Miami Hockey Camp

Yesterday we picked up Andrew from the Miami University Redhawks Hockey School in Oxford, OH. He spent the full week (5 nights) there with his buddy Patrick. They had four on-ice skating sessions each day, plus a lot of off-ice stuff like classroom instruction, swimming, conditioning, etc. Miami has an excellent college hockey program, and the facilities there were phenomenal. Before we packed his stuff up to come home, we were able to watch a final scrimmage with Andrew's "red" Bantam team playing the "black" Bantam team. Andrew looked really good, and he played aggressive which was nice to see. On the way home, Andrew feel asleep from exhaustion. All-in-all, it seemed like a great hockey camp. Here are the highlights.

Summer Vacation Picture Recap

Since we are known to take a lot of pictures on our vacations, we generally do a video recap of some of the pictures that were taken along the way. So here is our closing Hollywood Four summer vacation highlight reel ... in pictures.

World's Largest General Store in 2 Minutes

As I mentioned in my post this morning, on one of our last day's of vacation we stopped at the Country Junction: The World's Largest General Store. Here is a bonus clip of the kids walking through the entire store in 2 minutes.

Summer Vacation Days 7-8

Our last couple days of vacation were spent in traveling to Harrisburg and Altoona, PA for minor league baseball games. On our way, we stopped at Country Junction: The World's Largest General Store. This was an interesting stop, to stay the least. That evening we attended a Harrisburg Senators game on City Island which was a very cool stadium. Unfortunately, we only made it through 3 innings before the game was rain postponed. The next day we were going to hike the 1,000 Steps Hiking Trail, but it was too rainy. So, after killing some time, we finished the day off at the Altoona Curve baseball game. This was another gem of a stadium, but again we were only able to enjoy 4 innings before more rain. So, we drove home last night and that ended our summer Hollywood Four vacation.

Summer Vacation Day 6

For day 6 of our Hollywood Four vacation, we planned on going to a big, local waterpark. However, I forgot to pre-purchase the tickets online and the price at the gate was too expensive (plus the place was a mad house). So we decided to take another hike down Indian Trail on Camelback Mountain. Despite this being less than 2 miles, in the 90+ degree weather, we were hot and drenched with sweat. So we headed for Sand Spring Lake in Hickory State Park for a refreshing swim at this "off-the-beaten-path" beach. It was a short swim, however, as the storm clouds began to roll in. So we left the beach and checked out the very cool Boulder Field in the park before we left (it was an endless field of boulders). To finish off our night, we had a huge pizza dinner at Trattoria's 903. On the way back to our room, we stopped at the Jim Thorpe memorial park to learn a little about the person to which this town is named. As a nightcap, we watched a family movie together (Smurfs).

Summer Vacation Day 5

On day 5 of our Hollywood Four vacation, we enjoyed a nice, hearty breakfast at the Broadway Grill and Pub then headed out for a 5 mile hike along the Glen Onoko Falls Trail in the Lehigh Gorge State Park. This turned out to be an awesome 3+ hour hike, with a lot of scenic payoffs along the way. The highlight video below captures many of the cool waterfalls we saw (keeping Andrew and Abby refreshed along the way). After our hike, we went to Mauch Chunk Lake for a quick dip to cool off from the 90 degree temperatures. After that we returned to our hotel to clean up before enjoying a nice dinner at Molly McGuire's Grille & Pub. For our nightcap, we played some cards and enjoyed a family Movie (Tin Tin) in our spacious hotel suite.

Summer Vacation Day 4

On the fourth day of our Hollywood Four vacation, we did some hiking in the Lehigh Gorge State Park along the Lehigh River. The trails were not challenging, but there were some nice waterfalls and views. Then we checked into nice little hotel called The Inn at Jim Thorpe where we have a large, one-bedroom suite with a queen sofa for the kids. The suite has been renovated and is very nice. It will be serving as our base of operations the next few days as we do more exploring. We also enjoyed a nice meal at the Inn's restaurant called the Broadway Grill and Pub.

