Day 6- A ROLLER COASTER MIX!

June 27, 2016

You could feel the excitement in the air as the kids got on the bus this morning. We were spending the day at an amusement park! Emma was so excited she could barely sit still as we went through our morning routine. The rest of us were also excited because Micha Tsoi joined us this morning for the rest of our tour! He is joining us late because he was competing in The International Young Artist Piano Competition, held in Washington, D.C. Young artists must audition and then be invited to compete. Other competitors were from China and Korea. Micah won third pace and a cash award. Congratulations Micah! 

The “Bag of Fire” chose Claire Dobrzanski and Tobias Schuett as our official morning Greeters. Great huggers. Then it was time for fork stories. There were quite a few today since everyone stayed in host homes last night. There are always fun stories when we spend the night in host homes. Dee and Emma told a story about some creepy pictures hanging on the wall in their bedroom. Bryce held up a home run baseball that he caught when it came sailing over a fence. Matt was behind a student driver who drove up on the curb. Rose, Marin & Jessie were taken to a college house at the University of Michigan and had to sleep on couches in an old carriage house, decorated hippie style (College Life 101!) But the winner of the fork was Celia Hembrough. She told a story about her bed breaking in the middle of the night while she and Torie Brooks were sleeping in it. It was very funny. 

Next came breakfast reports. Jon Con and Evan Kamuf got to eat breakfast in the college coffee house and were given a short tour of the University of Michigan. Julia Bratburd was introduced to a “fragel,” which is basically a fried bagel. Others had reports on eating granola, fruit, Hot Pockets and breakfast sandwiches. We also decided that our official tour food this year is the lunch meat sandwich. We have been fed sandwiches almost every single day. It is our new “Ham” (those of you who know stories of our previous tours will understand this reference.)

Tom held a moment of silence as we crossed the state line from Michigan into Ohio. Good-bye Michigan. We will miss you.

At last we arrived at Cedar Point. It is a 365 acre amusement park located on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio. It opened in 1870 and is the second oldest amusement park in the U.S. It holds a world record 71 rides, including 17 roller coasters. Several of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The kids were broken up into small groups and given meal ticket vouchers and entrance tickets. They quickly dispersed to their favorite ride destination. 

We were scheduled to sing on the performance stage in the park at 1:30. Everyone met back at the appointed time, wearing their matching tour t-shirts, and we had a short half hour performance. They sounded great, in spite of the fact that the temperature was sweltering, rising to a high of 96 degrees! Then everyone dispersed again for the rest of the day. We had periodic check-ins with their adult section check leaders and Wendy Hembrough was nearby with the medical bag in case there was an emergency. All went well. We met back at the bus at 8:00 p.m and headed to our next destination. Our evening Greeters were Madison Bowe and Micah Tsoi. We also had bonus Greeters tonight: Bryce Taylor and Scott Hembrough. Tobias taught us our German word for the day: “Achterbahn,” which means roller coaster.

We decided to give out fork awards for the best story from our day in the park. Dee Robertson proudly told us that she went on her first roller coaster ride ever. We all applauded for her. Kae told a story of how Amanda kept accidentally kicking over a cluster of water bottles with her foot while Kae tried to repeatedly pick them up and a police officer came over and asked Kae if she needed “back-up.” The winners of the fork were Matthew Baldridge, who told a story of a sea gull that swooped over him and dropped a “present”on his head, and Annie Elliott who had her cell phone taken away on top of a roller coaster (because it is apparently illegal to have a cell phone out on top of a roller coaster in Ohio. Who knew?) 

As we headed to our new destination with new host homes tonight, everyone snuggled down in the seats and dozed off. Tom read “Good Night Moon” over the microphone and Polly sang them a lullaby. We are never too old to enjoy those comforting childhood rituals. Good Night everyone.

Click here for photos from Day 6

Day 6- A ROLLER COASTER MIX!

