A Warm Willkommen Weekend

Thursday, Meggar and Dorito were fetched from Kansas City today so they could be "home for the holidays." We celebrated with a little shopping (though it's harder to keep surprises now). And at home we started nibbling on the first two batches of cookies: mint chocolate chip (which Polar Bear made in honor of them being a favorite of his sister), and no-bake oatmeal cookies (which Winger made in anticipation of Captain being home soon).

Friday, we drove to Denver. This is the new Christmas hockey tradition of our family: we went straight to the Harrow Sports warehouse and bought four more sticks for the twins to use right away (they threw in two free lanyards that certain young men might find in their stocking as key chains), we had warm coffee and cocoa at the hotel instead of the Denver Tearoom (but were grateful that the Marriott reward points have stretched this long); and we admired the snow-capped mountains (though we aren't able to afford snowboarding this year).
Saturday, Coach Ron took the twins on a tour of the Air Force Academy (an excellent hockey facility) with his former player/asst. coach. I took the older two siblings to the Park Meadows Mall for a bit of shopping, but the parking was an unbelievable battle--seriously I circled the parking lots and 2-story parking garage for 30 minutes and never found even one space.
Sunday, we went to mass (though when we are out-of-town it is an adventure not knowing what strange aspects might be encountered).

The U16 team wore their new jerseys to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the TPH Hockey Association. Formed as a joint venture into Tier 1 Elite for the players in the Southwest, the Thunder combines players from Nashville and Atlanta. These rugby-striped jerseys were a "Christmas present" paid for by the goalie's dad. (Winger is at the face-off.)

Democrats in Denver

I've been wanting to post since Sunday's faux pas by Nancy Pelosi on "Meet the Press" and say:
#1. What Catholic school did she go to anyway?
#2. Poor Saint Augustine was maligned (actually she quoted St. Thomas Aquinas) as she tried to put her theological views above his.
#3. She obviously hasn't seen the Bodies Revealed exhibit at Union Station in KC, which I'm told shows an open cross-section of pregnant female cadavers in all nine months of the baby's life!
#4. Couldn't the DNC think of a better location for their Convention than Denver? Don't they know the local Catholic power-house bishops named Chaput and Conley?

Archbishop Chaput wrote "The Separation of Sense and State" (and plenty of other bishops and archbishops wrote to correct her misstatement of church teaching). It was Beautiful! http://www.archden.org/images/ArchbishopCorner/ByTopic/onseparationofsense%26state_openlettercjc8.25.08.pdf

"Catholics who make excuses for it (abortion) - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith. ... A proper understanding of the "separation of Church and state" does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course, it's always important to know what our faith actually teaches."

We're not fooled. And we've actually read The Confessions of St. Augustine in this house.

Mile High Hockey

It's not whether we win or lose, it's how Polar Bear and Winger play the game. We face five opponents in Denver during this series, and the competition should be evenly matched. So it all depends on if our good players play better than their good players or our bad players do better/worse than their bad players! The hardest part is convincing my two Eagle Scouts to be selfish. All the other years we have preached teamwork and passing, instead of puck-hogging. But if my two are the fastest and strongest, than they may as well take the shots.
Winger scored the first goal of the first game! On a perfect pass from Polar Bear! And got tripped, but still hit in in! We credit the new stick, which was hand-delivered this morning from the Harrow Warehouse in downtown Denver this morning. Captain found a hardware store and bought a small hack-saw to cut it to the right length! These will be our fondest memories in 25 years, according to Aunt Mary. :-)
It is also difficult to teach the boys that a losing record doesn't reflect on them. Several Scouts are here this weekend. And I don't mean Boy Scouts. It's been a maturity process this first half-season, and I love seeing the twins develop. 
Meanwhile, Captain and I paid a little visit to the Capital Tea Room (still there from last year's visit). The early spring picked Darjeeling hit the spot for me. Captain was quite wfond of the pear and dark chocolate scones with butter and jam.

Have a Bucket List?

When the movie made it popular, I wrote my own bucket list for Captain. He kept it from four years ago and sent me an email:  He is my hero.

To: Candise

We accomplished #9 on your bucket list.....

Dale

Subject: bucket list beginnings 

1. Put all my photos in albums
2. Turn in Megan’s high school grades
3. Take a painting class at Hobby Lobby
4. Take a cooking class at a culinary institute
5. Go to the Twinsburg Festival (in Ohio)
6. Visit Clear Creek Monastery (Okla.) 
7. Have Dale “propose” all over again at pond Shantivanam
8. Tour Jane Austen’s house in Chawton (England)
9. Tour the Denver Mint
10.  

We did visit the Denver Mint on our family vacation this winter! Other family vacations have included: Mount Rushmore, Galveston, Pikes Peak, Ft. Lauderdale, and Minneapolis Mall of America, so I wonder what "attraction" will be next. I vote for Twinsburg, but cousin Laurie and Tom are pulling for us to come to Giant's Neck Beach in Connecticut.

