Athens Adventure Tuesday 28 June 2011

Greek Blog Tuesday June 28
The day of the transit strike has arrived, and we do not want to take any chances with missing Molly’s 9am race. Up and at ‘em at 6am and out the door by 7--dressed to walk the 5 ½ miles to the stadium.  Out on the main street the lack of noise confirms the bus/metro/tram strike is indeed in affect and we hoof along…Jer’s knee feels better but… As we approach the Hilton Hotel I see a luxury bus with an SO sign in the window..it is just closing it’s door. I dash up, tap on the door and beg to be let aboard…it works! The kind man opens the door and we step onto the bus, blissful coolness surrounding us and padded seats welcoming our tired legs. And off we go!! Arriving at Helipo just before 8 is a dream! Thank you GOD is the first thing we say when we exit!!  We head down the road to the stadium and find the family lounge. We hang out in there for about 30 minutes and there are loads of officials tin there who are willing to pin trade with Danny! His collection is truly astounding, and impresses everyone, to his delight! Of course it is so heavy it gives him a neck ache!  Just before 9am we take up our positions around the stadium and out comes our girl! The field looks  tough but good. The gun goes off and they start running. Molly is super stiff for the first mile, then settles in to a relaxed pace. I am hoping she gets through it with no incidents so she can get her track legs back.  She is in 4th and gaining on the third runner, who suddenly experiences cramps or something and pulls out of the race. She is well behind runners 1 and 2, but finishes with a great kick and a final time of 28:18. This is a great time for her and right where she should be!  We hang about the stadium watching long jumpers and the men’s 5000 (which is smoking fast, top time was 15:43, with several more guys right around that! Oh my! ) then it is time to cheer for Molly in the 4X400 relay.  Unfortunately, if you have a co-ed team you are slotted with the men, and the USA has 3 women and a man.  Also unfortunately, the man on the team just finished running VERY SLOWLY in the 3rd heat of the men’s 5000. So he is exhausted and super slow.  The other 4 teams have finished their whole race before Molly, in the third slot, had even gotten the baton from the young man.  She ran a hard lap though and that was good.  Ted and his video crew showed up right at the end of the race, I was bummed that they didn’t come for one of her signature races…oh well.  We met Heather Spohr the blogger, and alli the film gal and another photographer and we did some interviews. Jerry signed Molly out (YAY!!!) and she came over and talked on camera. Then we all went to the festival area where we bought sov-nigns, drank cokes, had an impromptu dance party with Team USA swimming, and went through the TRAIN tent. This is a new SO program designed to help athletes learn about and incorporate the tenants of a healthy lifestyle into their everyday life. This area  was really fun for our super competitive family, and we tried to beat each other in push-ups, shuttle run, chair sit, sit and reach, etc. I must brag that I had the family and tent day record for the sit and reach!! GO ME!! J   Next we headed to the natatorium(don’t you love that word?!) to see Sabra’s 1500 metre swim.  She came in fourth.  We enjoyed cheering for her, holding up our USA flag and attending the medal ceremony.
Molly needs to go back to her group at 3pm and I am sorry to see her go. She had been asking me all day if she could go to the embassy party tonight, but I kept saying that I didn’t think so, and no one had said anything so I thought that athletes weren’t invited.   Jerry had asked the coaches and they said she could go but WE would have to transport her back to the Olympic village ourselves(and with no car and a transit strike, impossible!) So she and Jer go off.  Then I hear from some swim coachs that athletes are going, if they have no events on Wednesday. I text Jer to try to have him ask the athletics coachs about Molly and they have headed off already to watch a Bball game.  By the time we hook up with Jerry, find our way to the basketball game, ask the coaches about the fact that swimmers are going to the party, it is 4:45(party is at 7 mind you!) They tell me that  “my husband said she couldn’t go to the party!”  I say “No way, he said we have no way to return her to the village.” They say,  “oh, we had a misunderstanding, but it’s too late now because the group already took the 45 minute bus ride to the village and will be turning around to come back at 5:15.!”  Uh huh! So we say,  “how about if we take Molly with us, clean her up and bring her to the party, could she return to the village with the team?”  “oh, of course!”  And so we race out, try to find a cab, end up on a shuttle to the Hilton, dash off, race to the metro which is now running for the evening with another strike planned for the morning, trying to get Molly going up and down many staircases and escalators as fast as possible in the evening commuter crowds.  When we arrive at Sytagma station to switch lines, the station is filled wit tear gas from the protests and we are pushing along with our shirts up over our faces, coughing and eyes watering. That stuff is powerful, even when experienced  second hand like that. We get to acropolis and race up the streets to the apartment, every crack and bump and tiny unevenness of the sidewalk magnified now that we have Molly with us. But we make it! We wash faces and feet, throw some yogurt and granola at the starving kids(yes, if you note in this entry a lack of comments about breakfast or lunch there is a reason, we never got a chance to have any!) get everyone dressed in finery, including Molly in one of my skirts and a top and flip-flops!  We head down to the street a start walking, Jerry made we promise we would take a cab there and the metro back and I agreed though I am worried about the cost. We hail a cab and we end up with a driver that speaks neither English nor Greek, only Armenian! And he doesn’t appear to know where we are going…oh my! But Jer pulls up the map on the blackberry and together they find our way there. We make it to the door of the residence at 6:50pm, We’ve done it again!
The residence is absolutely beautiful, lit up with twinkling lights and balloons, and after checking in at the guard gates and going through the metal detectors we enter.  We see Team USA setting up a photograph with the Ambassador and his wife, and Molly hops right in!  I see Glenn Williams from P&G and them Jim O’Connell and his wife Mimi! YAY! These guys are my favourites and I am so happy to see them and introduce Jerry and the other kids.  We chat,mix,mingle and take it all in. Soon the ambassador  gives a speech, along with Team USA folks and the Sergeant Shriver Global Messengers. Then Jim gets up on behalf of P&G and gives a great Thank you Mom speech.  As it turns out there is no time for me to speak(that’s ok!) and I am introduced by Jim and step up onto the stage! Wow!! Throughout the night lots of people want to meet me and call me “the P&G Mom!” I am happy that so many people connect with the commercial and I feel so proud to be able to represent the Mom’s of Special Olympics.  The navy band starts jamming out rocking tunes, athletes begin to dance, food is being passed around, wine flows and the talking begins. We are able to meet Tim Shriver’s wife Linda, dance with Michelle Kwan, chat with former NBA great and Special Olympic board member Sam    and just have a blast.  Jerry and I are both very proud of how great our kids do at this type of function, talking to everyone dancing being polite…amazing.  Soon Team USA heads for the bus and we say goodbye to Molly. We head to the base of the yard to see the pool and visit the bathrooms and we run into Ted, Eileen, Kristin and other Devries/SO folks and visit a bit. We are just about the last ones to leave, given a parting gift from P&G that was given to all the Mom’s in attendance. Sweet! As we travel through Syntagma we smell only the faintest whiff of teargas and though we see the police massing on a main street, we see no sign of trouble as we head home.
Settling Danny into bed he say “I glad tomorrow is an off day!) You said a mouthful kiddo!

