1.1319437) She already found 11 recipients of the capes and next week she's going to start making them for Palmetto's Children Hospital, pretty awesome she is I must say!
O yes, and we visited the Dominican Republic for a fantacular funky wedding for the Funke family:)  Ryan and Melissa had a great wedding on a glorious all-inclusive resort, I think I'm still full.  It was probably the most relaxing time I've been a part of with more sleep than I'm used to, which was great.  We burned up the dance floor, played some sand volleyball, water polo, snorkled and read about 3 books.  Other than that, it was a lot of sleep, sun and fun with some friends, old and new.
All in all, June was a pretty awesome month including lots of words typed for the ol' doctorate, just one more elective before dissertation time:)  July is going to start great with Lincoln's 1st birthday, the 4th of July and a bachelor party in Myrtle for our pal Eddie B ... good times indeed.  Hope you all have them as well.
Always,
Nate