Annual Launch of Kevin

It's a hot Memorial Day here in northeast Ohio. So ... as we did in 2009 and last year, today we launched Kevin into Lake Frogerick. On hand this year to help Abby and Andrew were friends Rebecca and Sean. Happy Memorial Day!

Feis Weekend

This weekend Abby had two Irish dancing Feis competitions. On Saturday she competed in the Akron Feis and finished 5th out of twenty some girls. Today she competed in the Cleveland Feis and took 3rd place out of twenty or so girls again. Here is a short clip of the award presentation from today (taken with my cell phone).

First Swim of 2011

Definitely enjoying the weather this weekend. 70's yesterday; 80's today. Grilled steaks yesterday; burgers today. Mowed the yard and painted a shelf for Abby yesterday; replaced the batteries in all the solar lights today. The boys - Andrew and his friend Nathan - even went for their first swim of the year in the Lake Frogerick.

Spring Hockey - Game 8

Last night Andrew (#97) play his last game of the Spring League hockey season. Although the Parma Flyers lost the game 1-2, Andrew had an awesome game. He scored the team's only goal and he had a nice body check against the boards. He also skated really well and had a few other goal opportunities. The Parma team finished with a respectable 3-3-2 record. That's it for hockey this summer except for some open skate sessions as well as a CanAm hockey camp in Lake Placid, NY in July.

Action News (Drama Club Theatre Class)

Abby began her official acting career tonight by appearing in the short play Action News: Now With 10% More Action! produced by her high school drama club as part of her Intro to Theatre class. Although her performance was brief, she did a fantastic job! Here is an excerpt from the play containing her scene.

Spring Hockey - Game 7

Tonight Andrew (#97), with a few of his former Strongsville Mustang players, again joined forces with the Parma Flyers in a game with the Kent Cyclones. Andrew had an assist on the first goal of the game and Parma held a 2-1 lead with one minute to go. However, Kent scored a goal and the game finished in a tie, 2-2-. Parma is now 3-2-2 with one game left to play in the Spring season.

Spring Poker Fest Results

Eight players showed up for this weekend's Poker Fest #22. And as is the custom, one man was left standing with most of the loot (almost $1k). That man was Stevage. This was his second Poker Fest victory and I am sure it was much appreciated after last year's "deer-crash" incident. Also on hand were Gentleman Jim, OJ Hall, Breakfast Dan, Buffalo Mike, Red Eye Dave (this year's beer wench), Rooter Bill and, of course, Hollywood Scott. The weather was so beautiful, we even played part of the tournament outside. Additional activities included table curling and Kentucky Derby wagers (not serious poker wrestling, thankfully). Here is a very short highlight reel. Already looking forward to Poker Fest #23 this fall.

Spring Hockey - Game 6

Tonight Andrew (#97), along with a few of his former Strongsville Mustang players, joined forces with the Parma Flyers in a high-scoring rematch with the Elyria Panthers . The final score was 9-6 as the Parma team wins again bringing their record to 3-2-1. Andrew did awesome scoring 1 goal and 2 assists. Unfortunately, dad accidentally deleted all of the video footage from the first two periods, so we don't have the goal on film (it was a pile up in front of the net and Andrew slammed it in). The footage below is only from the third period (one of Andrew's assists). Two more games left to the Spring season.

Spring Hockey - Game 5

Tonight Andrew (#97), along with a few of his former Strongsville Mustang players, joined forces with the Parma Flyers to take on the Elyria Panthers for the team's 5th game of the Spring League (wrong title below). The Parma team dominated the game winning 7-3 and improving their record to 2-2-1. Andrew had a solid game with 5 or 6 shots on goal and at least one assisted goal. Next game is Thursday night.

Spring Hockey - Game 4

Tonight Andrew (#97) had another hockey game. At the request of the coach, I recruited two more of Andrew's former Strongsville Mustang players (one forward and a goalie). The results proved effective as the Parma Flyers (Andrew's team) beat the Winterhurst Warriors 3-1 bringing their Spring League record to 1-2-1. Andrew was back to his old Holmstrom-like self too giving the opposing goalie a tough time of it around the net.

Spring Hockey - Game 3

Yesterday Andrew (#97) and the Parma Flyers (remember, Andrew and two of his Strongsville Mustang teammates joined the Parma team for Spring League) took on the Wooster Blades. We were supposed to be the away team (dark jerseys) but Wooster forgot their home jerseys (white). So after the first period we switched to our white jerseys. Parma stormed to a 4-1 lead only to give up 4 straight goals to Wooster. Trailing 4-5 with less than 2 minutes in the game, Parma came through with a goal to end the game in a tie. Andrew's fellow Mustang teammate Becca (#71) scored 4 goals. Andrew's highlight was an awesome check which can be seen about 50 seconds into this 1 minute or so highlight reel. The Parma team is now 0-2-1 with games this Monday and Tuesday night.