Family Day

Jane and Maggie...Maggie made a lot of paper fashion outfits (her latest hobby)...Uncle Henry tried making more hangers for her, but had difficulties!
Katie and Jeremy resting before Katie's big trip over to Vienna, Austria tomorrow!
Melissa, Trevor's fiancee...not looking at all stressed (their wedding is Easter weekend!)
Trevor and Alex...cooling down after quite a session on Rock Band!
Mike and Alex in a no-holds-barred game of air hockey.
Jane and Melissa, soon to be mother and daughter-in-law.

What better way to spend our first new holiday than with family and friends...

Mitchell stayed overnight and hung around with Michael for most of the day.
Sue came over for coffee and a visit.
Jenny stayed over at her cousins and then came home as we were expecting a visit from Trevor and family.

My brother Mike, Jane, Trevor, Melissa + baby, Katie, Jeremy, Maggie, and Alex came over for a fun-filled afternoon and evening.

Family Day...a great new holiday!

girls hockey vs boys hockey...

I thought that this was very interesting. Remember, Michael and Jenny are only a year apart in their hockey divisions. Herein lies the huge difference between boys and girls hockey:

Boys Silverstick MVP (Michael):
Hardware (i.e. trophy):



Girls Silverstick MVP (Jenny):
Software (i.e. cuddly bear):


Another fundamental difference: Each child is very happy with their award!

Happy Birthday Henry!

Today is the big day for the big guy...
We all know Henry is a softie...However this is not what it looks like...Henry happens to be holding Jenny's MVP award from basketball Game #1 in the Breast Cancer Tournament at Henry's old highschool stomping grounds.
This is impromtu birthday cake and lunch rolled into one...
There is always some part of the day that finds Henry in his recliner...note the beer and the remote are close at hand.

Oh, and let us not forget that for the rest of the month, Henry and Rob are TWINS (i.e. the same age). This is a big deal to Henry, as he and his brother,Rob, are 11 months apart in age (Henry being the baby of the family)

Henry's day so far...

He (and Michael) spent the night at friends' (thanks Tammy for the candles in the pancakes!), were up and on the ice at 6:00 a.m. (not my cup of tea, but remember folks, we're talking Henry here), drove back home to watch Jenny's basketball team at his highschool (there's a trip down memory lane - "Jill, here is my Grade Nine locker!")

After Jenny's team won the consolation championship game, it's home to the recliner for a snooze.

Next up will be Jenny's playdown hockey game vs. Petrolia...then it's off to Kitchener to visit with friends.

That must be why birthday always has a "HAPPY" in front of it!

Media Madness!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A record 97.5 million Americans tuned in to Sunday's upset victory by the New York Giants over the New England Patriots, marking the biggest TV audience in Super Bowl history and the second most-watched US telecast ever.

An absolutely fabulously close game with back and forth scoring. It was a great Superbowl to watch on t.v. yesterday.

However...I am mad at the media!

The "big win" by the UNDERDOG...the insinuations make me mad. The New York Giants made it to the Superbowl like any other team (granted...with a wild card no less). In my mind, they had just a good a chance at winning as the 'other team'. And yet, all week, media has one-sidedly focused on the New England Patriots. Anyone not watching football would not have been able to name BOTH teams to play in the Superbowl. This was a travesty.

Don't get me wrong, I admire the Patriots for such an admirable season and the dedication required to have an unblemished season. It was so wrong of the media to put them so high on the pedestal that the other team was hardly mentioned before the game.

It was nice to get back to the basics and have an entertaining half-time show. Kudos for bringing in Tom Petty who actually entertained the audience by providing a 'rockin' good time without all the bells, whistles, fireworks, and costume debacles!

It was a good evening (Michael and Jenny had their friends over) with great food (pat on the back for me) and prime (i.e. warm, comfy, great-view, cheap) seating for everyone!

Way to go Giants!

A time for sorrow...

Henry's buddy, Davy Hart...rest in peace.
Eddie's Boys in action (the yellow team)...now missing a friend and team-mate.




Hard to believe, but sometimes we receive news that is incomprehensible.

Henry received a phone call Sunday evening informing us of the sudden death of his friend and hockey team-mate, Dave Hart. Dave (only 37 years old) died unexpectedly in a snowmobiling accident last weekend. It is unbelievable that one day you are talking to someone, and the next day, they are gone from this world...never to converse with you again. Henry is having a hard time wrapping his mind around this one, as I'm sure, the rest of his team and league is as well.

Henry has been walking around this week in a state of shock, still not quite believing the news imparted by the telephone call. Seeing the obituary in the newspaper was yet another blow to cement the fact that, yes, their buddy is, indeed, gone.

With visitation today, and the funeral tomorrow, Eddie's Boys (their hockey team name) will be united together in grief and support for each other and for Davy's family.

We will miss you, buddy!

Grand Bend Run last fall...

The girls under the hammock...
Even the children ran!
Go Karin, Go!
Home Sweet Home (away from home)
Gary, Julie and Karin (yes, the boys did come up and drink beer to support our efforts!

