Campfires, Birthday's, and Comedic Polkas

We'll be on the road for a couple days and I can't guarantee any Internet access while I'm gone.
But we're going to see Weird Al Yankovic in Scranton on Wednesday, Thursday is my birthday, Friday is the Eventide release (geek stuff) Saturday is Jess's birthday and we're going camping until we come home Sunday night. This will be a pretty crazy couple of days!
I'll fill you all in when we get back.

In the mean time, here's a pretty funny video you can enjoy:

There and Back Again

This weekend I was left to watch Rosemary and Carmellina by myself while Jess went out to a surprise birthday party and then to a wedding shower.

After exhausting every possible excuse and attempt to escape this duty, in the end I was left alone with them. So I did the only thing a father could do...I got help from my sister.

The girls and I made a trip down to Virginia to see Jeanna for the day. After nearly 4 hours, one bathroom break, and one very small potty accident, we got to her apartment in Arlington for some PBJ sandwiches. After that we headed for the National Zoo in DC. We walked, and walked, and walked, oh and then we walked. Somewhere in between we took the Metro too, then we walked some. Eventually we got to the zoo and it was a nice time.

We saw some panda bears

Rosemary and Jeanna had a nice time hanging out


Carmellina, on the other hand, had a different opinion of the zoo.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before everyone was very tired and we walked, and walked, and walked back to the metro and walked back to her apartment, before we walked to get some Wendy's and had to head for home.

If you get the chance, you should ask me about an episode that I can only call "Carmellina and the Terrible Escalators." I wish I had taken some photos but I was too busy running away from an out-of-control stroller while trying to scoop up a petrified 4-year-old before the grates at the bottom got her.

All in all it was a nice time, of course. The girls want to go back with just my parents and spend the night. That's fine with me. I don't think my legs could take another trip there for a little while.

P.S. It's a good thing we didn't bring Alice. Apparently schnoodles are not allowed at the zoo.

Spring Break Part 1

Well, I'm on spring break this week; another perk of being a teacher. We spent the first part of it on Long Island with my family. It was, as usual, a relaxing time for us and exhausting for my parents. Carmellina had a fever, Rosemary had diarrhea, Alice threw up on the den carpet and Joey spit up on the new couch in the living room.
But other than a few bodily-fluid-based mishaps, the visit was nice. Jeanna and my grandmother both came out to stay as well and, of course, we had visits from Aunt Cira and Uncle Gary and Uncle Dom too. It was also Palm Sunday so we spent time making palm crosses and baskets. My dad even helped Rosemary make her own basket.
While we were there Joey learned how to sit up without falling over. He’s also been eating a lot of solids now so my Dad tried to feed him a meatball. That didn’t go over too well. He did, however, get the chance to show the girls one of his favorite Laurel and Hardy movies, The Music Box, and Carmellina really thought it was funny. Rosemary was just stressed out by it.
I got sick on Tuesday, the day we were supposed to leave, so we stayed one day longer, which I’m sure everyone was really upset about (not).
We’re back in Philly now and we’ll just hang around the house for another few days until work again next Tuesday!

Nicholson

While Joe was away at a confrence in NY, the children and I took a road trip to Northeastern Pennsylvania to visit with my parents and brother.


We took our time getting there on Wednesday, witnessing two car fires along the way, hitting snow in the Poconos, and not stopping til Nicholson! It was a little after four p.m. when we finally got in and my brother, Nick, took the girls outside to play in the snow as soon as we finished saying hello. They got to go sledding-even our timid Carmellina went down the hill! That night we ate a dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese around the coffee table in the living room, with everyone, including grandparents, squished together on the couch. It was very cozy.


Thursday was a day at home away from home. The girls and Joey and I just did our usual routine, but at my parents' house instead. Rosemary observed that it was strange to have our regular day somewhere else. Somehow it was relaxing for me. I even enjoyed cooking dinner that night with Nick...we took turns holding the baby so we could cook. He even found time to take Carmellina outside to play again.


Dad took off on Friday and shared his love for skiing with us by taking us for a trip up to Elk Mountain. We went just to take a look and to get the girls thinking about it a bit. The most exciting thing to them was not watching people ski, but watching them sit down on the chair lift! For me it's been over ten years since I went skiing, but I felt the same thrill over the sport that I felt when I was little, standing at the base of the mountain with my dad. We hope to go next year- all of us, except the baby, I guess. :)


That night we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner and play. I think we grown ups were a bit put off by the change in their choice of game systems. It seemed that many of the games were bent on gambling, like primers for children to become gamblers. Thankfully Rosie and Carmellina were only interested in climbing through the aerial tunnels, but I think we won't be going back for a long while...if ever. :(


On the way back to my parents' house a snow storm began, which ended Saturday morning leaving four more inches of snow on top of what was already there! Once again my bro took his nieces outside and played away the morning, with Rosie stopping to help Dad shovel.


It was hard to leave, but we finally pulled out around 2:30. The drive would not have gone well if it hadn't been for Rosemary! Baby Joey was awake for the first fourty-five minutes and started to get very unhappy. I was able to pull over and move Rosemary's seat up next to the baby so she could take care of him as we drove. She did great! And when Carmellina woke up, she helped too, peek-a-booing around the seat. What great sisters! What a relief to have little helpers like them!

Can you believe the trip wasn't over? We stopped at my cousin's house on the way home to meet her new baby Brianna Lynn. What a sweet baby! The girls played with their other cousin, Hailey, and baby Joey ate a whole container of bananas...uh-oh. Not long after we were on our way home, eager to be in our own beds.

The girls went to sleep cheerfully, snuggled in and sleepy. I waited up for Joe and felt, at his homecoming, home when I heard his voice in our house. For all the fun of traveling, it was good to be together at the end of the journey.

PA or Bust

Today we made our way from NY to PA for the last leg of our Christmas Vacation.

We said goodbye to Grandma and Papa around 12:30 and headed for Nicholson, PA.

We drove a very tightly packed car from 12:30 to 4:00. There was very little traffic except around the GerorgeWashington Bridge (surprise) and we decided to take a short break when we reached the Delaware Water Gap. After a quick tour of the facilities and some nursing time for joey we hit the road again and made it to Grammy and Popop's house by 6:30. No major issues but it take a little longer than the estimated 3 hours and 51 minutes.

Since we've been here we've been experiencing some technical difficulties with the wireless access on the modem. This might be the last entry for a little while. Please check back soon for more updates!

NY or Bust!

So we made our way this morning to old New York and to grandma and Papa's house. It was a nice traffic-free trip, and I think we actually made it in under 3 hours!

The kids took no time at all to make a complete mess of the house with their toys, but I guess that's to be expected. They had an added treat when Papa, who is now a bus driver, came home with a real school bus! Rosemary, Carmellina and an unnamed photographer (ahem) got to take a trip around the block on their very first school bus ride!

They really had fun. Later that night Aunt Cira came by to see Joey (check out the video on the right) and plan the menu for our Christmas Eve dinner.