Weekend Wrap-Up & Some new pages

The past few days have been a blur.
Here's some of the highlights...

Friday 2/4/11 On the Road
After dropping the kids off to school, I drove to the Stamford train station, planning to catch either the 10:14 or 10:17 into NYC. I knew I was cutting it close, due to a disabled vehicle just south of Waterbury. The train chugged away as I ran to the platform. Crap. I was going to miss meeting up with my parents at Grand Central.

The next train left 15 minutes later, and I was back on track. I needed a few minutes to get my bearings when I exited the station, so I walked for a few blocks then hopped into a cab to Mt Sinai.

The reason we were there - to meet with a liver surgeon for my dad.

After meeting with him, he sent Dad for a CT scan and labwork. It was amazing to be able to do all the things in one building, all in the same day. So unlike the way my father's care has been managed in Poughkeepsie. More than five hours later, we left with a date for surgery.

A liver resection on March 8th, which is Mike's birthday.

We stumbled out of the building exhausted, but upbeat. It took a while to flag a cab, since it was a Friday evening.
I got home after 10pm.
Looonnnnngggggggg Day.

Saturday 2/5/11
Brenna is better after her stomach virus, and anxious to play at her JV Basketball Tournament.
The whole family goes, to cheer her on to victory.
She was intense, and focused on playing hard.
Here she is strategizing with some teammates:


and going for a free throw:

After, I spend the rest of the day scrapping, while hanging out with the kids.
It's my parents 46th wedding anniversary.
Fun Day

Sunday 2/6/11 Superbowl Sunday:
Scout Sunday. Father talks about role of family in society, in the church, and questions why some view big families as a problem to be avoided. I am captivated and uplifted.
We head home and fold 4 loads of laundry together. Many hands make light work after all...
A menu of nachos, taquitos, chicken wings and hot oven grinders for our little party at home. The kids are excited.





Did you spot Mike, rocking his new goatee? It was so fun to watch the game and halftime show on our new TV. :0)

I promised some new pages, and here they are...

I created these during the crop at Coordinates Collections last weekend...


Some details...

And this old photo of Colin & Bren - were they really this little once?

Thanks for stopping by!

We came, we saw, we left tired and happy...

When summer draws to an end, and school is about to begin, we celebrate with a family fun day.The past several years, it has been a trip to Lake Compounce, a local amusement park.


This year, we decided to try something different.
The kids had never been to New York City, so we decided to go for a day trip.


We figured they were old enough for us to finally attempt it.


It was their first train trip. We left for the day from:

We went to mass here:

St. Patrick's is one of the most beautiful churches with the most amazing architecture. You could spend all day there taking in all the details.

Then walked down 5Th Avenue and saw things like this:

Then we went into FAO Schwarz and played a bit:

We snacked on these as we walked. Honey roasted mixed nuts. Yummmm.....Colin thought they should make an air freshener with that scent, LOL.

I used to love to look at all the flowers in these corner markets when I lived in NYC.

Then we walked through Central Park:



to get here:

The kids had a blast looking for things from the movie, Night at the Museum:

and Brenna even brought some gum-gum to give to a dumb-dumb:

Then we hopped in a couple of cabs (note the plural here - 7 people can't fit in one NYC taxi)
to go to dinner here:

I had THE best dinner of Bolognese meatballs over the creamiest of polentas:

And there were delicious ice cream sandwiches made with amazing homemade cookies or brownies for dessert.

After dinner, it was back to the train station for a long ride home.

The kids had a blast and can't wait to do it again.

Me too.