Athens Adventures-or lack thereof!

Greek blog  MondayJune 26

Now this morning is a must sleep in and the kids don’t get up until 11:30!! Obviously we need to train them for the night life more, or at least teach them to siesta!  I head down to Acropolis around 9is, find a very nice café with a wicker couch and “free” wifi(coffee SO expensive it’s like paying for the wifi!) Great people watching to, it is fun to listen to everyone yammering away on their cell phones in Greek!  I get a chance to blog and email, but my battery doesn’t stay on for long.   Back at home, Charlotte is badly in need of a run, so Jer takes her to the small park across the street and has her do a couple of miles. Hopefully a good thing, don’t see it yet.
We are making our plans for the week, a  2 day transit strike is expected tomorrow, so this will prove to be a challenge.  We're not sure how we will get to the stadium, but worst case scenario we will walk(5 miles)
Napping, reading,word searches and DS comprise the afternoon activities-you can't be busy every second I guess(though you know me-I want too!)
We make sandwichs for dinner, then head out for an evening walk to the Plaka.  We visit our favourite shop and Danny makes his purchase of chess pieces. He is super excited and I think it'll be a great memory of Athens.  The shop owner gives Jerry a cold Amstel while he packs up the pieces, which is awesome.  We stroll a bit more, then visit church, post office and finally a beautiful cafe (with wifi of course!) and Jer has a greek beer(comes with peanuts-whooot!) and the kids have the most delicious smelling icecream I've ever smelled! Caramel for Charlotte and Strawberry for Danny.

Charlotte and Apollon! 

Team Ireland! Malacahy and daughter Ciara

It's Molly! Yay!

can it be they missed each other??!

the family gets a 5 minute visit with the athlete

Dammy and games mascot Apollon

Now I am alone, Jerry has headed the kids back, we will be up super early to figure out how to get to Molly--but we will!

Sunday June 26 The Games begin.....

On the metro at the crack of dawn, eager to get to Olympic Stadium early! the sun is shining, but for the first time there are clouds in the sky and a cool breeze, making it a perfect day for running!

