Merry Christmas!

Hulford Herald

Christmas Newsletter

Paul and I would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas season! This has been a very busy year for Paul and I. Paul was able to finish his degree in Pastoral Ministries this year and is looking for a ministry position. For the time being, he is working third shift at a local gas station. Although this work is not his preference, we are thankful that the Lord has provided work for both Paul and I this past year.

I have been teaching elementary general music full-time this past year and have been teaching a full load of music lessons. I am also working on completing my Masters of Music Education degree. I have been very busy, but am blessed that the Lord has been faithful and has given me the strength to accomplish the tasks at hand!

Paul and I were able to travel to England last Christmas and  spend time with his family. We saw relatives that we weren’t able to visit with since we were married! It was a great time!

We are also enjoying cycling and skating this year! I am learning to ice skate and Paul and I found that we love riding our bikes together on the trails by our house. Paul will be entering a 24 hour bike marathon this spring! 

www.pjoandajo.blogspot.com

Much love,

Paul and Annie Hulford

Biking to Dinner

Now that Paul's working third shift, we don't get to spend a lot of time together. He is trying to get used to the new third shift schedule and hasn't quite gotten in the grove yet. Yesterday, after Paul slept I asked him to come on a bike ride with me so that we could spend some time together before he had to head back to work. We decided to bike downtown to Parsley Mediterranean Grill. It's always fun biking downtown because there's always something going on and people are always out and about. Parsley's is about 4.5 miles from our home in Grand Rapids. We ate a lovely Mediterranean meal (Fattoush salad, Beef Kaftka, Pickled Turnips) and then rode back home. Paul decided to take the "hilly" way home as he is training for a 24 hour bike challenge. He will be competing to see how many miles he can do in 24 hours through all different types of terrain. That should be fun!

Food that's on the menu at Parsley's

Tuesday bike trip with friends!

Today Paul and I biked 25 miles with our friends Ross, Pam and Kenny. Paul and I rode up the ever dreaded Four Mile hill and to the Hull's house. When we got there, we met them and rode our bikes down Alpine toward the John Ball Zoo. We picked up the Kent Bike Trails and rode down to 28th Street to try out a gourmet hot dog place called Papa's Dogs and More. The owner of the store makes his own specialty hot dog buns and bakes the dogs right in the bun. There were several toppings to choose from. I had a hot dog with a garlic cheese bun and one with a pretzel bun. It was very tasty and unlike anything I had ever tried before. It was hard to bike 15 miles back on a full stomach though!  You can read Mlive's review of the restaurant here: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/10/papas_dogs_and_more_bakes_hot.html

Now for some pics!

More skating and cycling!

Wow, what a summer this has been! It's been refreshing, fun and exciting! It's the first summer in awhile that I've had the chance to chill and try new things. Paul and I bought a couple of bicycles at the beginning of summer and fell in love with cycling. As we learned more about the sport, we decided that we needed road bikes instead of cruisers! We checked over craigslist until we found two vintage road bikes that were just our style and in our price range. I picked up a 1984 Raleigh Capri and Paul got a 1984 Schwinn World Sport. The 80's was a great decade, so why not! We love them! I found mine for $30.00 and it only needed tires and minor brake repair! We are hoping to take many long journeys on them together!

This last Wednesday, Paul and I went to our skating class again. We decided to get our skates sharpened. The guy that sharpened them said they were really bad. So, I thought that when I got out there on the ice everything would be much easier. WRONG! My center of balance was SO off! I really did not skate well at all. I can't wait to get back out there and learn how to balance on those newly sharpened edges! I'm telling you, figure skating is a rough, tough, difficult sport. It's not for the faint of heart. People like to make fun of it and say that it's not a sport. I beg to differ. It's hard on your body. I have the bruises (and skate in the back of my leg cuts! lol) to prove it! But, it's worth the pain to learn something new and beautiful. I'm working on some spins now too! Paul took this picture after we didn't die:

Skate Detroit

      So, I packed my bags and headed for Detroit for a few days. Bloomfield Hills to be exact. 888 Denison Court to be even more exact. I decided to watch 'Skate Detroit' a yearly club competition that features all levels of skating. I think I was able to watch about 25 hours or so, so of course I was in heaven!
       If you are a skater (or skating fanatic) the Detroit Skating Center is the place to be. Lately, this has been the haven for many Olympians and Olympic hopefuls to come to for training. This center is managed by national champion ice dancer, Jerod Swallow. Their coaching team includes Olympians such as Yuka Sato, Jason Dunjen, Paquale Camerlango, Angelika Krylova and Massimo Scali. The skaters that you will find in the DSC's three rinks inlcude: Alissa Cziny, Jeremy Abbott, Alexe Gilles, Becky Bereswill, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Merill Davis and Charlie White, Madison Hubbel and Zach Donihue, just to name a few.
       Skate Detroit drew skaters from all over the country and the world. This competition is early in the season, but the perfect time to test new programs and get feedback from IJS judges concerning levels on footwork, spins and jumps. I mainly watched the junior and senior skating competitions.

