Happy Brithday Rey!

We advance in years somewhat in the manner of an invading army in a barren land; the age that we have reached, as the saying goes, we but hold with an outpost, and still keep open communications with the extreme rear and first beginnings of the march. ~Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque II," Virginibus Puerisque, 1881

Today is my lovely sister-in-law Rey's birthday. We were hoping to celebrate tonight with her but unfortunately she is a bit under the weather. Poor Rey, it sucks being sick on your birthday. So, I'd like to send a great big cyber shout out to an amazing woman! Happy birthday girl! I Love you!

Rey is also taking a double whammy this year being sick and being away from her Navy husband while he is on deployment. But the good news is she should be feeling better soon and as soon as she's healed on the outside the healing on the inside will begin too. She will be reunited with her husband Rich who will be coming home in April and we are so happy to have him home. Here are some great pics of her and her beau . . .



A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip. ~Author Unknown

Happy Birthday Girl! We can't wait to celebrate with you!

Funny Face . . . The next generation

"I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful." ~Author Unknown

First it started with my niece Hannah. AKA “The Giggler” & “Hans Bee-nons”. Ahh, the wild, wonderful, and funny faces of our adorable offspring!


Next up is my other niece Emily. AKA “Junie (June bug) (June bite)” & “Emily Belemily”. She has taken some great notes on silliness from her big sister.


Finally we have our very own little peanut Nadia. AKA “Deetz” & “Na B Na”. I must say she is a very strong contender to her older cousins.


Silly kids today, I tell ya, I don’t know where they get it from . . .

Meet Nao, Our Last Student

She was from Tochigi, Japan. Nao stayed with us for two very short weeks and we miss her so much already. In those few short days we had with her we managed to cram in a lot! We took her go kart racing. (I came in 1st place, of course! Ichiban!) We played mini golf with grandmom and soaked each other on the bumper boats. We took her country line dancing while my mother was still in town and she picked up every dance without missing a beat. She even taught the rest of her friends how to do the electric slide while in Disney Land the next day. For her last night we enjoyed live music, dancing, and good food at the Coyote Grill.
We will miss Nao and hope to see her again either here or Japan. Whichever one comes first. She came bearing many lovely gifts for us including a Japanese tea set with green tea, a beautifully embroidered "year of the boar" calendar tapestry, a calligraphy set, and of course, her fabulous shampoo ensemble. But the most amazing gift she left was the beautiful imprint that will forever be in our hearts.

Happy Birthday Jerome!!!

Well it was another big year for the big man and we celebrated in style. Today we celebrated our friend Jerome’s birthday and it was a blast. We had originally planned on meeting up at the Elephant Bar but when we arrived Jerome and his family were headed out due to a mix up with the reservations. They apparently weren’t able to handle the obscene amount of money our large party was about to drop on the night. So, if the Elephant Bar could not accommodate then La Playa certainly was.

We spent a great evening catching up with friends and family while dining on the finest Mexican cusine I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. And those of you who know me know am not particularly keen on Mexican food. Specifically cilantro. But this place is superb and everything is very fresh.

We had a wonderful night celebrating the birthday of my best friend Michellene's husband. The kids laughed, played, and ate fried ice cream, yummy! We were so happy to celebrate another year with such an amazing man! Happy Birthday Jerome! Here are a few quotes I thought he might appreciate.

Middle age is the time when a man is always thinking that in a week or two he will feel as good as ever. ~Don Marquis

Middle age is having a choice between two temptations and choosing the one that'll get you home earlier. ~Dan Bennett

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni

If you would like to see more photo’s of this night please visit the following link.

Spring is in the air . . . Let’s play ball!

Pete started of this season playing softball for his work team. They call them selves “Thorn In Your Side.” I wouldn’t quite say they live up to their name just yet. The first game was a 9 to 7 loss for TIYS. They all looked a bit rusty but they defiantly have potential. I’m sure with a bit of practice they’ll warm right up to the winners circle soon enough. Nadia even offered Daddy a little advice on the proper way to hold a glove.

Pete of course had the largest fan club on his side. Nadia and I went to cheer him on and were shortly joined by two friendly fowl. “Quack, Quack!” Shortly after the game began our cheer leading squad grew by two when Auntie Rey and her furry canine friend Cody showed up. "Wuf, Wuf!"

All in all we had a fun filled day at the fields. We even caught a beautiful sunset, pictured here behind Nadia. The best part was watching Nadia cheering on Daddy, "Good Job Daddy, You did it!"