Rocky Mountain High

A brief version of last two weeks: Drove to Lincoln. Stayed in our home-away-from-home for one night-- The Cornhusker Marriott with its fabulous room service and double suite. Drove to Denver in SNOW. Stopped at Harrow Factory Warehouse to get hockey sticks (we've broken 3 in 3 weeks). Yea, so they gave us free t-shirts.  Played in the Super Series AAA hockey -- won three and lost three. How can they call off three goals in one weekend? Spent time with Gr. Elizabeth. Stuffed ourselves on the fried chicken dinners at White Fence Farms.

Drove to Breckenridge. Had the place to ourselves.

Boys went snowboarding from dawn til dusk. Watched Mountain "Dew Tour "warm-ups and jumps! Cooked supper in our room. Movie Night + Pie Social. Wii room. Captain and I enjoyed the book shop and French pastries. Watched TV. Read "Unbearable Lightness of Scones." Wrote Christmas letter on iPad. Toured the Denver Mint (without our pocket knives). Drove home through Salina and looked at our "old house" once more.

Book Club Admires Condoleezza Rice

I recommended the book for last night's meeting, so I was also the discussion leader for "Extraordinary, Ordinary Family."  I had seen Condoleezza Rice on her book tour and wanted to know more about her, such as her interesting name.  Her mother (drama and music teacher) chose it from the Italian musical term con dolcezza meaning "with sweetness."  Then to learn that her grandmother taught her piano at age 3 (before she could read) had me fascinated.  Her first concerto with the Denver Symphony Orchestra came at age 15, followed by a college scholarship for piano.  We listened to a performance on You Tube of the Dvorak Piano Quintet with students at the Aspen Music Festival in 2008.  Also impressive was her dedication to figure skating, early graduate work, and high level appointments in academia and politics.  She is connected with many of the most important political events of the past three decades.  We enjoyed drawing parallels with her leadership skills and those of Martin Luther King Jr.

French and Italian

Dinners in Denver have been the best part of my trip. The Italian Restaurant gave me the largest helping of Eggplant Parmesan I'd ever seen. The asparagus was a plate of beauty. At the French Restaurant, we had mussels for an appetizer, Lobster Thermador for an entree, and peach gateau for dessert. We also discovered the Paradise Bakery for Yummy breakfast and lunch. Especially the Saffire Earl Gray tea with blue malva flowers! Another Marvin Gaye song was playing and Captain sang to me: "Ain't no woman like the one I got!"

Marvin Gaye on the Highway

After riding with Gr. Elizabeth for two days, I rented a sleek black Mercury Sable at the Colorado Springs airport and made my way toward Denver to meet the Captain (whose job duties have landed him there for several days). With a cold vanilla Frappuccino on my right side and the majestic Rockies on my left side, I was cruising along and singing with some 70s radio station. Life was good! I think I needed a mini-vacation. The Lord even provided a late Mass service near my hotel -- at St. Thomas More parish! I am starting to feel refreshed...

More Wins

After a slow start on Friday (one loss and one tie), the twins' hockey team won the Denver Super Series by Sunday. They defeated #5 ranked Colorado Thunderbirds and #11 Dallas Stars in close and exciting games.

Captain's Birthday

Number 44-and all he wants is a rain guage. No kidding. It's probably the only tool he doesn't own. Dorito was awarded one at Nodaway Valley Bank yesterday when he opened his checking account! (We love that Bank!) I gave it to Captain myself, when I flew out to California this evening. I was enrolling Meggar in a college class and praying for my flight to be slow in boarding. What do you know? It was delayed an hour for mechanical difficulties (blame it on the Lourdes water that Meggar gave me). I missed the first connection in Denver, but still made it to San Francisco by 9:00 pm for a fancy dinner at "Coi." They feature a tasting menu with 11 courses. Complex flavors + exotic presentation = mind-boggling meal.

A Weekend Away

We left early on Thursday morning for a secret destination, but now that we are back I can spill the beans about attending the TPH Hockey tryouts in Atlanta, Georgia. Our first stop was not a surprise: lunch in St. Louis with Meggar and Spencer. We enjoyed sandwiches at a very authentic "Mom's Deli" and sat at the outdoor picnic tables. Then Captain and our three sons were off on their "man-cation." First, they played golf at Gateway National Golf Links (it was "really beautiful" according to Winger and you can see the Arch in the background).

Dorito had the low score of the four-some!
Next day, they golfed in Atlanta at the Bobby Jones Golf Course. Again, Dorito won the low score of the group! He was so-ooooooo happy about it, too (until he got home and realized he left his 8-iron on some putting green ... it was not turned into lost-and-found as of Monday).
Hockey tryouts went really, although the twins played on separate squads for the four scrimmages. They had some fun confusing their teammates about which twin was which. Plus Polar Bear found someone to chirp with! Winger met a boy whose Dad is an official for the NHL games (wow!) and Dorito shuttled them back and forth to restaurants during breaks so Captain could keep an eye on ALL the games/competition. In the end, they were picked! And TPH was their top choice, so it's a true cause for celebration. We had back-up plans for Phoenix or Milwaukee or Denver or nothing.... We talked the whole way home--13 hours!