I have one Goddaughter, and she’s most likely the only one I’ll ever have.  (in NY they don’t let Jews be the godparents). Katie was celebrating her First communion a few weeks ago and we all flew up to help her celebrate. Plus, I’ve been waiting more than 6 years to watch Connor play hockey and was so excited to see him and Spencer play a game each!

The big boys couldn’t have been more excited to see their best friend. I love that he’s still their best friend even after living in separate states for about 8 or so years now. They were nearly psychotic on the plane and driving to Connors from the airport- they couldn’t wait another second to get there. Jack & Patrick stayed at the Ziparo’s all weekend, while John, Timmy and I crashed at a hotel down the street.

Of course it was snowing when we landed on Friday night and it continued to snow on the drive from the airport. That’s Michigan in January for ya. Crappy iphone shot from the plane upon landing. Snow on the window. On a plane. Um, no.

A quick disclaimer- only brought the little camera so the photos aren’t the greatest ever, but they’re the best I could do.

The Ziparo’s had a packed weekend planned for us which was awesome. Grandma Mary, Maureen and I took Katie to dance (ballet and jazz) Saturday morning. Omg, so cute!!I liked that her shorts matched my scarf. The place where Katie had dance was totally awesome. A huge facility with a full gym, a ton of studios for dance of all kinds, karate studios, a huge gymnastics center, a bunch of tennis courts, an olympic sized pool (with a bubble over it so that it’s an outdoor pool in the summer),a full ice arena, a little snack bar/food court area, and probably some other stuff that I didn’t get to see. It would be so cool to have something like that here but we totally don’t have the space for anything like that.

A local photographer’s office/studio we passed on the way home. What a great house!Then Saturday afternoon Connor had a game. The first of the playoffs. They put that sign there especially for me since I was SO excited to see Connor play. The boys were all pretty psyched too!Connor’s on the far left (#13). The boys were disappointed that he didn’t acknowledge them at all during warm ups so we had to explain that he was in game mode and that if the Coach saw him doing that he’d be in HUGE trouble. We mostly hung out by the ice for the game- colder, but better for photos and viewing.Connor scored the first goal of the game! And then scored 2 more. Grandpa Tom, Grandma Mary and Timmy look on. Ya think Jack was a little happy to be there?!Connors team won something like 14-0. They stopped updating the score after a little while. Apparently the team all has to show up in their white dress shirts (w team logo on it), ties and khakis to every game. While it looks nice and all to me it seemed pretty ridiculous since they’re wearing it for like 20 minutes in total and it just makes more laundry. Wow, the stench coming out of that locker room was pretty much unbearable. It was so great to finally see Connor play- we all had a great time! He played so well- the level at which these teams play was amazing. I wasn’t expecting the game to be as good and the players to be so great on the ice- but they were!! Seriously knocked my socks off.Then after Connors game it was a quick dinner with most of the troops at Wendy’s (Uncle Peter and Spencer had to leave early to get to his game/warm ups) and onto Spencer’s game. Where Spencer scored a zillion goals. Holy crap, that kid was awesome!!Spencer does this little ‘row boat’ celebration after his first goal and I’m so bummed I missed getting a picture of it. Then bright and early on Sunday morning, it was Katie’s communion. She looked so pretty and was perfect during the mass. Went back to the Ziparo’s for a little brunch and then it was back to the airport for the trip home. There were tears (as always) but we had such a great time with our Michigan family! Katie, Maureen and I are trying to plan a date for next Christmas at the Nutcracker in NYC.

And the highlight of the trip home? I think I might need a pair for me even though they are mens. They are so hideous, they’re cute!! And after looking these up online, they cost between $300-400!  Thanks for a great, fun filled trip!! Hope to see you guys soon!! (just someplace a little warmer would be good).