My favorites:

Madison Hubbel and Zach Donihue: Beautiful newly formed ice dance team! They are ones to watch this year!

Gracie Gold: junior level skater: landed triple triples and outscored all of the senior women! Definitely one to watch out for!

Amanda Dobbs: Skated her sp only here. She ended up winning her group! It was her first time competing for awhile because of her injuries.

Nina Jiang: This is the first time I have heard of her. She won the competition and looked impressive with her triple flip and triple lutz jumps. She missed a couple of her jumps in the free, but was able to pull off the win!

Alexe Gilles: just moved to Detroit to work with Jason Dunjen. Her jumps need work, but she skates with a lot of heart!

Becky Bereswill: my favorite! The jumps are not all there for her yet, but the ones she landed were gorgeous! Also, her layback and spirals were fantastic!

Georgia Glastris: Greek champion: needs more technical content, but had great presence on the ice!

Keegan Messing: Alaskan powerhouse! He carries his skates in a camping bag! He was here working out his quads. Didn't land any in his programs, but he's getting close!

Armin Mabanoozadeh: His quads are getting closer, he landed some giant ones in the warm-up. He easily won this competition.

Elladj Baldé: 5th at 2011 Canadian Nationals: He skated to Michael Jackson and was a crowd favorite! Skated in what looked like a white undershirt! His hair tie fell out twice during the program and caused a big distraction. He coped with the set back well and pulled off two tripe axels!

Jonathan Cassar: elegance on ice: Wow! This guy is amazing! The most beautiful, deep edge spread eagles I've ever seen! (and I've seen a lot! : ) He got a standing ovation after the short program. His long program is new and choreographed by the famed David Wilson. It was another masterpiece that the crowd loved! I'm rooting for Jon this year at nationals! He was also super nice and signed autographs for the young skaters!

Other notes:

It was awesome to see 2 Olympic gold medalists, Carol Heiss Jenkins and her husband Hayes Allen Jenkins. Mrs. Jenkins was here coaching a senior level ladies skater. At 71 she is sweet, kind and strikingly beautiful. She was so kind to her skater (who bombed) and encouraged her, kissed her and was very grandmotherly. Very touching!

Ryan Bradley showed up and watched some of the competition! He signed autographs and seemed very affable and kind. Also saw Jeremy Abbott and a few famous coaches like Richard Callaghan. I thought I saw Todd Eldredge too, but it may just have been wishful thinking! : )

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje showed up to cheer all of their DSC skaters on! They are currently 5th in the world for ice dancing. My favorite team!

I loved watching Yuka Sato and Jason Dunjen coach their skaters. What a great team!

I hope I can come back next year! What a fun event! There is a great vibe at the Detroit Skating Club!

Skating lessons!

Paul and I are taking figure skating lessons at the Patterson Ice Center! It's been challenging, but a whole lot of fun! I've only skated a few times in the past (and some on rollarblades) and I was put into the more advanced (basic) class. It's hard for me! I'm learning two-foot spins, t-stops, bunny hops, waltz jumps, and balancing on one foot. I've made some improvements learning cross-overs as well.

Paul is doing the basic level and has been working on forward/backward skating, two-foot hops and the like. His goal is to learn a waltz jump eventually too! : )

I'm heading off to watch a club competition called Skate Detroit tomorrow. I love watching competitions and it's free too! I have a little more insight into how hard the skaters work and beat up their bodies to be excellent at figure skating. They just make it look so easy!!! I'll try to post some pics from Skate Detroit later on!

Fourth of July fun!

Well, Paul and I are continuing our bike journeys! Our friends Ross and Pam are pros at biking and doing long bike rides. They helped us navigate 30 miles. We started on Alpine and then headed to Grandville for a parade. We then headed off to El Taco Corporal on 28th street. Next, we rode back to Plainfield and finally headed back up to Alpine to watch fireworks! It was a great day of exercise and fun with friends! Paul has mentioned that riding bike has helped his back! He is even making a goal of doing the 24 hour challenge with Ross next year. Next week we start our figure skating classes too!!!