After a year of dating, Chris and Nicole knew they were destined to spend the rest of their lives together. But how to start their lives together remained the question. Chris's sister, Anne Avellana, told him she had some family rings given to her after their mother, Alex Milmoe, passed away. In December of 2023, Chris took possession of the rings and started making a plan. Always wanting to make things memorable, Chris thought proposing in the DR would be the perfect spot. They planned to travel there in March. He had a ring made using the diamonds from Alex's rings. On February 14th, Chris picked up the ring and everything changed. It was gorgeous but there was no way he could hold on to this thing for a month before proposing. And in that moment, Operation Shock and Awe was born. Chris pivoted hard. The next time he saw Nicole was on Feb.17th at her parent's house in Wilton, CT for Monica Lamontagne's birthday. The whole family was gathering and Chris needed to speak with Ray Lamontagne to get his permission to propose. Chris tried calling several times but couldn't connect with Ray. He finally tried Monica and she answered with Ray. When Chris asked for their permission to marry Nicole, Monica hung up the phone. Chris thought this was a bad sign but they immediately called back and said they were so excited they dropped the phone by accident. Chris then pushed his luck and asked if he could propose at their house tomorrow. Ray and Monica lovingly said yes. Chris connected with Nicole's brother David to be his spy on the inside. David gathered the family in the living room. Chris straightened his tie, took a deep breath, and busted through the front door. Flowers in one hand, the ring in his pocket, he walked in the the living room. Nicole rose to meet him and he dropped to one knee. He said camp taught them everyone deserves to be safe, respected, and loved and if she answered yes to this question he would be the rest of their lives. She said yes.
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is a summer camp for kids with chronic and terminal diseases. Nicole's father, Ray Lamontagne, helped found the camp in 1988 with Paul Newman. The Milmoe family got involved with the camp in 1990 when Stephen Milmoe attended as a camper. Chris and Nicole worked as summer camp counselors when they were in college. Yes it was exactly like Wet Hot American Summer.
Long before Chris and Nicole were born, Chris's father Cornelius Milmoe attended Colgate University and was a Beta fraternity brother with Nicole's Uncle, Michael Brown. Michael's sister, Monica Brown, would visit her brother at the frat house and Corny Milmoe, along with the rest of the fraternity brothers, would put on their best clothes and try and charm Monica.
We are going creative black tie for the wedding dress code. What is creative black tie Nicole? Creative black tie means that men can wear tuxedos or something else that inspires them. Women have a variety of options. Here is a website to help explain things. I am sure you all will look great at the wedding. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/understanding-creative-black-tie
You are damn right it was! Green Unit in 2003 was led by Hilary Gerson as unit leader. Nicole was her co-counselor in Green 13. Chris and Elyne Kahn were counselors in Green 15 and Nick Hunt and Ben Lawrence were counselors in Green 14. The guiding principle that Hilary created was Ubuntu. She also had a very important binder she used to lead the unit.
It is the best dinner of the year! For over a decade Chris and his father Corny would travel up to Boston after volunteering at Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Nicole would organize all of the Boston camp friends to attend a great dinner at the Stockyard Steakhouse in Brighton. It was always a great chance to reconnect and reminisce. The French Onion soup is so good, people are known to fly in from Denver to order it. And Corny would pick up the bill.
First option would be to leave them at home with the neighbor you barely know. But if the first option doesn't work and you need to bring your little ones, let Chris Milmoe know. He may be able to find a babysitter to watch them while you are on the dance floor doing the worm.
This game is a Milmoe family tradition. Chris is by far the best player in the family. Anne is definitely the best scorekeeper. In the game as described by John McLeod at pagat.com, players draw for the first deal, the highest card winning. If three to five play, 10 cards are dealt to each player in the first deal; if six play, 8 cards, and, if seven play, 7 cards. Thereafter the number of cards dealt follows a descending and ascending (⇘⇗) sequence. So if 4 play, there are 19 deals (10–1–10); in the first and last deals 10 cards are dealt and, for example, in the 10th deal only one card is dealt per player.[4] Again, in this variant, the dealer is constrained to ensure that the total of the bids is not equal to the number of tricks in that deal. This is known as the hook. Cards are dealt and the next turned for trump.[4] There is a scorekeeper who keeps track of the bids and scores. McLeod describes two main systems: Simple scoring. The simplest system is that only players who achieve their bid exactly score any points. They score 1 point per trick plus a bonus of 10. Players who fail to match their bid score nothing. Games with this scoring are often called blackout or blob because the scorer writes a "1" in front of bids that were successful and scribbles out those that failed, so that they look like a black blob.[b] Common scoring. The most widespread scoring scheme is to award all players 1 point per trick. In addition, those who match their bid exactly score the bonus of 10 as well. This gives everyone "a slight incentive" to try and take as many tricks as they can.[4] Another variant includes scoring 10 plus the number of tricks taken for any bid above zero. For zero hands, the scoring is 5 plus the number of tricks available. This accounts for the relative ease of making zero hands early on and the increasing difficulty in later hands when more tricks are being bid on.
Fun Day was founded at Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in the summer of 2000 by counselors Erich Birkby and Aziz Isham in Green 15. Chris was lucky enough to volunteer in their cabin that summer and witness the first days of Fun Day. The battle cry "The day is not done until all have had fun!" could be heard loud and clear through the cabin circle. But groomsman Brian Mckenna brought it to a whole new level when he arrived at camp in 2002. Mckenna drove the Fun Day spirit to become an essential part of camp. He created the lore on the founding of Fun Day (everyone should know who Johnny Fundäe is). He settled the scheduling of Fun Day (whenever the Red Unit was at the boathouse for morning rotation). He made Fun Day seem to counter the regular camp programming which got the kids pumped up in the Dining Hall as they would take over camp songs to shout "Today is Fun Day". There is nothing better than wearing a Fun Day shirt to a bar or restaurant and people ask when is Fun Day. The answer is always "today is Fun Day".
At least twice a day. Whether it is Marcus Aurelius's writings or Julius Caesar's assassination, there is much to learn from the Roman Empire. And of course the immortal words of Maximus Decimus Meridius "What we do in life, echoes through eternity!"
There is truly no one better. Nicole has been holding all of Boston Children's Hospital together since joining 15 years ago. She was even presented the Award for Social Worker Excellence in 2023. If you got a problem, yo she'll solve it.
The Lamontagne clan were originally from Southern France near the Pyrennes Mountains before immigrating to Canada and eventually settling in New Hampshire where Ray was born. For those not fluent in French, Lamontagne stands for the mountains. Ray's father, David Lamontagne, opened the Red Arrow Diner in 1922 in Manchester, NH. It has been a staple of New Hampshire culture ever since hosting celebrities, politicians, and common folk alike. Ray recommends everyone try the pies.