The birthday surprise!!

Danny was pretty thrilled when Jake gave him a Nintendo Ds 3D XLG !K Jerry and I were both shocked! Then jake said that he has a DS and you can game online with friends, and now he and Danny can still spend time together...I started crying it was so sweet! Philmont gifts a HUGE hit, photos to come, and homemade devils food cake with caramel icing topped off the Chinese feast Danny requested! It was a great Saturday!

Got this wilderness scout guide from Nana!

Danny loved his Philmont scout ranch gear from the cousins!

Danny is 14

Okay, when the baby is 14, what does that make you?! 

The D is having a good birthday so far.  He was popped out of school to go and get contacts, which he wanted. Coffee and cookies followed  a jumping session with Cassie. Friday night bball with Cassie, Leah, Molly, Charlotte and Dad. Of course a trip to Leo's for birthday treats! We are celebrating him the whole weekend, and we will be feasting on the cake Cassie and I made (from scratch! Says cass)! Tomorrow we will do a family run at Danny's request, and Sunday his friend Grace is hosting a going away party here for him. He also received his official acceptance from his new school today! 

Solo and Ensemble Band festival

Danny participated in the solo and Ensemble festival at Scranton today. This involved quite a lot of preparation on his part. He chose a very ambitious solo piece by Mozart and was also in a brass sextet

Playing a piece called Pizza Party. He has been practicing very hard and had two rehersals with his piano acompaniest for his solo performance. The sextet, made up of six goofy boys, rehearsed every Sunday night for 6 weeks! So today was the day and he did wonderfully! His solo was at 8:24am and he received a 1, the best rating you can get. The judge had great comments, and encouraged him, and all was well. 

Next up was the sextet, scheduled for 9:24 and played at 10:25. Unfortunately Jerry had to leave to head to the U of M game with the girls.(crazy side note:U of M vs. NJIT and those jersey engineers pulled off the upset!) the boys did wonderfully, the judges first comment was that they made him hungry(get it...Pizza Party?)    So I am super proud of Danny and very impressed with him and the other boys.

Meanwhile back at the school...I was in charge of the food for the judges and workers, breakfast and lunch. So I worked and planned and ordered and picked up and baked cupcakes and got up at 5AM to get over to school and start the enormous pot of coffee which take an hour to brew! Set up all the breakfast goodies

And served everyone and sent out band kids with a cart at 10am to serve room to room snacks. Then cleaned that up and started setting up lunch

I had soup from Olga's , Greek salad from Gus's , sandwich platter from Costco, and all kinds of yummy treats! It was very well received, people actually thanked me for not serving mostacholi! 

Now all that remains is clean up! 

Thankful!!

What a great long weekend of things I am thankful for...

Days off with the kids--

Wednesday through Monday for Danny! We were all able to boxing a couple of times, Movies, Christmas shopping, and lots of sleeping in!

Visitors--

Hank came down from Posen with Jerry on Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Saturday. We had a beautiful thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes made from Hank's spuds! We played UNO and shot pool and ate a lot! I love cooking for the family and the more the merrier!

Cassie--

Jake picked her up while we were at mass Thursday morning and she stayed until Sunday night!  We played,read lots of stories and moved her out of the crib and into her Big Girl Bed! We set up and decorated the Christmas tree which Cassie really enjoyed. I had all her ornaments in a special box that she could unpack. She loved choosing a spot to hang them! Jake took Cassie and all the kids to see the new Penguins movie and they all said they alighted their heads off....Cass liked the treat bag I packed! Leah came over to play on Sunday after church and inspire of the cold they jumped on the trampoline.

Church--

I am so thankful to belong to a parish like Saint Patrick. I am blessed daily by the kind people, the awesome,inspiring and educating priests and all of the good programs they carry out. I have been invited to the women's advent tea this Friday and I am excited about that. Cassie loves to do the sign of peace. She strolls all around the place shaking hands and saying "peace a with you!"

Sports--

Danny,Molly,Charlotte,Sophie and I all ran in the Fantasy of Lights 5k Friday night. At the start at 6pm it was 27 and snowing with a decent wind...aah, running in Michigan! I love that we see so many people we know at the races, and Molly, well she knows everyone! It is a great way for her to reach out to others, running is a unifying thing, which I LOVE! U of M games are such fun to go to. Jerry got tickets for everyone, including Cassie, for Saturday afternoon's game. Michigan won and the kids had a good time cheering them on. Cassie wore her cheerleader uniform and met the dance team gals and the cheerleaders..they all ate her up with a spoon!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy the photos!

My two cooks help me get ready for the big day! Danny made Pecan Pie bites and a Cerry-Cranberry Pie. Cassie made the greenbean casserole.

