Everyday Happenings

Happy Fall to all of you.  After a week of high temps....into the 90's for goodness sake.....I think it's finally cooling down today.  I'm looking forward to that.

Now, onto the happenings...

End of Summer + Beginning of the School Year =  Phone photo dump

 * August brought band camp.....Tommy actually likes it; it's my picture-taking he doesn't care for.

*We all went horseback riding.  The kids had never been and they loved it!  It's so hard to find an activity that all 5 enjoy, but this one hit the mark.

Afterward, we drove to Scranton, PA to check out the university and we stopped for dinner.  They were good sports for "posing for the blog."

*We had the first day of school

Billy, Senior!!! and Mary, 11th grade

Tommy, 8th grade and Ann, 7th grade

Matthew, 4th grade

*I already posted about Mary's piccolo solo here

Billy also had a little fun that night in the Riot Squad

*Speaking of Billy and Mary, they are in the middle of their Cross Country season.

Sugar fix after a race

*The middle school band had a car wash fundraiser.

Ann (r) with friend Amanda

* 4th grade at our public school means learning an instrument!!!  Matthew picked Alto Sax and it sure looks good on him.

*Matthew's soccer team went against our neighbor's CYO team.  These besties had fun playing in a real game together.  It was a tough loss for our team, but they remained friends :)

Matthew

*Ann wanted to see what she'd look like in my car's rear camera.

*And, someone got her driver's permit and is very excited.

 
That's all she clicked.  Into the crazy fall we go. 

Happy Weekend!

20th Annual S.S. Weekend

Flashback to Summer, 1998.  My lifelong girlfriends and I were planning our first annual overnight get-together.  Most of us were married or on our way to be, but we thought it would be fun for a girls-only get away.

Here we are, 20 years later, still keeping up with that tradition started long ago.  We usually stay at one of our homes, but this time, we went "on location" to a place we borrowed from one of the girls' family members.  It was a sweet home in the Pocono Mountains. 

We did our usual planning of the menu and drinks and stuffed ourselves silly all weekend. 

We visited nearby Jim Thorpe, PA, a cute little town with many adorable shops to see.

We even stopped for a wine-tasting break.  (Ok, not really a "break" since it was our first stop)

One S.S had a family gathering and missed this fun part

There was a small beach and lake a block away from the house that was beautiful.  Mary Alice and Peggy went kayaking. 

As always, it's hard to say goodbye at the end.  So many good memories each year. 

 What a gift to have these girls in my life all these years.

And you can't put a price tag on that.

The Piccolo Solo

As you know, our Mary is part of her high school band.  She plays the piccolo.  It has been a dream of hers to perform the piccolo solo during their rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever.  The piccolo solo is usually played by someone in the senior class.  The piccolo soloist for this year was going to be unavailable for the first home game.  As luck would have it, she asked Mary to fill in for her.

She had been practicing for a month.  Her grandparents drove a long way to cheer her on. The kids were given strict instructions not to disturb me during the performance.   Ann was given the important duty of videotaping.  We were all set.

And here she is:

Isn't that the BEST??  Oh my goodness.

Proud to the MAX!