Day 5: An Early Morning, a Retirement Home, and the Ocean! (...er, I mean Lake Michigan)

The students had to wake up very early again this morning, as the bus needed to start driving at about 5:15 am in order to make the trip on time.  The host families were again wonderful and brought all of the students to the bus on time, as well as provided packed lunches for the students so that we would not have to stop for too long.  Fortunately we made better time than expected and were able to stop on the beaches of Lake Michigan for a short break.  Here are some photos of the students having fun on the sand.

The students were obeying all the rules.

Some crazy kids got in the cold water...

After this, we arrived at the Raybrook Campus of the Holland Home Retirement Community.  After dinner with the residents, the students put on a mini-concert at the nursing home.  The concert was especially significant to Mr. Ippel, whose father lives at this nursing home.  Below is a photo of a practice, but for the actual mini-concert, the chapel was packed to the brim.  The lady who helped us organize it said that she had never seen the place so full in the 15 years she had worked there!

After the concert, students met up with their host families and retired for the night.  I'll leave you with a drawing by Amber Ballenger.