Bobby's 49th birthday celebration

Kyle and I drove up to Traverse City to help Bobby celebrate his birthday. We had champagne and pizza on his sailboat and had a grand time!

Coby's graduation photos

So after graduating from high school, Coby is off to college at Bowling Green State University -- just up the road a bit from a few Ripley kin. He's majoring in architecture for now, but who knows what kind of degree he'll end up with?

Facebook/MySpace/LinkedIn

Hey, y'all!

It was great to see so many of you at the family reunion/anniversary party at Matteson Lake. I know there were lots of people with cameras, so if you have photos, please post them here on the blog so that everyone can see them.

Even though I've been busy with work, I've still had time lately to play around with Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn -- social networking sites on the Internet. These things are yet another way we can connect, so I hope you'll create your own page and we can all be "friends" in addition to being relatives.

You can find my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1064510663

My MySpace page is http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=225491092

And you can find me on LinkedIn (which is more of a business networking site) at http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=15030214&trk=tab_pro

Hope you're all doing well!

Jill

Cedar Point Fun!

Hello All -
Here are some pictures of the group who visited Cedar Point and Soak City the last week of July. The picture to the right is of Tonia, Jason, Sara, Richard, Jim, Mom (Gloria), Joel, Pam, Megan and Rachael as we were entering Cedar Point on July 28. This was Rachael and Megan's first visit to the park. Both were very daring and Megan rode some very scary coasters. It was hard to get Rachael off some of the rides! The second picture is of Richard, Tonia, Megan, Jim, Pam, Colin, Amy, Rachael, Sara and Megan. This was at the entrance to Soak City. Enjoyed a day in the sun riding the slides, floating on the lazy river
and catching some waves. Richard and I discovered that our chubby bodies were not made for the water slides as we caught some pretty serious air on them! We thought we were going to fly off of the slides!
We are enjoying our summer so far, but the oppressive Kansas heat is finally upon us. So, we are going to escape it by going to Las Vegas in a week! We know it sounds crazy, but we would rather be in Las Vegas when it is 110 degrees than in Kansas at 90 degrees and 80% humidity!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Our best - Sara & Richard

60th anniversay

Thanks to all who came for the mini-family reunion/60th anniversary party for my Mom and Dad. They totally enjoyed it and loved seeing everyone. The beautiful weather, great food, warm water in the lake, fun games, and our usual comaradarie made it for a wonderful day. Pam and I are wondering.... who wants to do the next family reunion?

Coby's New Life Begins on a Roller Coaster!

Coby's graduation was really a very fun event. Imagine 750 students all sitting together in rows pretending to be on a roller coaster complete with sound effects! That was one part of the entertainment at the commencement and it was pretty cool. They all simultaneously leaned left and right, put their hands in the air while making the usual sounds you would on a roller coaster. Lots of green and white streamers and confetti was dispersed into the air and it looked like it was snowing! Afterward they tossed their mortars into the air and much clapping and yelling ensued. Quite the party!! Coby will be attending Bowling Green State University starting sometime in August. I know Cameron and Jill will miss him more than they want to admit. Had a great time playing golf with Jill and visiting with Mom and Dad. Got a call from Bob and Chery and Dustin while we were there. Dustin received his first trophy in karate and was very proud. They don't have their sail boat out on Traverse Bay yet but hope to get it out very soon. Hope to see some of you soon!

Fort Wayne NW opts in!

Hi All,

Thank you Kyle for getting us organized. It's a beautiful day in FW, my windows are open and the smell of the lilacs at the front of the house is drifting in, sun is beginning to set and I'm hoping we get another good day tomorrow.

Not much new from me, still working but planning to be on the retirement list come September or October. As soon as we hire a replacement for my boss who is retiring June 30, I'll know which month I can commit to. I've promised myself I will not be driving to work at IPFW in the winter of 2008-09!

Good news from Jamie and Michelle - their house in Indianapolis sold and the deal closed yesterday. They are settled in Chaska, MN (SW of Minneapolis) and the boys are liking it better and better all the time. I really miss being able to jump in my car for a two hour ride south to see them.

