Hookin' it up!

I've clocked in more than 30 hours each of  the past two weeks between training at Walsh and closing up the year of religious education at Little Flower.  So, I'm taking a break and catching up.  Here's another post and there are likely more to come for the night.

In mid-April, Ohio was graced with the appearance of one Stephany Quinn Medicine Woman.  I played soccer with Steph in college and though she is a native of Mississauga, Ontario (the land of the maple leaf) we've managed to stay in touch.  To be totally honest I would like to communicate with her more regularly but given I don't get much vacation time from being mom and she is in her residency for medical school I'm grateful that we make the contact we do between a couple letters by post and intermittent messaging via the world wide web.

I remember getting particularly excited when we moved back to Ohio thinking It will be reasonable to take the boys up to visit Steph now.  Shortly thereafter she moved out to B.C. for residency which isn't quite as reasonable a roadtrip.

Lucky for us, Steph and her boyfriend Dan ventured down to "the heart of it all" and we were able to connect in Canton.

 That's me on the far left, then Nicole who started at Walsh the same year and played soccer with us, then Steph, next is Jess (one of Steph's roommates in college), Kristen (a year ahead of us on the soccer team) and Becky the hostess and another one of Steph's roommates at Walsh).

During her brief stay she updated us on the ways of her world in medical school and introduced us to this film where her dad, who is big into extreme sports, got a major role as "Mr. Spreckles".  (WARNING: video contains some language that is not appropriate for all ages) Ski Ballet.  Apparently, the video was an entry in a film festival contest where they had a limited time to create a short film.  Interestingly, ski ballet was in fact a sport at one time as I learned watching a few videos of actual competitors.  Having never really skied before I find the skill admirable although the video takes a slightly more humorous and colorful approach.

It was fun to hang out with some of my college friends and remember those good ol' days.  However, the phrase "When did we get so old!?!?!" was blurted out on more than one occasion.  It's nice being around those friends that even though you don't get together often you manage to "connect" and pick up right where you left off.

In sticking with the theme of making connections, I thought I would refer you to my sister's blog so you can compare photos of our pretzel rolls.  She made hers first and when I saw them on her blog I decided that they would be a integral part of the birthday dinner for my mother-in-law who loves pretzels.  I made a chicken salad, as well as, sausage and peppers and onions  (more for my father-in-law) both of which tasted great on the rolls.  I think Kate's look nicer than mine but they still tasted great!

Also, feel free to enter Kate's haiku contest. She had a limerick contest around Thanksgiving 2012 but that's on her old blog site I believe.  My other sister Tess was one of the winners for that one.  It was pretty hard to beat seeing as she wrote a limerick to announce her pregnancy.  We are getting excited to meet baby boy Maione due on July 13th.


And finally, a couple random pictures.  Here we have Luke who likes to exhibit his new found climbing skills by scaling to the top bunk.

 And here is Augustine in a photo courtesy of Grandma Angie where he meets the dashing young man in the mirror.