June 27, 2016

You could feel the excitement in the air as the kids got on the bus this morning. We were spending the day at an amusement park! Emma was so excited she could barely sit still as we went through our morning routine. The rest of us were also excited because Micha Tsoi joined us this morning for the rest of our tour! He is joining us late because he was competing in The International Young Artist Piano Competition, held in Washington, D.C. Young artists must audition and then be invited to compete. Other competitors were from China and Korea. Micah won third pace and a cash award. Congratulations Micah! 

The “Bag of Fire” chose Claire Dobrzanski and Tobias Schuett as our official morning Greeters. Great huggers. Then it was time for fork stories. There were quite a few today since everyone stayed in host homes last night. There are always fun stories when we spend the night in host homes. Dee and Emma told a story about some creepy pictures hanging on the wall in their bedroom. Bryce held up a home run baseball that he caught when it came sailing over a fence. Matt was behind a student driver who drove up on the curb. Rose, Marin & Jessie were taken to a college house at the University of Michigan and had to sleep on couches in an old carriage house, decorated hippie style (College Life 101!) But the winner of the fork was Celia Hembrough. She told a story about her bed breaking in the middle of the night while she and Torie Brooks were sleeping in it. It was very funny. 

Next came breakfast reports. Jon Con and Evan Kamuf got to eat breakfast in the college coffee house and were given a short tour of the University of Michigan. Julia Bratburd was introduced to a “fragel,” which is basically a fried bagel. Others had reports on eating granola, fruit, Hot Pockets and breakfast sandwiches. We also decided that our official tour food this year is the lunch meat sandwich. We have been fed sandwiches almost every single day. It is our new “Ham” (those of you who know stories of our previous tours will understand this reference.)

Tom held a moment of silence as we crossed the state line from Michigan into Ohio. Good-bye Michigan. We will miss you.

At last we arrived at Cedar Point. It is a 365 acre amusement park located on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio. It opened in 1870 and is the second oldest amusement park in the U.S. It holds a world record 71 rides, including 17 roller coasters. Several of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The kids were broken up into small groups and given meal ticket vouchers and entrance tickets. They quickly dispersed to their favorite ride destination. 

We were scheduled to sing on the performance stage in the park at 1:30. Everyone met back at the appointed time, wearing their matching tour t-shirts, and we had a short half hour performance. They sounded great, in spite of the fact that the temperature was sweltering, rising to a high of 96 degrees! Then everyone dispersed again for the rest of the day. We had periodic check-ins with their adult section check leaders and Wendy Hembrough was nearby with the medical bag in case there was an emergency. All went well. We met back at the bus at 8:00 p.m and headed to our next destination. Our evening Greeters were Madison Bowe and Micah Tsoi. We also had bonus Greeters tonight: Bryce Taylor and Scott Hembrough. Tobias taught us our German word for the day: “Achterbahn,” which means roller coaster.

We decided to give out fork awards for the best story from our day in the park. Dee Robertson proudly told us that she went on her first roller coaster ride ever. We all applauded for her. Kae told a story of how Amanda kept accidentally kicking over a cluster of water bottles with her foot while Kae tried to repeatedly pick them up and a police officer came over and asked Kae if she needed “back-up.” The winners of the fork were Matthew Baldridge, who told a story of a sea gull that swooped over him and dropped a “present”on his head, and Annie Elliott who had her cell phone taken away on top of a roller coaster (because it is apparently illegal to have a cell phone out on top of a roller coaster in Ohio. Who knew?) 

As we headed to our new destination with new host homes tonight, everyone snuggled down in the seats and dozed off. Tom read “Good Night Moon” over the microphone and Polly sang them a lullaby. We are never too old to enjoy those comforting childhood rituals. Good Night everyone.

Click here for photos from Day 6

Day 5- IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE!

