The Best of Times / The Worst of Times

The traditional Acton family tequila and lime shot!

Hannah and Dani

Hannah Matt Dani

Some Ford Tough Babes with my new-to-me Explorer.

Matt making provolone cheese taco shells!

I will make these for sure!

Welcome Home Cake for Hannah and Luke

Myles, Evan, Luke - Moustache Party

Just 2 Wild and Crazy Guys!

Hannah concocting in the kitchen!

Okay. "Worst" might be a bit of an exaggeration but May 2012 turned out to be a month full of wonderful events, as anticipated, but what was unanticipated and pretty sucky is that Kevin and I had such nasty colds for almost the whole month!  I had 11 days of feeling really bloody awful before finally resorting to antibiotics and slowly, slowly feeling some improvements. Kevin, too. We got sick just before Hannah got home and despite her efforts to avoid it, she caught our cold though was able to prevent it from getting so bad as ours. We all lost our voices. right at the beginning of May and even now Kevin's still sounds off and mine is just starting to sound normal. TOTAL DRAG!  It meant we weren't able to do many of the things we'd hoped to do while Hannah was here for just over 2 weeks.

So, to keep things concise, the disappointments in May were:

1. Our nasty colds
2. Hannah catching our nasty cold - though a less severe version
3. Having to cancel the big multi-generational party we had planned
4. Having to cancel the Acton family event planned for Mother's Day
5. Not seeing Jim, Graham, and Allan while Hannah was home
6. Not seeing Gillian, Marissa, Tarah, Katelyn, Mike ... though we did get to see Kayla (bonus)
7. Not seeing Matty while he was here from Calgary
8. Only one dining out experience
9. Our fridge having "technical issues"
10. Feeling too crappy to do much of anything

The great things about May were:

1. Hannah coming home from her 5 months of travels (Paris, Berlin, Scotland, Uruguay, Buenos Ares)
2. Luke coming home for the summer
3. Matt, Hannah's boyfriend, driving here from Vancouver to stay for a while and then road trip back with Hannah
4. Dani, Hannah's good friend, surprising Hannah with her first visit to Saskatoon. They met in Vancouver but Dani moved to New York about 4 years ago.
5. A whirlwind family trip (Matt and Dani included) that, in less than 24 hours, took in Clearwater Lake, Kyle, the farm, dinner at White Bear bar, the drive-in, a traditional Kerr family game of hand and foot (canasta), and a jigsaw puzzle ... all with Mom, Gary, Darrel, Lynn, Jack, Jodi, Meghan, and Dawson. Awesome!
6. We drove home from Kyle just in time to change our clothes and get to a proper Acton family gathering at Don and Syl's to celebrate a multitude of things over one of Don and Syl's famous meals. Cheryl, RJ, and Mikael were there, too. We missed seeing Alexa, who was on her way home from a school trip to New York.
7. Hannah and Matt's cooking. Guinness Stew. Soups. Matt's cheese taco shells and apple and ginger parmesan empanadas. Hannah's many interesting salads and sides and cooking lessons. Hannah and Matt taught me how to take the bite out of over-powered red onions (chop, sprinkle with sea salt, and let sit in boiling water for a little while ... great tip!).
8. Dani's treats - Our favourite New York artisan chocolate - the salted one, chocolate covered salted caramels, rugelah from "THE PLACE" to get rugelah in New York, and ... olive oil from Frankie's - our favourite.
9. Hannah's concoctions and cures - medicinal teas, which I've learned to enjoy and a mix of apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper, and a bit of honey which magically provides some relief from laryngitis.
10. We had a small barbeque event when Luke got home. A bunch of his friends and Kayla were here. So nice to see them all!  We had planned on another bigger event but couldn't pull that off with our STUPID COLDS!
11. Phillip Phillips winning American Idol. I picked him out from those first auditions. It's the first time I've ever picked the winner so early. 

So yes, the best and the worst. All in May. The best outshines the worst, though. It was so wonderful to have both Hannah and Luke here at the same time in summer ... something that rarely happens.

Dani left Tuesday this week and Hannah and Matt left Wednesday. We get to keep Luke for the summer. And now I need to get some quilting done. And maybe I should do something with our house, which looks like a bomb went off in it!