Chestnut Village Ski Trip 2010

Again this year our neighbor Rich put together a wonderful ski trip for our neighborhood! So on a cold dark Saturday morning in February, about 50 of us piled into a luxury motorcoach and headed for Breton Woods. Unfortunately, neither Shawn, because of her knee, nor Josh, still recovering from a concussion, could ski this year so they had to stay behind.

Jake and John had a GREAT ski day! It was chilly but there was little wind and by late morning the sun was out and warm. For the morning, Jake skied with a couple of his buddies and John skied with his pal Brooke. Later in the day, Jake and Dad paired up for some family ski time. With excellent snow conditions and many long intermediate runs to choose from, they had a great time!

Kudos to Rich for once again pulling off a great trip!  Thanks for the fun!

Semi-Formal 2010

We’re very proud of the young man that Joshua is turning into.  At the end of January, he dressed up and took his date, Alicia, to the high school semi-formal dance. Shawn and John had a lot of fun helping them get ready, taking pictures with Alicia’s family, chauffeuring to the dance and, of course, the after-party, and generally re-living days gone by through their big night. Don’t they look great?

 

The Will of The Congregation

After being elected by a vote of the congregation, both Shawn and Joshua were sworn in as members of the Church Council at our church’s worship service on January 24th. With Shawn also serving as Chair of the Finance Committee, John serving as Trustee of Funds, and Jake getting ready for Confirmation next year, we’re pretty involved with our church these days!

Christmas 2009

We had a GREAT extended Christmas with plenty of family fun!  So we wanted to share some news of it with you!

While the nutcrackers looked on, John had the full two weeks off from work and Shawn had most of the same period, so our celebration really started with our annual Christmas party for benefit of the food pantry. We had a big crowd, a fun time, and warm hearts on Monday morning when we delivered the goods to the local food locker.

On Tuesday, Shawn’s uncle Cleon and his wife Ellie arrived from Rochester. Wednesday afternoon, Shawn picked up Marie and they all headed for Joshua’s basketball game while Jake and John went to the airport to pick up Grampa. With our gang all together, the real fun began!

Christmas eve featured lots of fish enjoyed leisurely around the family table. We managed to scoot off to the Christmas Eve service at our church before returning home for a nice visit with our pals Thor and Heather and some last-minute gift wrapping!

Christmas morning was grand chaos as we all ripped in. Santa seemed to have done right by all of us as each ended up with a pile of gifts to unwrap and, by the end of the morning, a satisfying stash of gifts!

We had a nice ham dinner to top of the Christmas debauchery!

Saturday featured shopping for bargains, a few errands, and, since we clearly had not had enough to eat yet, a night out to dinner to celebrate Cleon and Ralph’s birthdays! Though Ralph won’t turn 83 until March, Cleon hit the same age on December 29 so we were pretty on for that! And of course, it was more Italian food at a new local place!

On Sunday, we enjoyed the children’s pageant at church before heading to Bishop Fenwick to watch Josh play basketball. Josh had a really good day on the court and gave quite a show for Grampa! 

Monday, Grampa visited with his buddy Alan who drove out from Northampton to join us for lunch. He shared some great stories with us!

On Tuesday, braving forecast of cold and wind, John and the boys went skiing at Mt. Sunapee. When the arrived, the base temperature was 8° and would fall through the day. We skied about 90 minutes and then went in for cocoa. We skied another 90 minutes before the 50 mph wind guest drove us in for lunch. As we ate, we all looked at each other and realized none of wanted to go back out! So, we called a short, but fun, day and headed home.

On Wednesday, we got to see Josh play basketball again, this time at Wakefield High. This game didn’t go as well but Josh still played hard and we had fun watching.  Even Thor showed up to help cheer the Hornets on!

Thursday was New Year’s eve and began with a trip to Boston’s new Institute of Contemporary Art. Grampa, John, and Jake enjoyed the architecture and the funky exhibit of Damian Ortega’s “art” (though we all thought it was a little weird).