Spent two weekends in Michigan with Tammy and Gregg and family. Valerie had her 1st Communion in April and we celebrated Aaron's 5th birthday with a "birthday brunch" the day after. This month I visited them again on Mother's Day weekend to see Valerie in her 3rd annual dance recital. It's great fun being a Granny! Retirement days will permit me to visit even more - who knows, I might find my way to Chaska too.

Congratuations to the graduates - seems like yesterday we were cuddling them in their early months of life.

Love to all,
Dianne

Graduates!!

In case you all don't know, we have at least two high school graduates in June. Jill's oldest son, Coby Ryan Hughes, will be graduating on June 1st from Mason High School in Mason, Ohio. Mom and Dad and I will be attending the ceremony at the campus of Xavier College in Cincinnati. It's a pretty large class so I hope they'll have an intermission.

Amy and Tony's son, Ryan, is also graduating also with an open house on June 21st. We should all be proud of these two young men as they end their lives as high school students and begin a new life as adults with all the fun and freedom that comes with that responsibility. Congratulations to Coby and Ryan!!! --Kyle

Close Cousins

I don't know how many know this but Corey and Linda and I all work for the state of Michigan and now Linda and I are working in the same building!! I'm leaving for Florida next Tuesday for a two week vacation and when I get back we'll have lunch together. We've lived in the same area for years but they're on the east side and I'm 10 miles west of Lansing so we see each other at family reunions. Go figure. Anyway, I'm looking forward to lunch and maybe we'll see each other more often. Hope all is well with you all. Be sure to email me if you're having trouble getting on our blog. Love to all. --Kyle

Greetings!

Joel Here.
Good Idea Kyle. This blog is super.

Life goes on...

Hi All,
Life is normal (whatever that means) at the Sparks house in Attica.
Miranda is gearing up for softball season with regular practices starting after spring break.
Vanessa and Samantha will be playing spring soccer in the Lapeer Receation League and Vanessa is signed up for Attica League softball and Sam will play co-ed coach pitch baseball. I'm working my job at TRW as normal and Leasa is working part time at Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc along with running our embroidery/engraving business. We have moved the business into the new shop finally and now we need to get organized so we look more professional to our customers......LOL Hope all is well with everyone and please pray for warm weather!
Tracy

Kyle, this is a great idea, and I'm glad you've started it because I have a question for all of you out there in automotiveland: I just bought a 2008 Saturn Aura that seems to be completely relying on a computer for most everything. All I have to do is steer and buy gas for it. So, do I need to buy an extended warranty? Consider that I will probably keep this car as long as my previous 1991 Saturn -- 17 years. How expensive is it going to be to fix this thing? It's not garaged, but winters are not harsh here. Summers, though, are really hot, and Audry will be sitting in the sun from around 10 a.m. until sunset.

(The cool thing is that the '91 probably will get a whole new life as a race car in the Carolinas owing to its light weight and ability to have a souped-up engine. At least, that's what the dealer told me. She only had 105,000 miles after 17 years, so she's good for many more laps! I hope she gets a good driver. She deserves a racier life than she led with me.)

So, new Aura, keeping her outdoors at least 'til she's a teen, computercentric. More than a 5-year warranty or not?

Your befuddled cousin/niece,
Jo Ellen

This is my puppy, Dukey the Wonder Dog (we wonder why we got him). He's a six-year-old Jack Russell/beagle mix and is a lot of fun. He needs to see the Dog Whisperer, though, because he cries and trembles a lot. I'll bet a lot of you have pet photos you can post here!

Thanks to Kyle!

My sister can do anything, and I think it's great that she came up with this idea of a family blog. I only wish it had been available during all the many years I lived down south in North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia -- too far to attend many family reunions. If people post every once in a while, and if we all read it once in a while, we'll be able to keep up much better with what everyone's doing. Me? I now have seven children and am moving to France. Okay, I'm just kidding. ;-)

It was great seeing so many of you this past weekend, especially Dovie, Randy, and Michael, and I hope to see even more family this summer! A good ol' reunion again? Wouldn't that be nice?

xoxoxo to all of you!

In Memory of Aunt Bernie

We recently lost a very dear member of our family, Bernice Ripley, to me and many of us “Aunt Bernie”. She was a dynamic, vibrant, feisty, red-head who is now with the love of her life, John, forever. She will be missed very much by her children and everyone else who loved her so much.