We arrive and meet another runners family-Christine from NJ, Cape May area, really nice and friendly. Then we see Molly!  She looks super happy and ready to run!  She is a site for sore eyes! We have really missed her.  The 3000 is the first race of the day and I will include Jer's play by play below.
Molly took the track at just after 10 am. After the long week apart, our family's hearts lifted just SEEING her as she ambled onto the track, happy, smiling (just like she looked on the big screen in the opening ceremonies). The gun went off, and the lead runners went out hard. Molly sprinted about the first eighty meters, then settled into a quick pace. She finished lap 1 in 1:41--really fast for her, if she was going to keep it up for a long race. Two runners went clearly ahead, Molly settled with the rest, knocking down one 2-minute lap after another. Again, pretty quick for her, but with two laps left, spots 3rd thru 5th were anybody's to take.
Then, disaster...in twelve years of running, Molly has fallen a million times in practice, never in a race. Until today. She was working the track with the other runners--back and forth, they were really racing. Going around the first turn, Molly's feet got tangled with another runner. She tried to recover--she was on the inside, and on a regular track, she might have held it together. But this track has a small, almost imperceptible ledge on the inside. Molly bumped from the outside, got shifted to the inside, hit the ledge....and went down like a ton of bricks...full bore, flat out SPLAT!! She went down very hard. She laid there for a moment (that seemed like an hour). A volunteer was running toward her. I thought she might be done. A year of training, all of our family's and our team's hopes, there they were, laying on the track.
Then?
Well, then, all I can say is, Molly was Molly ;)
Unaided, she pulled herself up, and started up again on the track...limping badly, walking at first, then pushing into a tentative jog. When she came around to the turn we were at, we saw the bright crimson splotches of blood on her knees (a sight we've seen so many times in her years of hard work). The entire section where we were sitting saw what had happened, and heard Charlotte and Danny calling out encouragement to their sister. The crowd picked up on it, and started chanting 'Molly! Molly!'. She went into her bell lap limping on her right side, but steadily picked up speed, and even put her head down and sprinted the last 120 meters.
Kerry met her at the finish line. Molly was most upset because she thought she had let us down--how could she?? This race was, in a way, a snapshot of Molly's life--high hopes to start, adversity knocks her down, but the kid has a motor and a drive that just won't quit. When she's knocked down, she just gets up, smiles, and keeps on pushin'.
She finished the 3000 in a respectable 17:12. Kerry told the medical staff that the Hinckas thought it important that they be tested early, so Molly came out of the first race a bloody mess, to give them some instant action.
We saw Molly after, and got a chance to tell her just how proud we were. She is banged up, but nothing is so hurt that she won't continue in the rest of her races. She hugged Danny the longest, which we knew she would, but she didn't cling to us. After hugs and kisses, she turned toward the track, where one of her teammates was running, and screamed her lungs out for him to finish strong. She told us she was going back to her team, to support them.

Press on.
Do your best.
When they knock you down, get up, and fight through it.
That's Molly
That's Special Olympics.

 He is a great writer!
Later in the evening we have mezedes( little snacks)  at a cafe at the foot of the hill to the Acropolis, then head up to the theatre to go to the Gustav Mahler concert with violinist Joshua Bell. It is without a doubt the most stunning venue I have ever been in!

Herotous Atticus Theatre

Saturday June 25 Athens Adventures

Greek Diary Saturday June 25
It is finally here!! Opening Ceremonies begin at 8pm, doors open at 5:30.  That is our focus today and we can’t wait! We have our outfits all planned out, Red, White and Blue all over the place.  For our morning activity we go to visit the Benaki Museum,, an outstanding museum founded in 1931 by Antonis Benakis, the son of a wealthy Greek who made his fortune in Egypt.  It is housed in an elegant Neo-classical mansion which was once the home of of the Benakis family. The collection contains a diverse array of Greek arts and crafts, paintings and jewelry, local costumes and political memorabilia that spans over 5000 years, from the neo-lithic to the 20th century.  Charlotte’s favourite thing was seeing all the religious articles and the costumes, Danny’s was  the offering ships and the offering people, used by folks when they made offerings.  Jerry liked the clothes, and noted how much more the Greeks were influenced by the Turks and Moroccans than by the western Europeans, and I loved the crown molding in all the rooms, the bridal bed, and the beautiful display cases, which were set up to show the artifacts in the case, and then paintings that showed the artifacts in use in their time period hanging behind. Cool!
We headed back to the acropolis area and hit our favourite gyro stand for our 3 Euro gyro lunch special. Met up with the DeVries folks and got the phone, stopped back down at the Plaka  at the store where Vicky was holding the SO items for me at a discount! And then home. We were looking forward to a movie in the AC, but there was another power outage, so we laid around and relaxed. We got dressed and ready to go and headed out. The main street near the stadium was closed and the street was swarming with folks heading to the Marble stadium.  Kallimarmaro Stadium is a huge marble structure set in a small valley by Ardito’s hill and occupies the exact site of the original Panathenaic Stadium built by  Lykourgos in 330-329 BC!It was first reconstructed for gladiatorial contests during Hadrian’s reign (AD 117-138), then was rebuilt in white marble by the wealthy Roman benefactor Herodes Atticus for the Panatheniac games in AD144. In 1895 a wealthy Greek made a big donation to rehab it on time for the first modern Olympic Games 5 April 1896.  During 2004 it hosted the marathon finish!  We have great seats and the people are filling it up-the air is magical, the athletes are lining up, the original music composed for the event is playing as the city darkens around us. Words cannot describe it, I cried at least 10 different times and during both the tribute to Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Tim Shriver’s speech I was bawling(so was Danny) fireworks, pageantry, singing, Stevie Wonder, Molly on the big screen, story of Odysseus acted out by dancers, people on stilts flying boats, doves, the whole shebang ended at 1am! Not kidding!  Jerry and Charlotte headed home at about midnight and were well away when the final fireworks were shot off and the torch lit. Danny and I stayed till the bitter end and then happily(and smugly) walked back to our apartment in 10 minutes!

