Family Vacation #3 Bass Lake Indiana

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Mom and her 4 kids clockwise from left: Karen, Kevin, Cassie, Michael, MomAll the grandkids who were there.

Michael, Karen, Heidi and Mark (Karen's husband) after the 5 K. Mark took 5th overall.

Mom's sibs: back row Mike Murphy, Cathy Shea, Rick Murphy

front row: Trish Borla, Ronnie Rubino, Mary Anne Coburn

The Murphy family reunion took place in late July with nearly 80 of my mom's family on hand including her 5 siblings and most of the cousins and 2nd cousins. Bob and Trish Borla hosted at their lake house in Knox, IN. My mom rented a nice house in Culver about 9 miles away and we 17 spent the preceding week there in Culver and joined the events on the big weekend. Heidi and I brought bikes for the whole family and managed an 11 mile loop around Culver lake in the near dark but we made it. Then in the Bass Lake Days festival events, Heidi got 3rd in the 5K walking division and took 2nd overall female in the 8 mile bike loop of the lake winning a nice trophy. I managed 3rd in the bike race losing to a 68 and 64 year old in the sprint. The kids had a great time tubing and jet skiing while I used all of the 3 sailboats my Uncle has on hand there. We even got some fishing in with my son Connor and nephew Jason. Our summer of heavy vacations is done.

Buffett comes to Cleveland

It had been 8 years since Jimmy Buffett had been to Cleveland and more like 21 years since Heidi and I had seen a show. So last Tuesday we had an awesome time on the lawn at Blossom Music Center 8 miles from our house seeing him put on a rocking show. Check out his encore here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAf95h0rliU

Family Vacation #2 - Mexican Cruise

Cozumel our ship on the left: Isabelle, Annelise, Lily, Holly, Grace, David, Heidi, ConnorThe kids at Progreso, Mexico: Lily, Grace, Annelise, Isabelle and Connor
At Sea on our balcony: Fields family
Coburn family
Coburn kids: Annelise, Isabelle and Connor in the Mississippi Delta

We have just returned from a great 5 day cruise from New Orleans to Mexico. Unfortunately, the reason for the cruise was to celebrate Heidi's dad, Jack's, 80th birthday. Linda, his wife, had to have surgery and they were unable to join us so we went with Holly, Heidi's sister, and their family. We had three staterooms connected by balconies which was so enjoyable. Our 6 p.m. dinner became a great deal of fun as Bruno and Eddy did magic for the kids each night and if dinner wasn't enough the kids took full advantage of the 24 hour icecream and Pizza. I bet they had 4 icecreams per day, but they did take the stairs each day instead of the elevators. I have included a few pictures including our port stops in Progreso and Cozumel.

Family Vacation #1 - Rankin Ranch

Riding the creek!
Heidi on Lightening at the lead position.
On Walker's Basin on our meadow ride.

We just completed a long weekend at the Rankin Ranch in Caliente, CA. We were there with Heidi's mom Jackie and Heidi's siblings John and Holly. We had our kids along and Holly and David had their girls Lilly and Grace as well. We stayed in cabins and rode horses 2 x per day. We also did our share of trout fishing which you can see the trophy caught by Connor by clicking here.

Big Gig in November

Well I am doing something sort of fun in November. I am a participant in a Secret Service Summit here in Cleveland. I will be talking about the 2 years of work my teams have been doing to deliver world class customer service.

http://www.secretservicesummit.com/