Later that evening, Shawn and John would enjoy being hosted by friends at TWO New Year’s Eve parties before returning home in time to watch the Times Square ball drop with the boys.

New Year’s day was a lazy day. We all watched the Winter Classic and cheered the Bruins to victory before sitting down to the New Year’s Roast Beast and too much red wine. It was a nice last holiday dinner and a long conversation ensued as the family lingered at the table.

On Saturday, Grampa travelled through the snow to nearby Danvers to see Jake play with his Eastern League basketball team. The team played hard for the first half but then, weighed down by excess Christmas cookies and Egg Nog, the fell asleep in the second half and lost the game. Ah well, it was still fun to watch!

Sunday brought New England the tail end of a two-day storm. Even the cardinals were grounded at our back yard feeder. Amazingly, we manged to haul the Grampa to the airport and get him on board his flight that departed only a few minutes late and delivered him home to Sarasota.

Goodbye Grampa!  It was great to have you, Marie, Cleon and Ellie with us for the holidays!

And to the rest of our friends and relatives who couldn’t be with us – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Have a great 2010!!

The Year of Giving Generously

We really do have great friends. They proved themselves again at this year’s Christmas Party. As we’ve done before, we had a big get-together at our place and asked our friends to bring food or cash donations for the local food pantry in lieu of food.

The party was a blast!  We rearranged things a bit this year to try to reduce the standard kitchen traffic jam. Moving the bar into the living room moved the traffic jam there and spread things out a bit more.

The boys helped out stowing coats and tending bar. Jake did the lion’s share of the drink serving and, despite the fears of child abuse charges, was an awesome bartender! Josh was suffering from a head cold and had to retire early – but not before being an excellent greeter for many of our guests!

We were honored to have friends from current and pervious jobs, from our neighborhood, from our church, and from all over the place join us! Some dressed up, some came casual, some left things behind (we got one coat, one black and white knit glove, and one pair of shoes – who went home barefoot in the snow?)

We tried a new punch this year – more of a sangria-like mulled wine thing. Several folks mentioned that they missed the wassail but the punch was still gone at the end of the night! Folks seemed to have fun – we had arm wrestling, limoncello toasts, and general silliness as the evening rolled on. Good times with good friends!

As always, the best part of the party came on Monday morning when we visited the North Reading Food Pantry. We were honored to be able to leave them with a carload of food and $2,395 (a record amount despite the economic downturn!) to help them with the 130+ families they are serving this year. Their smiles and gratefulness were the best gift that we could have received. Thank you, guests, for providing us with the opportunity to help our community – it’s a wonderful annual gift!

And a huge thanks to Alan and his assistant Deb who provided us with all these great photos and video from the party!  We always put the camera out but always forget.  Thanks Alan!

Thanksgiving ‘09

We had a wonderful and thankful holiday this year! We hope you did too!

Shawn’s nephew Pete, a senior at Colby-Sawyer, once again joined us rather than making the trip all the way home to North Carolina. Shawn’s mom, Marie, of course joined us as well so we had a small but great family get-together!

On thanksgiving morning, we were all up early to run the inaugural North Reading 5k Turkey Trot – well, Marie’s was up early but she could not be coerced into participating!  Pete took first place for the family, leading the race for a while and eventually finish 9th overall with a 19:27 – not bad for someone who doesn’t train! Josh followed with a 23:41 and Jake, hampered a bit by his asthma after we left his inhaler at home, followed him with a 26:05. John and Shawn brought up the rear but had fun running together and enjoying the new course that included a lap around the town High School’s brand new track!

Later in the morning, while Josh and John attended the high school rivalry football game, the first to be played on the town’s newly dedicated turf field, others relaxed watching the parade and getting the bird going.  Of course, we followed up with a meal of vast excess that everyone helped prepare and clean up after. Very nice day of family bonding!