Friday June 24 Athens Adventure Day 4

Greek diary Friday June 24
Sleeping in on vacation is a must! So they do!  I get up and head to the Hilton in hopes of hooking up with the phone that DeVries PR wants to hook me up with(yes I am all that!). Alas, the disdainful front desk staff at the Hilton Hotel assures me that unless  I am a guest,  there would NOT be a package waiting for me(rethinking the All That J) I do manage to talk my way into the business center which is air conditions and deathly quiet, and since one of my goals was to go online, Bingo!!!  It is so lovely in there that after I track down my emergency phone guy contact number, I relax and blog,email and face book. Bliss!  I don’t miss the constant connectedness, but I feel an obligation to update all of the Molly faithful on what’s going here in Greece.  I check again on my way out of the hotel,  “no package m’am, now please excuse us” and I set off back towards the acropolis area, intent on finding a frappe and a shady café to read my book.  I arrive back at my street much quicker than I thought, and decide to head for the apartment and see what’s up with the fam.  On the steps, heading out, whom do I meet but the gang! They are heading to the market and I join them for a provisions run, which is always fun in a foreign grocery.  After a nice lunch Jerry and Danny head out to tackle some sites, and they end up at the War Museum (Danny liked taking pictures with the humongous guns, Jerry liked the French gun made by De‘Bange), the Byzantine Museum(Danny liked looking at the gold coins and the seals, Jerry liked learning about icon files and iconoclasts) . Not satisfied with that, they tackle Lykavittous Hill, also know as Lycabettus,. The peak reaches 910 feet above the city and is it’s highest hill. It can be climbed on foot by various paths , which is what the guys did. On foot it took about 30 minutes.  The hill may derive it’s name from a combo of the words “lyki” and “vaino” meaning path of light. The ancient belief was that this was the rock once destined to be the acropolis citadel accidentally dropped by the cities patron goddess Athena. Interestingly it had the most modern church that we have seen in Athens.  Great views. Hot and steep. An orthopedic doctors dream(tough on knees and ankles)  Charlotte and I chilled at the apartment, I finished my book! Then we took a little half hour stroll, visited a beautiful Byzantine church and got our favourite drinks, iced coffee and coke zero!  We also made a feta,tomato and pasta dinner, with bread and olive oil, and even had Greek music on the computer when the climbers arrived home!  An excellent day!

Thursday 6/23/11 Athens Adventures Day 3!

