Irish athletes at the European championships in Birmingham, England, say they feel like they're competing at home.

A look at stories you may have missed this week -- and a look at what's happening around town. Our weekend edition of this newsletter will be a bit different from the normal Monday through Friday version. On Saturdays, I'll take a look some of our top picks from the last week, and highlight some of the events going on around Metro Detroit. Stories you missed this weekGator trouble: The teams at Bedford Junior High School in Temperance call themselves the Broncos. Northern Michigan cottages get new life: This is very Michigan.

ARMADA, Mich. -It was a busy Sunday at Blake's Orchard in Armada -- but only Carrie English knew what was going on. Carrie and Mark English have three daughters. Their 5-year-old had a birthday coming up and Sunday was a surprise birthday party for her, but she wasn't the only one who was surprised. The extended family knew about the surprise birthday, but nobody but Carrie English knew about the big surprise. His return was a birthday surprise that no one saw coming.