On Friday, Shawn and Marie arose early to head for the mall, Pete awaited the arrival of his girlfriend to head to Rhode Island with her, and John and the boys put up the outdoor lights to cap off the holiday!  Happy Thanksgiving all!

Fall ‘09 Soccer

We played and watched a whole lot of soccer this fall!

The season kicked off on Labor Day weekend with Jake’s town team, the Black Hornets, playing in the hometown Fall Kickoff Classic tournament. This year’s Black Hornets team was comprised mostly of 7th graders playing in a U-14 league that spanned 7th and 8th grade boys. So, they were often matched against older, larger, more experienced teams but gained valuable experience for next year when they’ll play again in the same league. In this tournament, they took 2 of 3 games in the first round, good enough to put them into the Monday playoffs. But there they ran into one of those bigger, older teams that beat them soundly. Still, they played well and  had a lot of fun!

Josh moved on to the High School level this year and played for both the Freshman and the Junior Varsity teams for most of the season. As he has for the past several seasons, he played goalkeeper for the Freshman team, but put in time as a midfielder for the JV. He was a strong player in both positions showing both good skills and a sturdy toughness.

Josh missed the last week or so of the season after an incident in a Freshman game vs. neighboring Peabody. Josh came out of the goal towards a player coming from the corner. He made the save but didn’t get up for the rebound. Apparently, his head and the opposing player’s leg arrived at the ball at roughly the same time and a knee to the skull left him with a concussion. After a couple of days out of school with some dizziness, he recovered and was fine but was through with sports for the season.

Over Columbus Day weekend,  the Black Hornets again entered a tournament – this time in North Andover. Here in the first rounds, they won two games and tied one to advance to the semi finals. There they played a rather ugly game that came down to penalty kicks where they finally won it. They went to the finals as underdogs against an older, faster team that was so far undefeated in the tournament.  After a fancy opening ceremony, they played their best game of the weekend and held their heads high despite a 1-0 loss.

Jake’s Benfica club team had a mixed season with both highlights and lowlights.

After starting the year at 4-0-1, they finished the regular season at 5-3-1 and had to play in the end-of-year qualification tournament to hold their spot in the Mass. Premier League. Fortunately, they went 2-0-1 at the tournament and will stay in MAPLE!

17th Anniversary

Only a few weeks after their actual September 26th anniversary, Shawn and John left the boys with Grams and made a trip “Downeast” to celebrate seventeen years of wedded bliss!

We departed Friday morning for a leisurely drive up the Atlantic coast. Being a bit late in the season and a bit early on a workday, the summer crowds were absent even as the fall leaves lingered in splendor. After a quick stop at a New Hampshire Harley dealer to do a little scouting for next year (!), we enjoyed the scenic drive into Perkins Cove in Ogunquit. There we had a relaxing lunch at Jackie’s Too restaurant overlooking the sunny ocean.

Resuming our northward journey, we soon arrived at the English Meadows Inn in Kennebunk only to be greeted loudly and warmly by Tigger, the Inn’s watch-cat, and almost as warmly (though he didn’t want to be picked up) by the Innkeeper, Bruce.

Bruce made us feel right at home and we quickly settled into the fantastic Tack Room as our home for the weekend before setting out to enjoy the waning sun as we walked into Kennebunkport village…

Greeted by the Bartley’s lobstah, we strolled the Dock Square shops and checked out some restaurant menus before we found a stool at Federal Jack’s (founded in 1992, the same year as our marriage) for $2 Happy Hour drafts and some laughs with the locals.

Our next stop, on our Innkeeper’s fine recommendation, was the Bandaloop restaurant where we feasted on local seafood and enjoyed the funky atmosphere. Our loft perch allowed us to spy on the bar and first floor dining activities while we enjoyed a virtually private and extremely enjoyable meal.  (The skillet steamed muscles were to die for!)