Another slow start, it is hard to get Danny up…but the pace is quite different here and everyone eats late, stays up late and rises late! So I guess we are on Greek time!  We head out to the main street and catch the tram to Syntagmo Square, so far so good….cross the street to wait for the blue bus…well much petting of mangy dogs later, it finally comes, it is affected today by “the strike” we are told.  We see no evidence of strike and everyone is waiting patiently(ok, I’m not, but all the Greeks are!) and eventually the bus comes. We rumble along and of course a nice gal starts chatting with Jerry, asking why we are in Greece and where we are headed. She rides an extra stop with us to show us just where to go! We have enjoyed showing the photos of Molly I made, and giving away the green rubber bracelets…everyone wishes Molly and us good luck!  We head into the Helixpo Center where the family welcome center is located and we get our official credentials and goody bags. IT IS REALLY HAPPENING! We are in Greece and Molly is competing here-just unbelievable cool!  After much laughter and showing of photos(they all want to keep one and I finally have to say NO because I am running out!)  we put on our cool tags and head out. Across the road is a swanky mall, with 5 euro coffees(we just can’t do it, even though we can’t master our coffee maker and what we had this morning at the apartment was swill!) and glamorous stores. We enjoy a visit to a grocery store and take P&G product photos, and buy lunch from the take-out section.  That’s enough mall for us and we leave without entering a store!  Down the street we go towards the amazing Olympic Stadium and are able to have a picnic in the shadow of it. Jer has some awesome meatballs, and srtichokes and potatoes, Charlotte has chosen the cold “burger” sandwich, which she loves, as it is a burger!! Danny has a turkey sub-like thing with a tasty sauce and me….it’s a banana and a yoghurt, Greek, with cereal that you pour in! Yay!  We troop around the stadium perimeter, and under the guise of looking for a bathroom we go in the media door. We are able to get a look at the track, on which they are repainting the lane lines by hand! We see the medal stands, jumbotrons, this is truly a world class track, and Molly will run here! We are pretty proud!  Long.hot trek later we follow the convoluted Greek directions to the metro station and we are able to sit down in airconditioning! Whoot! Gum for everyone!  We hop off above the Plaka, and are able to wander through the marketplace. Streets are filled with vendors with meats, veggies and fruits, fresh eggs, and all manner of junk! So fun to wander up and down the curving streets! We buy tomatoes, cukes,bananas,pears,cherries,olives and some kind of sausagey thing! Jer is psyched about that!  We wander down into the café area and pull over in a shady café for snacks and drinks. Fresh bread with olive oil and sweet red peppers stuffed with feta, greek beer, orange-aide, ,diet pepsi and lots of water. Ahh! So cool and relaxing. If only Charlotte wasn’t freaking out about the pigeons, which of course are all over…we are working on her to get over it and ignore them.  Refreshed, we head for the Parthenon, up the south gate of the acropolis, past a 700 year old church ruin, and lots of neat tumbled ruins.  Way up, and the Parthenon is breathtaking. I’m glad we learned about it at the museum because it was much cooler to look at and know the history. There were lots of tourists and we took lots of photos for lots of cute couples. We also saw Team Phillipines and Team Brazil and high-fived and wished them well.  Met some family too, from Ireland, and volunteers from Virginia and Texas. Everywhere we go we look to promote the SO spirit, it is joyful!  We decide to stop for dinner, even though I said I would cook. I am out voted!  We go to God’s Café, how could we resist?! The cook gives us a tour of the kitchen and we give him a bracelet and show him a photo…he wants to keep it, and he hangs it up near the kitchen!  Molly has a greek fan club now!
The food is amazing, soup and feta salad for me, moussakka for Charlotte, deep fried meatballs with potatoes for the D and Jer gets  Greek spaghetti with sausage.  Walking back to the apartment we stop for icecream for the kids and a coffee for me and stroll along enjoying it.  Charlotte heads to bed, I figure out the Greek washing machine(no dryer, rack is on balcony filled with our gothic!) and Jer and Danny take the football down to the park across the street to mess around.  Evening ends with Danny and I reading on the balcony with the Parthenon in front of us, lit up and spectacular. Prayers are said for the blessings we are receiving.

metro-ing up to get our credentials!

Charlotte!

The awesome signs outside the Olympic Stadium

the partehnon- 'nuff said!

Team Brazil-football adopts Charlotte

See name of restaurant to see why we ate here!

Beach Day! We need a break...

on the beach in Glyfada

We bused our way out to the beach, and found a great beach club with lounge chairs and umbrellas and waitors with cold drinls and just layed ourselves down for the day.  We swam in the Agean sea, played frisbee and football, slept and sunbathed. Trammed our way back in to Athens, stopped and a cafe for the worlds largest and weirdest crepes(but GOOD!) and then went home and watched I Love Lucy on my laptop.

Jerry and I came out to a pub with Wi-fi so I could finally update the blog. I know my many viewers are anxious!(that's a joke...hi Donnie!)

off to bed now, tomorrow we head to the Special Olympics family welcome center!

Tuesday 6/22/11 Exploring Athens!

dressed to tour!

Outside the stadium where opening ceremonies will be

Climbed an steep hill: reward = this view!

The family with parthenon in the backround!

okay wow, what a day, and Jer is waitng in a taverna up the street for me to finish with this free wi-fi so I can't possibly tell all, but I PROMISE I will fill in soon.
We explored Athens city all day, from the temple of zeus to the roman agora to the gyro stand, it was all perfect!  As we're walking Charlotte says "so far in Athens..." I wait to hear what she will say, this being the trip of a lifetime and she continues..." I've see 4 cats and 2 dogs!"
Oh gosh how we laughted! Danny is loving all the history and cool street shops and alley ways.
Our feet were sore but we had such a great day!