June 25, 2016

We are driving to Detroit. Ahead of us in the distance are tall skyscrapers, buildings and various businesses amidst traffic congestion, when we suddenly see it. There in the middle of the busy, crowded city stands a 14th century English style cathedral, a symbol of the spiritual world from a time gone by. It is majestic and magnificent. It is even more awe inspiring on the inside. I gaze around the sanctuary in amazement noting  hints of medieval construction – pointed arches, stained glass windows, massive pillars, painted ceilings, intricate wooden carvings, marble basins and symbols everywhere of the splendor of churches from long ago. The Cathedral Church of St. Paul was constructed in 1907, although their parish has been in existence since 1824. It is listed on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places. In fact, Henry Ford’s funeral was held here in 1947, a significance for me considering we recently visited the Henry Ford museum. Steve Kalnoske was the contact for us at this church. He and Charles Miller, the current music director, worked together for 3 years at the National

City Christian Church in D.C. In fact, Charles Miller subbed for Steve at DUMC one time when he was away. 

Our youth arrived early so they could rehearse processing into the sanctuary, sitting in the choir loft and doing the proper things during this formal Episcopal service. To me, the formality of the traditional service combined with the breath-taking surroundings gave an atmosphere of reverence that is sometimes missing in the more casual modern churches. I truly felt like I was walking on holy ground, taken back in time to the foundations of faith in this city. Our youth were singing a beautiful hymn about faith as that thought came to me. “Faith is the end from the start and beginnings in endings.” I hope they sing that hymn for you at the Welcome Home concert. It is so moving and beautiful. 

As usual, Steve outdid himself playing their beautiful organ (although he admitted to me that our Skinner organ is better :). We had a funny little incident at the beginning of the service after Steve played the voluntary. When his song ended, a high pitched fire engine-type siren sound continued coming out the organ. It went on for 5 minutes. (Maybe all of our joking on the bus about Harry Potter magic followed Steve into the church and manifested itself inside the organ?) Even the priest
quipped that everyone was so excited having a choir from Damascus visit us, even the organ. Steve explained to me that what actually happened is that the upper valve got stuck and the air inside was trapped and was shooting through the pipe, creating the squeal. The music director had to climb up and pull the pipe out to make it stop. Mischief Managed.

After the service, we were given bag lunches and headed to Belle Isle Park, a 985 acre island park, surrounded on all sides by the Detroit River. The designer of Belle Isle Park is the same person who designed Central Park in New York City. Across the water in the distance, one can see the International Bridge crossing into Canada. The park has many attractions, including a Conservatory with 13 acres of different varieties of plants (the oldest in the nation), a small aquarium (also the oldest in the U.S.), playgrounds, a giant slide, basketball and soccer fields. Everyone broke up into

groups and headed out to explore for a few hours. Many youth found their “Jimmie Cone away from home” ice cream truck and stood in long lines to get some cold, delicious refreshment. Our athletic hardy boys took over the soccer field with another fast action frisbee  game, even though it was crazy hot outside (you will notice in my photos that most of them took off their shirts.) 

Back in the bus, we headed to our next venue, Westside UMC in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our Greeters for the day were Jessie Marshall and Dee Robertson in the morning and Sydney Fennington and Calista Kibak in the afternoon. Sydney  Fennington was finally awarded her fork award for her Harry Potter memorial room story that she told a few days ago. I have included a few photos of that room in our photo album today that she took when she was there. Our host church had provided a lovely pot luck dinner for our group. There was plenty of food to choose from. Angela Nardone gave a beautiful prayer to bless our food and Jessie Marshall stood and thanked the ladies for their hospitality. Polly presented the choir director with another lovely piece of artwork with the border drawn by our own Kitty McNaughton Ayers. He promptly hung it in his choir room for all to see.Our big surprise of the evening was seeing Kelly Bratburd walking through the door! She will be joining us for the rest of the tour. Phil Hulcher also had family members arrive to watch the concert. The crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative. They sang along with a few songs and were clapping loudly as Julia Bratburd belted out “He Never Failed Me Yet.” As usual, the youth wowed the audience with their singing skills and beautiful music. Tonight we are staying in host homes. Maybe we will have some new fork stories tomorrow! 

Who will our next winner be? Check in and see! 

This is your Michigan blogger Sue, signing out.

Click Here for Photos from Day 5