Summer Vacation Days 1-3

Here are some of the highlights from the Hollywood Four 2012 summer vacation. This year we headed east again, starting with a stop in Pittsburgh, PA where we met up with the Plackowskis for a nice German dinner at Hofbräuhaus. The next morning Dad woke up with a head-to-rash from some new medication he was taking. So, we had to make an emergency stop at a pharmacy for some new stuff to get rid of the rash (seems to be working). Then we headed southeast to Frederick, MD where we walked around downtown and then took in a Frederick Keys minor league baseball game (Dad's 51st in a long list of professional baseball parks). On day 3, we made our way for the Poncono Mountains, but we made a couple pit-stops at the Gettysburg, PA historic park and the Hershey, PA chocolate factory.

Africa Dance (Waka Waka)

This week Karen went upstairs around midnight to find all of the kids (Abby, Andrew, and cousins Emily, Jake, Chloe) performing a "Waka Waka" dance. So she grabbed the video camera and got them in action. It's very well choreographed!

The PartnerShip Golf Team

The four-person PartnerShip golf team participated in the Cleveland Corporate Challenge tonight. The last event I participated in was softball. The company has competed in at least two more events since then (kickball and skeeball), but I wasn't a part of those teams. Our golf team -- shown here -- was comprised of me, Leah (marketing), Polly (program manager), and Joe (operations). Of course, I led the team with the lowest score, but everyone was still pretty close. Unfortunately, not close enough to finish in the top five. Oh well, we still had fun (and maybe we'll still get a couple points). There are more events to come, but the final two that I will participate in will be bowling and 3x3 basketball (here's to my good health!).

Astros Lose Close Opening Tournament Game

The Astros played a great game tonight in the opening round of the year-end tournament. We played a tough opponent in the Reds who played us well all year round and were, possibly, the second best team in the league. But before the game started, I recognized all of the kids contributions throughout the regular season (click here final regular season video & stats) and awarded Joe our Most Valuable Pitcher award; Dillon our Most Valuable Hitter award; and Madison our Most Valuable Player award.

For the game tonight, Joe was our starting pitcher once again, and he gave us three solid innings allowing only 4 Runs (3 earned). We hit the ball well early as well, giving us a 9-4 lead after three innings. Cody came in for relief and, despite some solid pitching, he lost some of the magic from the previous two games in which he allowed no hits and no runs. That combined with some fielding mistakes and next thing we knew we were down 13-9 with bases loaded. Dillon then came in and walked one hitter while striking out the side and avoiding another major Reds inning. But in the top of the 7th and final inning, we just couldn't get our bats going again. So final score was 14-9 (final tournament stats in the image above). A nice game and a nice season by the Astros (special thanks to my assistant coaches Regis, Jim and Dave for all the help this year). I really enjoyed getting to know and coaching these kids - and I can't wait for next season! Enjoy your summer everyone!

North American Irish Dance Championships

This weekend Abby competed in the 2012 North American Irish Dance Championships in Chicago (otherwise known as "The Nationals"). Mom and Abby drove down from the Ott Cabin, while Dad drove over from northeast Ohio. We stayed at the Sheraton Water Tower Hotel, which is where the competition was. Unfortunately, Abby was suffering from a cold and/or allergies all weekend and so her breathing and stamina was not the greatest. So, despite a solid effort, she wasn't able to "recall." Still, competing with 200 or so of the best Irish Dancing 16-year olds in North American is something to be proud of. We also took some time to enjoy a little bit of Chicago with stops at The Original Gino's East, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, and a couple other great little restaurants along the way. Here are some video highlights (shot using '60s style with my new 8MM app for my iPhone).

The Hair Ninja

The other day Abby sent me a text with this picture. She called it her "Hair Ninja" pose. I just love the photo and had to share it on our blog. She's only been gone a few days (up at the in-law's cabin), but I already miss her.