6/19-20, 2011 Sunday / Monday Now it's our turn!

Church at (:30 and everyone is so excited for us! It is contagious! We head home afterwards and make a nice father's day breakfast for Jer and think about how much time I have before we go...suddenly it is 3:00pm and Rhonda is here and I am still shoving things into my suitcase!  We get to the airport in great time, and enjoy riding the tram, playing UNO and eating the sandwiches I packed while we wait for our plane.  Off we go, right on time, and the kids are thrilled with the seatback individual TV's. Charlotte watches Voyage of the Dawn Treader, while I check out the adjustment bureau(eh, ** at most) and Danny plays nintendo. Flight lands in Amerstdam at 10am, and we crusie the airport, buy dutch coffee( jer visits the heineken shop!) and see other Special Olympics teams on their way to Greece! I really had fun talking to everyone. We met a nice couple from the Netherlands whose son plays on the handball team.  They showed us his photo and biography in the Team Netherlands book and it says he like to watch sports and eat potato chips and beer! I asked if he was single!! :)

first meal in the apartment

Amsterdam airport--where are we? what time is it?

The flight and taxi trip to the apartment are so smooth, and by 4pm Athens time we are in our cute apartment! We make a quick trip to the supermarket just on the next block and get hummus, pita, fruit,etc. and have a cold greek feast. So happy to be sleeping horizontally!

Saturday 6/18/11 Bon Voyage Molly!

And she's outta here! Actually this was a relief, so I could stop fretting and rechecking all her bags! She is in the hands of Team USA as of 10am this morning. We had a lovely breakfast and send-off celebration at the weton hotel and then she was gone.
Back at home I needed to button up everyone elses things, take Charlotte to a grad party, vacuum(so the ants don't have a party while we're away!) and generally freak out!  Cna't beleive it's actually here, we have been talking and planning for 11 months. I'm glad Ryan could spend the night and he could keep Danny happy!

Molly leaves tomorrow!

It was a beautiful day today, filled with frantic packing, excellent audio books, Dunkin Donuts, a radio interview, shopping, visiting with friends, running and breaking in the new fire pit!
Molly is watching the Tiger game as we speak, Charlotte happy to see the Yankees this afternoon, but sad that they lost.
Danny just headed up to bed, we watched a bit of House Hunters International together, Kenya and Mongolia-both super cool!

the new fire pit Danny and Jerry built!

ice cream by the fire! Charlotte says "no bugs!"

Pray for Molly while she is away! and for safe travel for all! Thanks!

Katie is back in town!

Girls just wanna run fun!

yes, Molly won!

What fun! Katie, our "sweetie uitti" has returned from Spain for the summer and we had the pleasure of spending time with her this evening. We all hit the track for a family training session, and Molly really enjoyed showing Katie her stuff. We came home and enjoyed spinach ravioli,salad and apple pie, and a couple of games of UNO (Molly-1  Danny-1) We are looking forward to seeing her again when we get home!
In other news, Danny finished up his Lions junior football camp, I found some sandals, Charlotte's room is clean, and Men of A Certain Age is the funniest show on TV!

swim date a success!

Thank you Kim for a lovely afternoon at the pool! It was chilly out, but Kim keeps her pool toasty warm and the kids hopped right in. Danny even got his flip going off the diving board!
Charlotte had a movie/lunch date with Karen which was thrilling for her. She worships Karen and was so excited to have a special time with her. They saw the new movie "Midnight in Paris"
I will spare you the boring packing and banking and freaking out that I did. On Monday I decided to pretend we were leaving Wednesday so I would get ready sooner....well it's a good thing we weren't leaving today! We wouldn't have been ready! Tomorrow. I vow to finish!

Tuesday, Book Club!

Oh yeah! In the midst of everything, sitting down with my best friends, on my deck, talking about books?! It certainly doesn't get any better than this! We had a small but lovely meeting, discussed our book, Mo'l'kai, about the leper colony and a girl who went there at age 7, and chose for July. No official meeting, but we decided to read and see if we can meet. I'm hoping that Susan will be here and she can discuss it with us! Wouldn't that be neat?

Monday--Greece Countdown!!

This time next week we'll be in an apartment in Athens! OMGosh! Spent a good bit of time on errands, but Jerry got new glasses ordered, Charlotte got her thank you notes mailed(this is HUGE,you can't even imagine went went into that!) and also bought a camera with her gift cards from bday and graduation. She is thrilled. My photography assistant Danny and I did a photo shoot with Molly so we can get some pics for her to hand out in Greece.

Molly met PJ for her 3000 meter rematch and won, earning her dinner at Leo's.
Packing started, basement vacuumed...and we're off!!

My Sweet God-Daughter!

