A glimpse into our crazy life

I’ve mentioned her a couple of times, but this is our kid, Mya. She’s about 1 year old and we adopted her from a Chicago shelter in April as the best bday present ever from my husband.

Her favorite things are playing with a squeaky toy that looks like a snail, hunting for chicken bones in the park across the street (and for some reason the south side of chicago has an endless supply of them), and playing in Lake Michigan, as you can tell from this pic.

She certainly has her moments of craziness and is living the part of an adolescent now, but we love her to death and can’t remember what the heck we did with all our time prior to adopting her. So come visit us so you can meet our little schmyasters.

Frank made it home safely last night, despite almost missing their flight from Paris due to the stupid French customs officers. Mya was ridiculously excited-she wouldn’t even let him inside for several minutes because she was too busy licking and jumping on him on the landing. Needless to say, she’s very happy her favorite playmate is back. Frank was good but exhausted since he’d been up for over 24 hours at that point. But he still had the energy to present a slideshow of his 300+ pictures. We’ll get some posted on here eventually, but he’s going to have to narrow them down a bit first.
He did an excellent job in the presents department: two cashmere scarves and a t-shirt that says “Ciao bella” for me. For “the household”, he brought back spaghetti, olive oil, vinegar, chocolates, and two small paintings to frame-one of the ruins in Rome and one of a gondola going through the canals in Venice.
I’ll try to get him to find time to post on here about his trip in the coming week. We’re thankful that he had a great time, but are glad he’s home. It’s just too bad he has to ditch Mya and I again Friday to travel to St. Paul, MN for the next football game. Ah, an athletic trainer’s job is never done…at least in-season!

“Hey all,
Rome has been amazing the past few days. When we arrived, we got an immediate tour of the Roman Forum and the Coleseum. The forum is where all the senators would gather and all politics took place for hundreds of years.
Yesterday was an entire day of exploring the city on our own which included Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, the Pantheon and many piazzas. So far we havent become too lost. Also, Italy has no apostrophes on their computers. Sorry for the bad grammar. Ice has been difficult to come by as well.
Today we got up early, went to the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Basillica. All were amazing! Incredible detail. Also, both teams have won their first games. The men by 28, the women by 20. Tomorrow its off to Pisa and eventually to Florence. Gotta run. Time is about up. Ill try to write again soon. Expect many pictures when I get back.”

I got an email from Frank today from Rome!!! Here’s his email (minus the lovey-dovey stuff):
Just got back from running around all day. Yesterday when we got off the plane we got a walking tour of ancient Rome which was amazing! I took a lot of pictures of everything including the Coliseum. All of the architecture is jawdropping. Today we had the entire day to ourselves and visited the spanish steps, an awesome fountain I cant remember the name of and the Pantheon. The weather has been good, but I think it is supposed to cloud up tomorrow. Tonight is the mens first game, we will see how it goes. Hope you are doing well. I will try to write more next time.

Frank left yesterday for a 10-day tour of Italy with the men’s and women’s basketball teams. They’ll go to Rome, Pisa, Florence, San Marino, Rimini, and Venice and each team will play two games abroad. It should be a great experience for Frank since he’s never been out of the country and having international experience will look good on the ol’ resume. Needless to say, I’m extremely envious and expect some really good presents in order for him to make up going off to Italy and leaving me to take care of the dog.

Please pray for their safe travel and that all the athletes stay injury-free!