Fantasy of Lights Team! Check out the results!

215 Danny Hincka M 13 Brighton,   23:11 7:27/mi

574 Sophie Wisbiski F 13 Brighton,    23:21 7:30/mi

217 Molly Hincka F 23 Brighton,   27:49 8:56/mi

216 Kerry Hincka F 53 Brighton,   28:36  9:11/mi

214 Charlotte Hincka F 21 Brighton,   30:46. 9:53/mi

After getting up at 6:30am I convince Cassie to work on quiet crafts while everyone else sleeps and I wait for the coffee to brew! 

The new bed! I am glad I saved this when Danny was finished with it, it worked out perfectly! And the first night, Saturday, was a success. No getting up or crying!

Cassie was very happy to meet the dance team, Danny, not so much! Jake threw him into the arms of the dancing girls, I love how beet red his cheeks are!

Grizzly Adams and friends!

Thanksgiving prep!

How many times have you been to the grocery store in the past few days?! Each time I go I say, "this is it, I am NOT going to the store again before Thanksgiving". And then I find myself in the kitchen, having inexplicably grabbed jellied instead of whole berry cranberry sauce at Walmart, having to head out to Kroger. AAAHHHH! So, after Walmart, Aldi and Kroger in a 36 hour period I hearby pledge-- I am NOT going to the store again before Thanksgiving! Of course I might have to send Jerry!!

Danny was assigned desserts for our thanksgiving meal, and he made them both today after school and tuba lesson. Behold his Pecan Pie Bars and Cherry Cranberry lattice top pie! I told him Busia,Aunt Reg and Honey are all smiling down at him tonight! I made the mashed potatoes, and have the turkeys almost defrosted. In the morning my real cooking begins! Enjoy the prep for this wonderful family holiday!

Special Olympics Poly Hockey State Tournament Weekend

We had a busy weekend of hockey play and the girls did a great job. We were lucky to have Leah with us on Saturday taking on the roll of little sister/head cheerleader!  the first game was great, the whole team played well together and they won 14-6 or something. Charlotte scored 2 goals! Then we had a 4 hour wait until the next game and we fell apart a bit. That is a long time to sit around and athletes get sluggish and bored. Leah and I went to the craft area, but the girls just hung out in the hall. Finally at 5:30 the second game got underway. Unfortunately we somehow ended up laying the wrong team! Not our fault! The team was so frustrated but they continued to try hard, fighting for every shot. The final score, with a running clock, was 20-2. OUCH! Charlotte played center for much of the second game and was pouring sweat. She did get one of the goals, a blast from mid court! Coach Laurel protested the mix-up but there was nothing that could be done at that point in time. The team was also were unable to go to a medal ceremony because the other teams in the division hadn't completed tournament play. Which I get, but how anti-climatic is it to get your medal in the mail a few weeks after the tourney?  To shake it off and celebrate a great season we hit Leo's for burgers and then watched a movie. On Sunday the girls and I went to boxing, church and the school play again. You can never have too much theatre!

Molly and teammate and friend Liam

Uno is a  good boredom reliever

Charlotte works the court

Oh, A Hunting They Will Go!

Hunting fever has struck the Hincka House!

 Symptoms include but are not limited to;

Excessive studying of the Cabellas circular

Viewing Deer Cam footage on line

Making crockpots full of venison meatballs for camp food

Growing facial hair

Skipping school to get up to camp early and "get the blind ready"

Dirty boots and big smiles!

Last weekend and this, Jerry took the boys and headed up to Posen,MI. He and his brothers own a hunting camp together, complete with a house that they have been fixing up, lots of wood trails, apple and evergreen trees, a deer??! That is the million dollar question! Though big fun has been had, last weekend they didn't even get a shot! I guess there is a lot of the soybean crop the did not get brought in, so the deer are hanging out at fast food field instead of visitng the food piles like they should. 

Ah well, the spitzer games are being played, paying calls on the other hunting camps around town(the Hincka cousins have a game rom in their, complete with pool table! Doing shots, eating, and lots of sitting in the blind in the below zero temps.

Good Luck men, Molly,Charlotte and I will be down state, cozy and warm and waiting for news!

Jet lag has it's way with me!

