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.

Family Ties Part III

Well, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!

I guess the joke is on me! After spending countless hours on my mothers present and writing our long family history in my blog she is the one who surprised me. I had to make sure Family Ties Part II was out for her birthday so she could read it in NJ on her special day. Instead I barely finished writing it before she walked through my front door here in CA yelling SURPRISE! I was elated and overjoyed to see her and so was Nadia. Pete of course was the mastermind behind this whole thing. He and my mother have been planning this for months now behind my back and they pulled it off flawlessly. Thanks so much to Barb and Phil for playing a huge role in this as well. They not only kept the secret from me but they picked her up at the airport and brought her to our house for the surprise of a lifetime. WOW! I am so grateful to everyone involved. This is truly an amazing gift and it’s not even my birthday.

Speaking of HER birthday, now that she has seen her special gift I’d like to share it with everyone else. Try to think back at what you have already seen and read in Part I & II. Remember my Great Grandmother’s farmhouse? Remember the 7 generations of fabulous women in my family? Well here we are all standing in front of the old farmhouse.


I need to say a very special thanks to the virtual genius who has made this digital masterpiece come to life. This amazing being would be none other than my best friend, life partner, and love of my life, Pete DiDonato, the patriarch of this proud family. Without him this picture would not have become a reality. I had all these wonderful pictures and a beautiful vision in my head but no skills or tools to put it into a 3D image. All I had to do was provide him with the pics and the vision and he did it. He made it all work. It came out 1,000 times better than I could have dreamed. Thank you so much for being the mastermind behind this magnum opus. I also have to thank him for giving me such a wonderful surprise. After celebrating my very anti-climactic 30th birthday, Pete knew I was way down in the dumps. So he came up with the best remedy possible to cure my birthday blues. What an amazing man I have! I am so blessed. I Love you, Pete!

Family Ties Part II

Holy Moly Mother Of . . .

This segment needed to be continued because although my mother is bad at getting packages sent out I am even worse. When the framed hardcopy of this is in my mother’s hot little hands in cold and brisk New Jersey, you (a select few readers) will be privileged enough to enjoy it electronically. We are hoping to send it out on Monday and should be in New Jersey no later than Saturday so keep your eyes peeled for part III of our family ties. For now let’s take a journey back in time, way back, were talking 7 generations back.

This is my GGG grandmother Amelia (Emil) Munzel.
This would make her Nadia’s GGGG Grandmother . . . WOW! This picture was taken in Germany as far as I know. She is as far as I have been able to trace back. Amelia is in the middle. Her four children from L to R are: daughter Elizabeth, son Oskar – my GG Grandfather; her other son Max, and daughter Gertrude. Amazing this would have made her the mother of all mother-in-laws.

Next is my GG grandmother Emma Martha (Seydel) Munzel. She is pictured with her husband Oskar my GG grandpa and their then 2 children my great Aunt Gertrude and great uncle Walter. They would later have two more boys named William and Erik and my adorable Great grandmother Margaret. I think I bear a slight resemblance to her in the nose and mouth area. It’s so cool to see where my looks came from.

This is my lovely Grat Grandmother Margarete Else (Munzel) Ferraro.
She left Hamburg, Germany on July 26, 1923 (one day before her 17th birthday) aboard the ship SS Mount Clinton. She had lived in a small town named Apolda (town), Westphalen (county or province), at #42 Diberg Straussen (Diberg Street). She was close to her paternal Grandmother whose name was Amelia (listed above). Together with my Great grandpa Luigi they had 4 beautiful daughters named Elizabeth, Hildegard (Aunt Hilda), Doris (Aunt Dotty), and Martha (Aunt Mutty). The girls are pictured below in Part I of this segment on their parent’s farm. She is the oldest one I have had the pleasure of meeting. She passed away when I was around 6 years old but I still remember visiting her and my Great Grand father several times in Florida and having so much fun with them.