St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Diego

It was a perfect day for a parade in sunny southern California. Good food, good company, and green beer. I think I'm gonna let the pictures speak for themselves this time. Happy St. Pat’s, Enjoy!

In Other News . . . Long Lost Cousin Found!

Its funny how sometimes the last time you see someone you never really think it’s the last time. You carry on the way you always would until one day it hits you. Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my cousin Heather! I wonder if I’d known those years ago that the day we last played would be the last time in a long time since we would see each other again. I wonder if I knew, if I would have hugged her longer at good bye or begged my mom for just 5 more minutes to play? It’s funny how life works sometimes. Neither one of us could recall just how long it had actually been since we had seen each other. It may have been at the family reunion in 94. Or it could have been as simple of an event as playing on my Aunts farm in Jersey. Either way it has been a long time and it was a delight to see her again while she visited San Diego with her friend Aaron.

She looks good and seems very happy. It was great to get reacquainted with her again. I felt the family connection right away. Sometimes family, any family is a huge breath of fresh air being so far away from home and all. We are all part of the same threads, the same gene pool, and we share many of the same fond memories. It was great catching up with her. She is as excited as I am to have another family reunion next year. We both agreed it’s time all of our kids got together and played like we did so many years ago. Here’s looking forward to another great family reunion in 2008!

We were able to give her a dose of family fun with Pete’s family while she was out. Pete’s mother, stepfather, sister, and niece were all able to join us at the Coyote Grill. We even had our host daughter from Japan join in the fun. We got to sit outside around a fire pit, drinking drinks, munchin snacks, and listening to the live band. Heather and I even got up and danced with all the kids to the rockin sound of the percussion. I hope she can make it back again soon. We had a great time with her.

If you’d like to see more pictures form Heather’s visit please click on this link.

Mamma Mia! That's-a Spicy Meatball!

My adorable niece, Emily (7 years old), celebrated heritage day at school recently. She was to bring a dish of her heritage to contribute to the class. Being of strong Italian decent she chose to bring in her favorite dish . . . Nanny’s Italian Meatballs. Nanny, Hannah (my other adorable niece who is 10), and Emily spent all afternoon creating the famed meaty treats.

The next day they took them into school to share. Of course everyone agreed it was the best meatball they had ever eaten. Kids were pushing aside the other homemade traditional foods on their plates and racing back for seconds of Nanny’s famous meatballs. Emily’s “boy friend” Kayden even told Emily if she could cook like this for him every day he would marry her. Too freakin cute, eh? Everyone wanted to know how they were made, kids and parents alike. Sounds like heritage day was a complete success for Em.

Nanny wrote down the recipe to share with everyone so her special treat will live on for generations to come.

Nonna DiDonato’s Family Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (22% fat)
1 tbsp oregano
3/4 cup asiago cheese
1 small egg
1 & 1/2 garlic clove crushed
1 slice american white bread soaked in water (Wonder bread works well) salt pepper

How to make:

Grate the cheese
Mix all the ingredients above in a bowl (use your hands) Knead into a big ball Use a teaspoon or a tablespoon depending on if you want small or large meatballs Fry meatballs in olive oil and 3 cloves garlic until they are brown Add to tomato sauce and simmer for 2 1/2 hours

Enjoy!

Make a Wish . . .

“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

Fate is kind, she brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru
When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”
Writer: Leigh Harline; Lyrics: Ned Washington

Thank God for granting our wishes. My birthday wish came true when my mother come to visit us for her very important birthday this year. I am so happy we were all able to get reconnected. We had a great time celebrating her special birthday week. I wonder what she wished for her birthday?

We didn’t do much sightseeing this time around. It was much more laid back this visit. We basically just focused on the important things like spending time enjoying each others company. We did all of the usual Nadia activities like book babies, wee start, and park outings. We got to catch up on the soaps and sunbathe in the backyard. We even spent an afternoon at Guajome Park feedin the ducks.


We did spend some time doing some tourist activities. We got to play Mini Golf at Boomers. We even got to soak each other on the bumper boats. Me, Pete, and our exchange student, Nao, got to race go carts. And no trip could be complete without a country line dance. This time we headed out to Temecula to the Stampede for some honky tonk fun. This picture was taken after cutting the rug on the dance floor.

The best part of her visit was seeing her and Nadia reconnect. She knows grandma by picture and by voice but it’s a different story when she can actually hug and love on her. It was great to see her face light up as grandma walked into the room. She even started posing for the camera for the first time on this special occasion especially for grandma. Say “Cheese”!


If you would like to see my mom's pictures taken with her new digital camera please click on this link. If you are also interested in seeing Jenn's pictures please click on this link.