Welcome to Summer Break - Week of June 5th

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”  ~T.S. Eliot 

And it seemed, just like that, Cameron's 9th grade school year finished up on Thursday.  On Wednesday, the freshman Gone Boarding crew from Cam's class managed a fun group picture with their skateboards.

Friday marked our busiest day of the week.  We started off with Ms. Amanda back with Cam for summer hang out time.  We were on the morning schedule for a visit to the Grand Valley PT graduate students for a session.  Cameron is paid for his time spent with the students.  The group of guys listened to Cam's commentary about how to work with him, what his muscles feel like and his range of motion.

Later in the afternoon, we arrived at Chris's workplace for an employee and family gathering.  Much to everyone's benefit, Cam's dad was signed up for the dunk tank.  Chris's son had the distinct honor of being the first one to actually dunk the Director of IT.  Thank goodness it was a nice afternoon because Chris indicated the water was a bit chilly!

From there, Cam, Jane and Ms. Amanda headed to Uccello's for a belated birthday celebration for Cam's best bud, Brody. Four other friends, Brody's parents and another set of parents all joined in the festivities.  Part of Cameron's gift was a side by side picture of Cam and Brody on the WMML field 10 years ago and 2 weeks ago, attempting to recreate the same pose and photo. Ms. Amanda actually remained with us so that Cam's parents could go out for the evening to celebrate Jane's birthday.  Chris had to stay and be dunked quite a few times prior to heading out.

Jane felt quite spoiled by Chris and Cam for her birthday and the celebration continued.  Saturday afternoon, we were invited for a bday dinner with the cousins.  It wasn't exactly a beach day but we had such a great time as we always do.  After a delicious meal of salmon, chicken, veggies and fruit, we devoured white chocolate covered Oreos and Ryke's birthday cake.  

Before heading out, Cam's chair had a joystick error and had to be put in manual mode and pushed up a hill back into the van.

Sunday morning, the error persisted and we sent an SOS out to our buddy, Joe, who works for the manufacturer of Cam's power wheelchair.  He immediately came to our aid, met us at the local grocery store before 11am and replaced the entire joystick module and screen for us.  We are so grateful for people like Joe!  Without his repair job, the afternoon activity would not have happened.

Cameron was invited to a graduation open house for fellow classmates who worked in his classroom.
Twin seniors, Johanna and Katherine had extended an invite for the Sunday event.  They were truly overjoyed to see Cam arrive!  Another senior, Olivia, showed up as well and made certain to join in the photo opp.

Following the open house, Chris and Jane planned to head to an outdoor concert (O.A.R.) at Fredrick Meijer Garden while Ms. Ann spent the evening with Cam.  It was raining steadily when they left the grad party and Cameron asked Chris and Jane if they were still going to the concert.  They indicated they were since the tickets were paid for and a little rain never hurt anyone.  Cam's sarcastic retort: "O.k. parents...have fun!"

Camology Quotes:

Friday morning was Cam's first day to sleep in, which he took full advantage of, not waking up until 8:30am.  While still stretching in bed, he enthusiastically declared, 

"Ah...sooooo refreshing!"