Claire Alicia hit the prom circuit this weekend and WOW did she so it up right! Prom complete with hair,make-up,nails,limo,friends and photographer. All but the limo were provided be friends/family..the girl has learned to bargain hunt from her KK and her Mom!  She went to the shore with friends on Friday, NYC for a Broadway show Saturday and shopping today. Life is Good , right?!
I am so proud of this girl, straight A's in 7/8 classes, loads of scholarships, exciting plans for 2 majors, a beautiful voice and a spirit to match!  She is heading to University of Delaware in the fall and I know she will knock 'em dead!  Shine on Claire!

BFF's off to the prom

Rockin the hair flower!

A gorgeous and confident young lady!

Saturday 6/11/11 A relaxing Saturday??!!

Everyone slept in until 10am! I think Charlotte was exhausted from her time up north, the stress of keeping her sh--  together around Aunt Reg, Art, etc.  We are glad to have her back, though the tantrums were fierce today.  Charlotte, Molly and I ran 4 miles, and Jer took Danny to Lacrosse practice. He has a tourney tomorrow.  We also snuck in shopping at Marshall's(new bathing suit!) church, the boys hit the back  9 holes out at Hawk Meadows and they stopped at Leo's for a post round snack.  Molly went to the movies with a friend( a social life?! What!!!)  It was an excellent day!

Friday 6/10/11 Molly's last day of school!

Here it is! The last day of adult transition for the year for Molly! She happily headed off to have a final ice cream social. Danny and I met Rhonda and Ryan at Kim's house..she has a job interview and I volunteered to watch Scott and swim in their in-ground pool! Aren't I nice?! It was raining most of the day but the boys got in a great swim. Rhonda and I talked our heads off! And best of all, Kim got the call on her way home that they were offering her a job!  Then I get home and Donnie is on the phone and he got a job too! I am so happy for him!
Last part of my awesome day was seeing the movie Super 8 with Sam Stewart. It was scary but great!

Thursday 6/9/11 LESA Graduation Ceremony

Molly was asked to speak at the Adult transition program grad. ceremony. How nice! Danny and I attended and she did a great job. She is also in the bell choir. They did an awesome job! I treated Danny to DD afterword(selfish coffee related motive...!) and we went to the eye doctor for me. Just another good day of no school stress!

Wednesday 6/8/11 Work (which actually felt fun!)

Nothing like a week or so off to make work seem fun! Roseanne's grandson came early but is doing okay, 16inches/3.5 lbs., and I knew they were a bit short, so I offered to work and was in from 11-7. I helped people sign up for summer reading and organized the activity room for the book giveaway that starts next week.  Danny played at Shawnes from 10:45 til 9:30, and really had fun spending time with Jack. That kid can be tricky, so when he is around we like to jump on the chance to play. They swam, played Wii, and watched and HP movie.
Molly and Jerry did an indoor training/weight workout, temps still in the mid-90's!

Tuesday 6/7/11 BEACH!

You know, when I was putting together all my fabulous(if I do say so myself!) picture boards for Charlotte, I noticed that, Darn, I used to sit on the beach all summer when Jake,Molly and Charlotte were young! Here we are with the sweetie uitti's, there we are with Sam and Lindsay, oh look, Mom's in her chair at the beach, kids playing happily(?) in the foreground!!
So my vow is more beach and less cleaning this summer.  Of course beach out here is a relative term, what with the dirt they call sand, and no waves, but.... Bishop lake is only 2 miles down the back road from here, and so, hi ho! a beaching we will go!
Shawne and I meet at Bishop and all the kids have a ball. It is a record breaking 95 out, so even I get in the water...and it is super clean and clear. All the rain this spring??  We come back here to continue eating the graduation food...hotdogs and beans anyone?!
Molly and Jerry went to golf, and had a super fun round with Chad and his Dad, and another pair. They even went into the clubhouse for a cold drink and a relaxing bit of Tiger game watching! now that's a good day!

Post Party Recovery 6/6/11 Monday

Uncle Hank scores an offficial baseball cap from Posen HS for Charlotte!

Go Vikings!

Whew!  The party is history! Good history, but in the rear view mirror! I am leaving up alot of the decoration so we can enjoy them. Hank has me run some errands with him before he and Charlotte head up to Posen. Home Depot for plants for Reg, and Borders for DVD's and music. I hate to go there because I always find things I didn't need but must have!!Charlotte and Hank head out around 11, Danny gets up, and Molly is in school. I work on getting things put away, which is quite a challenge. Danny and I fit in the eye doctor(no glasses! 1 step down in left, perfect in the right), DQ, and the library to sign up for summer reading.
See if you can guess what is for dinner?? Give up?? Well it's picnic food from the party! Try again next time :)

Graduation Day 6/5/11

Father Karl blesses Charlotte!

my senior!