The next mother of all mothers was my beautiful Nana.
Her name was Elizabeth Margaret(Ferraro)Bunting. She and my grandfather Edmund had two lovely children of their own. A son named Keith and a daughter named Margaret (my mother.) She was funny, energetic, and full of life. I think she is the one I most resemble or hope to resemble in traits. She loved to cook, entertain, and tell funny stories and jokes. She loved to read poetry especially with her sisters. She also loved, coming from a farming background, to garden. She had a lovely garden in Hightstown NJ. She would also take me to her sister’s farm to help pick zinnias and marigolds. She also loved to sew and would make all of my Barbie dolls’ cloths as well as a few cute little numbers for me.

This brings us to my wonderful mother Margaret (Peggy) Louise (Bunting) Perry. Her and my father Donald went on to have 2 children Named Jennifer (me) and Robert (my cute little brother). As I mentioned below in Part I she is the blazing torch of our family. She is the glue that holds us all together. She has always made family extremely important. And if that meant she had to trek us up and down the East Coast to stay connected than that’s what she would do. I have always felt a close connection with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, second cousins, and great Aunts and Uncles. It was all because of this amazing woman who must have a heart bigger than Texas. Thank you so much for keeping the family ties important and close to my heart.

Next up is none other than yours truly Jennifer Elizabeth (Perry) DiDonato.
Together with my husband Peter we currently have 1 beautiful little girl named Nadia. What can I say about myself? Well I can say that I have some pretty big shoes to fill and a bright flame to carry. I hope I can accept it all graciously. I am so honored to have such a rich family history and strong family ties. Thanks to all the 5 preceding generations for making me who I ultimately am today. I am awe inspired by these beautiful women.

This brings us to our 7th generation; the lovely little Miss Nadia Marie DiDonato.
She is an amazingly smart little girl with so much spunk and character. At 2 years old she is already the new jokester in the family. She is our entertainment. She is learning to cook from her mommy. Her daddy is teaching her to play every sort of instrument imaginable. Her list of musical talents to date include but are not limited to the piano, accordion, guitar, ukulele, harmonica, drums, trombone, flute (which she adorably calls the “who”), and the kazoo. She also loves to sing and dance. Her favorite song to sing is “I hope you dance” taught to her by her grandmother (Peggy) and mother (me). Her favorite dance move is the clock taught by her father.

I also need to thank one last inspiring being who is the mother of all fathers.
This would be my wonderful Uncle Johnny. It was him who has spent painstaking hours sorting through pictures and letters of our family history. He has provided me with almost all of these glorious pictures and colorful history. Thank you so much for enrichening my life with family!

To be continued . . .

Family Ties Part I

Happy Birthday To You . . .

A very happy birthday goes out to my one and only sweet mother today March 3rd! I am so sad that we could not be together to celebrate such a wonderful day but have high hopes that we will see each other soon. We are wishing for an Easter visit this year in California. We know for sure though that we will see her in the summer for Angela’s wedding.

Mom you are the best! You raised me well and I am so fortunate to have you as a mother. I try to carry all you’ve taught me and pass it on to Nadia. It’s tough to carry a torch so great though. Your flame is so bright! You must have had the patience of an iron woman. You had the will and courage of an ox. You had the creativity of one of the masters teaching us (Robbie and I) and encouraging us in the fields of art, music, and poetry. You always created amazing adventures for us too weather it was traveling around the country or in our own back yard. You always kept us happy and healthy. You taught us the value of friendship and the importance of family. All these attributes were instilled in me at a young age and you continue to mystify me even today!


Mom, I love you so much and am so grateful for all you have done and are still doing for me. I look forward to many more wonderful years of great wisdom, infinite compassion, and amazing adventures.

This picture below was taken on Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's farm in New Jersey. The four sisters in the picture are (from left to right) Martha, Dorris, Elizabeth, and Hildiguard.


Our family has always been a family of farmers for almost as long as I can trace back. Your Grandmother (Margaret) and Grandfather (Luigi) had an amazing farm when they came to this country. Your Mother (Elizabeth) and her sisters grew up on the farm, feeding chickens and cows and picking fruits, vegetables, and berries. Two of those sisters went on to own their own farms which you and all of your cousins were raised on doing much the same thing as your parents. You even had horses to ride. You raised us children in much the same way with our cousins all around to play with. We too would help feed the chickens, pick fresh veggies and fruits, and we even got to go for tractor and hey rides around the farm with Uncle John. Farms have always been near and dear to all of our family’s hearts.

To be continued . . .