After a quick stop at the sedate and elderly piano bar at the Kennbunkport Inn and one more at the bright and active Alisson’s, we finished the evening sipping champagne (compliments of our Innkeeper!) by the fire in our virtually private carriage house. Ahhhh.

Saturday was a dark and rainy day, not very conducive for strolling. So, after John enjoyed a fine breakfast of Italian French toast at the Inn and Shawn grabbed a little more sleep, we decided on a drive up the coast, past Walker’s Point, and on to Portland’s Old Port district.  We browsed a few pottery shops and found some dry cover and warm chowder at Gritty McDuff’s.

We made it back to Kennebunk just in time to score some prime seating back at Federal Jack’s to watch Boston College beat Notre Dame – almost. We shook off the loss and made our way down the street to The Hurricane where we enjoyed another tremendous meal! We started with house-smoked tuna pastrami that was dreamy and followed with local cod and monkish entrées that will keep us coming back!

Ongoing recovery from the night before’s excesses made this a relatively early evening ending by the cozy fire back in our room.

Sunday dawned bright and the Tack Room’s many windows welcomed the sun! We both enjoyed another great breakfast in the Inn’s tea room before bidding Tigger and Bruce farewell and heading out for a stroll on the beach and then, reluctantly,  the ride home.

We had a blast. Looking forward to our next anniversary celebration at Kennebunkport almost makes it seem worth staying married for another year!! 

Poppa Columbus

We were treated to a great visit with Orville Lee, Shawn’s dad, or, as the kids call him Poppa, over the Columbus Day weekend.

He flew in on Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon, the fun had already begun as Jake escorted him to IRP to watch Joshua playing with the North Reading High School JV soccer team.  Josh’s team had an early lead but finished the game in a disappointing tie. Still, Orv had fun cheering him on and Josh was proud to have his Poppa at the game!

On Friday, it was another game for Josh, this time with the Freshman team, and another chance for Orville to watch to watch and cheer!!

Saturday saw the beginning of Jake’s participation in the North Andover Columbus Day Soccer Tournament. Though Orv chose to pass on the 7:30 AM game (yawn), he was there on the sidelines for the afternoon game cheering Jake on.  

In between the games, we made a trip to an orchard up in Southern New Hampshire to do some apple picking! And then we even got Orv to get on the back of John’s motorcycle for a tool around the block!  Yeee haaaa!

On Sunday, Jake had another early game and then we all went up for a scenic tour of Cape Ann. We had some lobstahs for lunch at a nice restaurant in Gloucester and then hung out on Pebble Beach in Rockport for a bit enjoying the fall sunshine! The kids had a blast skipping rocks and chasing crabs in the tide pools!

Monday,  Jake’s team played in the semi-finals and finals of the soccer tournament (they lost 1-0 in the finals) and then the family took Poppa out for a (sadly mediocre) Bertucci’s lunch before a final relaxing evening at home. We stuck Orville back on the plane on Tuesday and sent him home!! 

We’re glad Poppa came to visit us! Lova ya’ Orv!

Marie’s 80th

Shawn’s mom’s 80th birthday was September 20th. We made a nice dinner for her and played it low key. Little did she know, we had a bit of a surprise planned for the following weekend.

Marie’s brother, Cleon, and his wife Ellie came out from New York to spend the weekend with us. We had plans to take Marie out for a fancy dinner on Saturday night but… she was a bit under the weather.  So, we left her at home to sleep it off and headed up to Salem for a night out. We walked around the historic downtown for a bit and then settled into an Irish pub for a nice meal. Though we missed Marie, we still had a great time!

The next day, Marie was fortunately feeling a little better and she was able to attend the little surprise party we had planned for her. 

We had a few friends over (including her biggest fan, Thor) for some cake and snacks and a bit of the bubbly. We lit candles and sang and generally brightened up the soggy afternoon.

Marie enjoyed having her family around her and even put up with us ribbing her about the striking resemblance between her and Sponge Bob.

We think Marie had a good time!  Happy Birthday Marie!  Cheers to many more!