Me, Julie, Marlene and Karin (Mom's united for 5K)
Smiling, as it is just beginning!
Phew...almost done! Next time, I ditch the jacket.

Of course, we took the trailer up to the Pinery Provincial Park where the run was held, and camped for the weekend. The weather was fabulous.

It seems that I missed posting the Grand Bend 5 km run last October.

Us "Moms" decided to get off our duffs and relive our youth (well, we used to be able to run that far!)

We all did darn well!

See our results posted at Ontario Road Race Results

My time was a personal best of 33:49.

Julie was back home for a short time...

Julie hanging in the crowd with Aunt Colleen, cousin Erin and hockey fanatic Chris!My how they are all so alike...scary!
Sandwiched between the two Uncles that usually end up putting her in a garbage can!
Hanging around with her favorite Uncles and Aunt...

Godmommy Julie was back from New Zealand for a short time over the holidays and managed to swing by for a couple of visits and see Jenny and Emma play a couple of hockey games!

Now she has jetted off out West in search of Canadian employment...although I really don't think teaching scuba diving and extreme sports are quite what the Western education system is looking for in a teacher! I'm sure she'll wow them with everything else she knows how to do!

We wish you all the best Jules!

Walker Family Christmas

Christmas in the Grove this year...lots of fun! (although we missed you, Trevor!) Trevor, however, had a good excuse for missing this year's festivities...he is engaged to Melissa and was busy meeting and greeting his betrothed family and friends.














Just me and my bro's...Katie leaving again soon for Vienna...boo hoo!






























Henry and sister-in-law Jane just can't handle all of us Walker's at once!


I honestly forgot that I was wearing the hat!




Merry Ho Ho...until next year!

Family skate with Henry's hockey team

Michael, Jenny, Emma, and Henry getting ready to skate...

Karin: waiting for me to stop taking pictures of everyone and skate with her...Casey: ready to push us along!
Henry: looking as if he should be coaching or something!
Jenny, I'm sure telling Tyler what to do:

A short time ago, Henry's men's league hockey team invited all the families to come out and skate. A fun night was had by all!

Karin and Casey and all of their children were there...Michael and Jenny zipped around with cousin Emma. It took me a while to get a picture of friend, Tyler, upright instead of on his butt!

Yes, even I skated...I found it funny that Casey came up behind Karin and I and told us that if we wanted to talk, we had to skate faster (I'm almost positive that he was insinuating something here...)

International Silver Stick Champions!

ELGIN MIDDLESEX CHIEFS

2008 BANTAM AAA INTERNATIONAL SILVER STICK PORT HURON MICHIGAN ''CHAMPION''

The Elgin Middlesex Chiefs made it to the finals to play against No. 1 ranked Detroit's Little Caesar's and came away with a 3 - 1 victory!

Michael played and received the MVP for the game.

"Elgin Middlesex received a strong goaltending performance from Mike Roefs to earn the title.

Roefs earned the Bill Lalley Memorial Award for his effort as the championship game MVP."

As quoted from the newspaper article below...

Here is the write up from the Michigan newspaper...

Bantam AAA Silverstick Champions!

International Silver Stick Finalists!

Michael's team is going on to the finals in the International Silver Stick Championship game this afternoon at 5:00. They will play Detroit's Little Caesars; the top ranked team in North America.

For $14.95, you, too, can watch from the comfort of your own home on your computer as I will be!

International Silver Stick Bantam AAA Chiefs Championship game

Tournaments galore!

Still waiting to download all my photos from Jenny's amazing tournament last weekend. They made it to the finals, played a great game but lost with an empty netter at the end 2 - 0.

Will post photos tomorrow if I can find my camera!

Michael is at Silver stick in Port Huron this week (Thursday - Sunday). I stayed home with Jenny and her three hockey ice times on tap for the week, but thanks to technology, we can pay and watch online (although the reception can be intermittent which sucks when it goes into overtime and you miss the goal!) However, the boys beat the Toronto Marlies tonight and advance to the semi's tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. You can see all the match-ups at the web site below:

Bantam AAA Silver Stick

Mom's best friend...

Henry is temporarily out of the dog-house! (although I still don't quite trust the van starting!)

He decided he had heard enough complaining, and bought me a new man that cleans floors. (I decided it was of the masculine gender just so I could enjoy the idea a little bit more)

His name is "Robbie"...yes, I named my new best friend.I have wanted this vacuum for two years, and it was the only item on my Christmas list this year (to further emphasize how much I REALLY wanted it).

Yes, husbands sometimes listen...and yes, sometimes actually follow through!

For those of you that know that cleaning is not my forte...this is a huge breakthrough for our family and our floors!

Long live the dust bunny!

Happy New Year!

With hockey over for a full four days (we lost in the quarter finals...Chicago won the whole thing), we can now prepare for the new year.

Time to bake rum cake and take our bathing suits (for the hot tub) to go visit friends tonight.