Oh my gracious! I do not believe in jet lag, in fact, I REFUSE to have jet lag or acknowledge it in any way. Well, someone must have told jet lag about my attitude, and he decided to exact revenge and show me who was boss. On Tuesday morning we got up at 2:30am Brussels time (8:30pm detroit time) and headed to the airport. We returned the car, grabbed an espresso and hopped on the plane to Amsterdam. From there we hit the sky lounge for another coffee then boarded our flight for home. The flight was great, half empty, but I could not fall asleep. We were back in brighton by 12:30pm, thanks Karen! And all was well for the afternoon and evening. We were so happy to see the kids, they had done a great job holding down the home front, and we were right back into the swing, polyhockey, homework,etc. I went to bed around 11:00pm, after being up 26 ish hours....

and then Jet Lag made his move, sneaking into the bedroom and starting to pound my head, and render my eyes unable to stay open, and my head unable to stay upright. For 24 hours I basically couldn't move! Luckily Jerry was home and handled things, but seriously, I was flattened. And you guys know me--I do NOT do sick, nevermind bedridden. So when Thursday morning dawned and I felt like I could open my eyes after only 1000 mg of Tylenol and keep a cup of coffee down, I was feeling extremely grateful and blessed. Recovered just in time to go pick up Cassie for the weekend! Never a dull :)

Cassie and Harry looking for deer in the backyard!

Luxembourg

Today Jerry had a meeting in Luxembourg, just outside June city center and I decided to take a ride with him. He dropped me off in Ettlebrook, where the Patton Museum is...unfortunately that museum is closed from September through May, and since it was Monday the shops were closed until 2 pm. Alrighty then! I took a brisk walk around the town, which is no doubt charming on a warm day when it is full of people. It was not charming on huh is chilly gray November morning! I put in a good hour of power walking before retreating to a coffee shop with free wifi! Jerry's meeting went very well and only took about 2 hours so before I knew it he was picking me up and we were headed back to Belgium. The scenery on the two hour drive was beautiful. Rolling hills, old farm houses, cows and miniature ponies for the first half, then back to the freeway for the second bit, which was perfect from a speed perspective. We even passed a little shopping center that had a branch of our favourite sports store. YEs, of course we stopped, my excuse was a bathroom break!  But it was fun to browse around for a couple of minutes. Back in Brussels we took another walk around the city to stretch our legs after the drive. And then it was packing time! Got everything in and set for our early Tuesday departure.

Sunday--Choosing among the churchs.

Belgium is 90% Catholic, so finding mass should be no problem, right? However, finding one in English may prove to be!cwhen Jerry was here last month he went to mass in French, and I also find it available in Spanish, Dutch and German. I want English though,I want to know right when to say my prayers! We end up at Saint Nicolas, which is a very old church right in the center of Brussels, only about 3 minutes walk from our hotel.

This church has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, so pieces of it date from different time periods. The church itself has houses and other buildings surrounding it to the point where if you don't come upon it from the front you will not know you have found it! The choir and most of the attendants were phillipino, the priest was French and one of the readers was British. Quite international. They did not use the main, gorgeous altar but rather a table set up just in from of the seats. That was disappointing. While it is wonderful to be at mass and receive communion this is not a church I will seek out when we move next month. Of course having Father Karl has spoiled me,

As you can see from my blue sky pictures the day was lovely. After mass we walked around the old section of town, then after lunch we took a long walk along a canal we discovered. I love when you come upon murals and sculptures unexpectantly, it is delightful!

Later in the evening Jerry found a sports bar that turned on American football at 7pm and he enjoyed a Belgian beer or two with the game. Of course my game is reading, so I enjoyed a lovely demi-baguette and pumpkin soup!

 

Saturday is ALL about walking!

Want me to let you in on a secret??!!

The best way to explore a new city is by foot. I never go for those Hop On-Hop Off tours, why hop on? Just Walk! You will see and know about the city much faster and you are much more likely to discover hidden gems. Little gardens, old churches,and neat restaurants. It was a beautiful sunny mid 50's day as Jerry and I set out and we walked about 9 miles! We went left and right, up the cobblestones and down the marble stairs, around the gardens of huge palace and across the gardens of the municipal building. Busy streets with diesel fumes and charming pedestrian only alleyways. We saw the European Commision where the EU is headquartered, as deserted as Wall St. Is on a Saturday. We visited the Armed Forces Museum, previewing it for Danny and Jake of course, and climbed to the top of the building for the Panorama. We saw a wedding couple being cheered and photographed as the sun came out. We grabbed a coffee and a crepe with strawberries near Saint Michaels and some beer and snacks at the Carrefour Express market. We strolled through the jam packed shopping streets around our hotel (recession? What recession?!) amazed at all the people, dogs, strollers, smokers, beggars and lovers we came upon. In the evening we were happy to settle in to our lovely studio and eat our take-away...middle eastern of course! It doesn't get any better than The Sultan of Kebap after a day of walking! Viva la feet!

Great view of the city!