Summer Vacation
Its been a long year with work, consulting, travel, conferences, and everything else life throws at you. I have managed to have some fun and still saved up some vacation days for this summer. Well the time came, my parents came in from Bolivia, Miguel & Kate were coming for Miguel's graduation, and Andres was coming to Michigan as well.

I went and got Novali from Chicago on Wednesday (6/28) and brought her back the following day. The vacation started. Thursday was a relaxing day, I took her into work with me for a little bit and we waited for Miguel and Kate to arrive. They were coming in early fresh off their trip to Bolivia. That night we relaxed and Novali hung out with her new friend Hannah (the niece of my friend Jennifer).

Friday started with a quick breakfast. Then Miguel and Kate went to Kzoo, and Novi and I went with Hannah and her family to the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. It was a ton of fun and great little zoo. They had a nice Africa exhibit and we had a great time. They even let the kids feed giraffes! After the zoo we went back to Albion for Miguel and Kate to return and for my parents to arrive. Once everyone was together we got some dinner, a quick tour of Albion and then I went to get Andres from the airport.

Saturday was an early morning. Miguel's commencement was in Kalamazoo at 9am. We all got there on time and waited for the long program. After they butchered Miguel's name... we watched him get hooded (thats what they call it when a PHD graduates). We had a fun post grad lunch at Bilbos a fun little pizza place and then rolled to Gladwin. We relaxed at the lake for a little bit, and then went to dinner in Gladwin. After dinner we took some pictures... it was the first time all six of the Centellas family were together in over a year! Wow... it was nice to just eat, talk, share some stories and relax.

Sunday was a great day... we basically did nothing but sit around the lake, relax, eat, swim, fish... anything but work. After a big BBQ Miguel and Kate took Andres and Saloumeh to the airport, and then they stayed in Saginaw. Heather went back to Jackson to work, and the lake got a little more quiet.

Monday-Tuesday it was just Novi and I, my parents, Valerie and my grandparents. We fished in the mornings and evenings, played all day with the kids, squeezed some meals in between our activities, and took tons of pictures. Novali and Valerie helped us catch fish, and one night after a big catch Novali even came out and watched us clean the fish. She wasn't grossed out at all which surprised me. The following day she even ate fish! I am glad to see her trying more new things.

Wednesday, Fourth of July, we had visitors at the lake. Heather drove back up from Jackson, and Raquel came over with Ayanna. It was a nice time as Heather and I took the two little ones to see the new movie Ratatouille. Leaving was hard for us to do but we knew Novali would have a ton of fun at the lake and I am sure my parents wanted some good one on one time.

Over the weekend Heather and I went to a wedding and I planned the roadtrip of a life time. On Sunday (after a scary hotel fire at the Crowne Plaza Hotel) we started the road trip. Heather and I drove to Saginaw to get Novali... then dodged holiday traffic and construction to get Novali all the way back to Chicago. Upon drop off of Novi we drove back to Michigan. We dover nearly 600 miles in one day! Wow...

This week was busy... I am in Indianapolis right now for my fraternity leadership retreat. I worked on the programming and created an institute style leadership program called "I Believe, I Promise." I hope it goes well and I have some butterflies in my stomach about it right now.

Once this big weekend is over I plan to post photos from the Novali adventure in Michigan. She caught fish (and ate them!), swam, made sandcastles, and even managed to get a tan. Peace.