Today is a sad anniversary for our family. It was a year ago today that Angie’s dad, Gary lost his two and a half year bout with pancreatic cancer. In honor of his time with us, the Minnesota contingent of the Hanning clan got together for a dinner. Angie was able to head in that direction already for Christmas so she will be able to join them for this celebration. I however, won’t be able to attend the festivities, so this is my contribution.
I have been around the family long enough that I truly felt like Gary was my second father. I miss his stories (even if he would tell you the same story 10 times in a day), his kindheartedness, and his no nonsense way of life. He was a big role model in my life, and I know that he touched many others in this same way. He lived with his cancer with a dignity, grace, and perseverance that no one who encountered him during this time will soon forget. We love you Gary and you are missed every day.
We’ve had a very busy weekend, and although it was fun I’m glad it’s finished. After the fishing trip we came back home and had people show up for Angie’s graduation party. We had about 40 people come for the open house on Saturday afternoon. The weather was great and a good time was had by all.
Today Angie’s parents, grandparents and I went to see her graduate from Cardinal Stritch. She got her masters degree in instructional technology and we are all very proud of her. She worked hard for the last two years for the right to wear the funny cap and gown. Even though she couldn’t figure out how to wear the sash correctly, she still proved that she knows a thing or two.
After the ceremony we went to one of Angie’s favorite restaurants Yokoso for some sushi. It was excelent as alwa
ys. The meal was extra fun because her grandparents had never had sushi before, and weren’t well practiced with chopsticks. They were good sports and insisted on ordering themselves a king crab roll to share, and only ate with their chopsticks even though we had the waitress bring them out some silverware. Angie’s grandpa Gale really liked the wasabi and didn’t want to see it go to waste so he ate it in larger portions than any of us would be able to handle. They said they really liked it, and even took some chopsticks back with them so they could show off their skills to their friends in Illinois.
Angie’s parents and grandparents are leaving to go home tomorrow, and we’re all pretty beat from the excitement around here this weekend so I’m off to bed.
Spring has sprung, and that means the backyard and the conservancy that is adjacent to our yard starts bustling with activity. This is great for us, because watching the wildlife in the conservancy is one of the greatest attractions of living near one. What is good for us is hard for Mo. He’s such a loving and playful dog that seeing and hearing animals that he can’t play with is like torture.
All I can say is he’s lucky he’s so cute, because I don’t think i could put up with his antics much longer if he wasn’t. Here’s hoping he gets used to sharing the backyard with the animals again soon.
When we first got Mo we didn’t know much about schnoodles with the exception that they were cute. After a few weeks with him we noticed some behaviors that we thought were a little odd, but we chalked it up to his personality. We did some research on the schnoodle breed, and discovered that many of these behaviors are common among the breed. One such behavior is nicknamed the “Schnoodle 500.” This is where schoodles love to tear around open spaces as fast as they can. Mo does this often when he’s in a playful mood, or if he really wants to go outside and we finally get the message. He runs at full speed and without slowing down, he does a U-Turn and comes tearing back across the room at full speed. He’ll also do it in small circles, depending on the room available to him. It’s quite entertaining to watch.
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