hockey

Damian played in a hockey tournament this weekend.  After five games (whew, can we say tired?) they won!

 

Celebrating . . .

frontier field

"If you build it, he will come". - Field of Dreams

"Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong." - The Sandlot

A group of eager Cub Scouts went to Frontier Field for a 'behind-the-scenes' tour.  They were able to test out the golf cart, sit in the dugout, check out various views from private suites to the press box.  They were so busy taking it in, asking which TV station sits where that I don't think they even missed the fact we weren't snacking on hot dogs and peanuts.

They left eager to take in a game and proclaim to their friends that they have been inside a suite and the press box.  Next time they hear the organ strike up a melody they will stand up and sing as they know exactly where the organist is playing from.  Batters up!

happy easter

Growing up, Easter was the worst of times, the best of times. We children were expected to fast as strictly as our parents for Lent. That meant no sweets, no meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, and lots of church services.

The reward for 40 days of "giving things up" was a great feast after Mass on Easter Sunday.  We would go to my grandmother's house outside Cleveland, OH and have ham, homemade pierogi, etc.

My favorite part of the meal though was dessert as my uncle was a baker. He would make chrusciki or 'angel wings' (fried dough with powdered sugar).  And he made a lamb cake and decorated it with coconut.  This year I found on ebay a 3D lamb cake mold and made my first lamb cake.  I must admit I was a bit worried that some part of the anatomy would stick when unmolded but it came out perfect.  A pound cake batter and cream cheese frosting with a swirly coat, raisin eyes and nose, a red ribbon around its neck to represent the Pascal Lamb, and it was placed on a bed of dyed-green coconut (or grass).

Some people said it looked like a puppy (Damian) and while others may have too quickly agreed (Ambrose and Blaise); everyone agreed this is a tradition that needs to be done each Easter.

light of christ

Ambrose received his Light of Christ (a Cub Scout religious award) at the beautiful Sacred Heart Cathedral over the weekend.  We met the new bishop and Ambrose even got his photo taken with him.

dr seuss play

Over a month and a half ago practice started for the school's Dr. Seuss (Kindergarten thru Second Grades) play.  The boys had play practice two days after school and it has been non stop Seuss talk here.  Blaise was 'two fish' in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  And Ambrose was the narrator in Daisy Head Maisy.  From helping with set design, and learning lines; the kids entertained us with their individual plays and some songs and dancing. 

someone knows I'm taking a picture

look for Ambrose in the background

wild wings

Wild Wings is a a not-for-profit educational organization that houses and cares for permanently injured birds of prey.  We went with the Cub Scouts today and enjoyed the sunny weather!

First we met Blaise, the owl.  Yep, his name is Blaise.

 

We met this Raven who is 'learning' to behave.  I guess it is one stubborn raven as he prefers to give the trainer a hard time and not sit up but rather hang like a bat.  The trainer said that they bring him out about an hour each day in order to hopefully get rid of his stubbornness.

 

Every bird we saw Blaise looked up in the bird book we brought along.  It went something like this . . . a bald eagle?  Okay.  Flip, flip, flip.  Point to the bald eagle on the page.  "Look here is a bald eagle".  Yep, confirmed, move on.  Too cute!

 Ambrose isn't quite a turkey vulture yet maybe a little bit more growing.

 Ambrose and Blaise are hoping to be a bald eagle someday . . . more growing boys.

Chickadees ate right out of Ambrose's hand today, look closely and you can see one.

shrek

This past weekend we saw a good friend's son in the musical Shrek.  Jack McCarthy played Lord Farquaad.  He had to be on his knees the entire time in order to play his character (he was given exercises to do in order to strength his knees).  It was absolutely hilarious and an amazing production!