Easter

We had a special Easter this year at my mom’s.  Almost everyone was there, with the addition of my cousin, Kevin, and his family.  Mom put out her usual spread of food which you fill up on before dinner….

Olivia arrived in her Easter dress, ready to celebrate.

Her aunts and cousins were all over her since this was their first meeting.  She loved every minute of it. 

While the women fussed over the baby, the guys fussed over the “IPAD” that Chris brought.  For anyone who doesn’t know what an Ipad is, it’s the newest gadget that Apple just unveiled.

Mom, Billy, Olivia, and I took this opportunity to have our photo together showing 4 generations.

Wait, who’s this big guy?

After dinner, we started the kids off with a traditional easter egg hunt.  I think there were approximately 110 hidden eggs, all over the place.  Front and back yard, as well as in and around the cars.

 

We also did an egg race

And a 3 legged race.  I think Griffin decided if he was going to win the race, Shane needed a little help.  I’m not sure if that’s a legal move.

My athletic son, Billy, coordinated some football. What would a gathering be without football.

While some just chilled out.

There’s nothing more serene than a sleeping baby.

I popped in on Jenn as she was getting Olivia ready for bed and found out why she loves her bath so much.  She gets to see herself in the mirror.

I wonder if she knows it's her or if she thinks it’s another baby.

 

The next morning I heard Billy get ready to leave for work, so I ran outside to get a picture.

It’s so nice to spend holidays with family.

Spring time in Annapolis, MD

I don't know if you have ever been on Harry Truman Drive on any holiday, but if you have, you have seen the Dept. of Agriculture "cows."  I missed St. Patty's Day, but here they are in their Easter Bonnets.

Go Billy!

My son the hockey player.

Yes that is correct, he is now an adult but he has never grown up. LOL

There he is, check that stance.

For this game he was #88 and did an awesome job.

His team won the tournament 5 to 3 without even going into overtime. Apparently every time they’ve played this team, they went into overtime.

Oh did I mention that the team was put together by someone who owns a local beer brewery? Could it be that they had to many samplers prior to the game?

Way to go team!

And here is my son with the trophy. I understand they tried to drink beer from the cup, but it leaked all over. Trophies are not made to be “used.”

Philly Has Great Food

Happy Birthday Allen and Gabriela

First day of spring was spent with my cousins in Philadelphia. Kevin and Janet’s son, Allen, turned 13 and daughter, Gabriela, turned 10. It just happened to be the prettiest weekend of 2010 so far. Just as we had an unusual amount of snow this past winter, our first day of spring, was unusually warm. El Nino is wreaking havoc this year. We have already set a lot of firsts in the mid eastern region this year and it’s only the third month!

We spent Friday evening watching Gabby play indoor soccer and the best part is THEY WON! On to the next playoff game. Then it was home to eat pizza and some leisure time to catch up. The pizza was within walking distance and was the BEST!

The next morning Kevin cooked us a great breakfast, Belgium waffles and scrapple.

Then it was out the door to run to the local specialty stores to pick up the food for the birthday party. First stop was to get the rye bread and Kevin just knew that Bill and I wanted to pick up some steak meat to take back home so we can make our own Philly Cheese steaks. So the first stop was Robert Lachowicz Quality Foods where we waited in line for our fresh cut meat. Lachowicz makes their own Kielbasa and people from all around (as far as Scranton, PA) put their orders in for their Easter dinner, that is if you are a Polish Catholic. If you don’t order it, you don’t get it……..

Next stop was Cacia’s Bakery. Can’t have meatball subs without their rolls. Their pizza looked so inviting, but we’re not much on pizza for breakfast. BUT we did pick, up Stromboli for later.

Then we headed to South Philly for authentic Philly hoagies. The two original Philly Cheesesteak restaurants are in South Philly, located practically across the street from one another. Pat’s and Gino’s.

There’s a great muriel located between the two restaurants. It depicts some of the famous stars who are from Philly.

Making our way back north to another bakery that specializes in cakes to get the best pound cake ever, we passed the trolley. These trollies were just put back into service about 4 or 5 years ago and are refurbished from the 1940s. What memories that brought back. When I was a kid, my brother and I used to jump on the trolley from my grandmother’s house and ride it all the way to the end and back. Little did we realize we were sent to ride the trolley to get us out of their hair.

We arrived back home just in time to start getting the food ready before everyone started arriving. Mom, dad, Linda, and Sarah were the first to arrive, followed by Dolores, Tom, and Savannah, Aunt Shirley, my cousin, Vicki, Bob, Lauren, and Bryan.

It’s hard to believe Kevin and Vicki are brother and sister. As you can see, Kevin got all the tall genes.

After cake and presents, it was outside for a nerf dart shootout. I don’t know who won, but I know that when I came outside, I was hit in the shoulder by Savannah!

What a great weekend. Nothing better than Philly cheesesteak, pizza, kielbasa, Stromboli, poundcake and fresh rolls. Hmmmm my mouth is watering again.

A Day In The Sun

Finally after 4 horrendous snow storms and rainy weather, the sun appeared on St. Patty’s Day. Two high school friends and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and my daughter’s beach to get together and enjoy each other’s company. Sarah and I grew up together and have kept in touch after h.s. graduation. We have been communicating with Colleen on facebook (as well as Mike a/k/a Pop who could not make it) and finally got the time to get together after 39 years!

After we got our Starbucks fix, CHEERS!

we found ourselves looking for beach treasures, seaglass, etc.

Before just chilling out in our beach chairs and “catching up” on what we’ve been doing with our lives. Colleen has been retired for 8 years (lucky her), I’ve only been retired 4 years and Sarah has worked on and off over the years. Sarah will never be able to retire as long as she has her softshell crab business going, which keeps her busy during the summer months.

Then it was inside to go over our yearbook and reunion group pictures.

What a great day to do absolutely NOTHING.