The proud family!

What a party! Started out with mass at 11:30, with all the graduates processing in to church then sitting with their families. Father Karl's homily was fantastic and inspiring. We had time for photo's and a reception, then on to the baccalaureate at Saint Mary Magdalene's. A bunch of seniors sang and spoke and it was beautiful. then back to the house for our party! Charlotte was so happy the whole day! She seemed to enjoy everything about the day, which was so cool! The weather was fantastic, the food all turned out great, we had a priest and a nun come over...a huge success on every level! though it was an Open House, people came and stayed and the party broke up about 10:30.  Nan Larsen was my Mom stand-in, and she cleaned up, refilled the buffet, and did anything else you could think of! I am blessed with all my friends and family!

Saturday 6/4/11 Closing day of games

Again Molly runs at 8, they try to keep the distance runs in the morning so it's not too hot. Molly wins gold again, though her time is not great. PJ is hoping to keep building towards Greece, but this a bit slower than last weeks run. Oh well. We get the call that Danny placed first in his age group in the shamrock shuffle, with a 24:12! Go Danny!  Charlotte bolts through her 800 with a record 3:21! Unreal! It was about 95 when she ran at 2:00. My swimmers finish up at 3:30 and Charlotte and I are on the road by 4:30 and in Brighton by 6pm. First stop-home? Nope! it's Gordon Foods, for hotdogs,brownies,salad,etc. Then home to hang photos, roll silverware into napkins, cook, set out, vacuum. etc. Tomorrow is the graduation!

Coach Michelle and Charlotte (James who followed Charlotte all weekend is in the background!)_

6/3 Friday- Competition Heats Up!

And they're off!  Events start fast and furious, with Molly running the 3000 at 8am. I haul all my swimmers out of bed,down to breakfast, and over to the track to cheer her on! I don't ask them if they want to go! Molly rocks the race! She runs a PR, 7:24! Holly is not at games, her Grandma died, and Molly is a bit disappointed not to run against her. But she still just kills it! We are all going wild! Charlotte and all the rest of the track athletes struggle through the extremely high temps to have a successful day. I move into the pool and get busy with my athletes. Danielle swims for 3 golds, Tina gets 2 silvers and a gold, Katie has a great swim for her IM-and earns a silver. Of course Howard is his steady self! In the afternoon I take my team through some of the events, the favourite is the dunk tank! I am the super cool coach cause I let Courtney and Tina get dunked in the tank!
We have a great time at the dance, though there was too much water fighting (watch the camera!!) and not enough dancing for my liking. Late night 7-11 run finishes up the evening just the way the team want it!

To Summer Games we go! thursday

6/2/11-dateline Mount Pleasant
The Area 27  athletes arrived in Mount Pleasant this afternoon fired up and ready  to win some medals. On the ride from Brighton, they saw the Torch making its run up 27N to the stadium and were very excited !  Despite disappointing souvenirs(always Coach Kerry's first stop!) the group still managed to spend money.  The dorm rooms were a bit tinier this year, but who cares? The athletes barely sleep anyway, what with opening ceremonies,dancing, carnivals, farewell to area director parties, chocolate fountains and more! It is really a whole ball of fun for the folks on the team.
Molly Hincka, Area 27 runner and Team USA member, led the march into the Stadium along with David and Sabra, her fellow teammates who are swimmers. What a cool experience.

June 1,2011 Awards assembly

Danny has his awards assembly this am, so I am unable to go to Lansing for the 3rd try at the Senate committee testimony. Of course they had the meeting, and the PR gal, Kim, was there alone...but it passed out of committee and on to the Senate floor, where it has a great chance of passing.  The tricky part is the house...and it is doubtful it will happen this year, as all would need to be done by 6/9/11. But it can go on for next year..
Danny received the top reader in the class award, Presidents physical fitness award, all A's all 4 quarters and all around swell kid award(okay not the last one, but he should ave!) I am very proud of him! Did more cleaning, and finishing up of picture boards, shopping lists, lists of things to be done, etc.
I am excited! I hope the weather will be great!

start your engine Kerry! 5/31/11

Okay, here we go! Countdown til the summer games and the graduation...will we get it all done?
My dear friend Shawne shows up right after I drop off Danny and won't leave until 3pm. We clean, rearrange, load the car for Sally's, sweep the driveway..you name it. All while chatting and solving the worlds problems!  I am so blessed to have a friend like her. The kind who just shows up and starts doing...it means so much.
The golfers set out, but are called in early due to thunder,lightening and tornado watch. Fun was had, but my evening plan of attack was cut short. Oh, well, on we go!