The Intorcio Family
Spring 2001 Easter Postcard
We began the year with a wonderful Christmas. It was just us and Grams at our place but the boys, being at peak Santa enjoyment age, made the most of the mounds of presents. We enjoyed the church festivities, including the pageant where the boys were animals visiting the manger, and then spent hours on the living room floor unwrapping gifts and enjoying each of the new toys. Embracing the concept of giving being as important as receiving, the boys had done their best to select appropriate gifts for each family member from their own treasures or from the “kids room” at the church Christmas Fair - it was precious.
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After a hasty cleanup, we left early the morning after Christmas for Florida and visits with each of the boy’s Grandfathers. We began with Papa and Grammy Susan in Tampa. Another Christmas gift frenzy took place along with some great family visiting. Grammy Susan kept the candy bowl full and Shawn and John fought to avoid emptying it!
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Lifelong pilot Papa, eager to foster Joshua’s interest in airplanes, had arranged a flight in a Cessna four-seater out of the local airport for the boys. Jacob and Joshua took the first flight with “Eric the Pilot” and Mom. Joshua took the copilot seat and they circled the field and tried a touch-and-go before landing and allowing Joshua to take the controls and steer the plane on the ground back to the parking area. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, Papa and Dad joined Eric and Joshua for the next flight - a slightly extended trip out to the Clearwater beaches. This time Joshua got the stick in the air and got his first shot at actually flying a plane! He was having a blast until his Dad, in the back seat, began to turn green and asked the more experienced pilot Eric to resume control and reestablish level flight!
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We made the short drive down to Sarasota to spend a few nights with Grampa. He treated the boys to golf cart rides, bocci ball, Christmas light tours, and a close-up view from his driveway of the planes arriving at the Sarasota airport. Riding in the front seat of Grampa’s pickup truck (even if it was only around the park) was a high point as always! We got a chance to visit with cousins Gilda and Mike while we were there and also with Grampa’s buddy Victor! It’s always fun to see Grampa - he’s always busy yet relaxed!
Next, it was back to Papa’s for some more visiting. We made a trip to Busch Gardens on New Year’s eve day. Unseasonably cold weather kept the crowds down and we were able to walk onto most of the attractions (wearing, of course, our new gloves and outerwear purchased at the gate). Joshua even accompanied Mom onto Gwazi, Busch’s newest rollercoaster, billed as the “Southeast’s largest and fastest double wooden roller coaster!” It was an eye-popping experience! Unable to make the height cutoff, Jacob settled for riding the Sandstorm with Dad (yes, Dad turned green again) and the whole family had a blast on the bumper cars and log flume and raft rides. It was a great day!
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We returned home on New Year’s day to several inches of solidly frozen snow on our driveway and settled back in at home for a New England winter! We found many new ways to keep busy indoors this winter. Here, the boys enjoy working intently on a crafts project that was a Christmas gift from Auntie Cyndi & Uncle Charlie…
Making the best of winter, we took off to Smuggler’s Notch for a week at the end of January. What a time we had! Never having been on skis before, Joshua and Jacob were enrolled in the Discovery Dynamos camp. By the end of Day 1 they were riding the chair lift and skiing green slopes. By Day 3, when skiing with their parents and asked to make a “pizza wedge”, they pointed out that that was only necessary when you want to slow down, otherwise you could make “French fries”, and the “School house” obstacle course was a breeze! Day 4 was the “cookie race” where both boys performed admirably, cleared all of the “gates”, and were rewarded with a button, a diploma, and a cookie!
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On their next to last day, both boys conquered the summit of Smugglers’ Mighty Morse Mountain! Their first time from the top was quite an event with each showing their unique skiing styles. Joshua had a perfect wedge and cautiously worked his way down the mountain never gaining too much speed or loosing control. Jacob was approaching both parallel turns and light-speed as he cruised in his full tilt crash-and-burn style - this is the child for whom helmets were invented! Both were very successful!
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Along the way the boys enjoyed the Winter Wizard’s science show, Marko the Magician’s magic show, the pizza and dance party, the Staff Production number, movies, the torch-light parade and fireworks, storytellers, and all kinds of fun! Each day ended with hot chocolate by the bonfire with Mogul Mouse and Billy Bob Bear! Tubing was a nightly event for us all and we made several trips to the swimming pool and the “fun zone” indoor play and mini-golf arcade! Jacob loved bouncing down the inflatable slide while Joshua mastered the climbing wall!
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Of course, Mom and Dad managed a bit o’ fun as well. They took some lessons and skied until their legs gave out. Auntie Cyndi came up for a couple of nights to ski with us and we had fun taking the alpine trek to Stowe and spending a day of skiing there and another day of fine fresh powder back at Smugglers. The weather was great (except one rainy afternoon when we enjoyed a long lunch and an early stop at the bar) and the snow kept coming…
Smuggler’s Notch - New Snow in inches
(Note: Snowfall amounts are for the 24 hour period prior to 10:00 AM on the day indicated)
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0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
4 |
0 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 |
from Jan 22, 2001 to Feb 05, 2001
By Sunday, we’d all run ourselves ragged and we needed to get back to work and school to get some rest! What a postcard week!
Valentine’s day was big at our house this year. Both kids had celebrations at school and we exchanged tokens at home as well. Jacob sent this picture to his mom (the painting in the background is Jacob’s impressionistic rendering of a rainbow!)…
Grampa Ralph had some health issues in late February. He failed the stress test and was sentenced to cardiac catheterization by his doctor. When the diagnostic procedure showed that one of his previous bypasses was clogged, he was confined to the hospital until an angioplasty could be performed. Fortunately, he came through the procedure without complication and is back on his feet!
Joshua and Jacob gave roller-skating a try at their buddy Noah’s birthday party! It’s harder than it looks. We had a great time though!
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The end of February meant the arrival of Lent which we kicked off with a pancake supper at our church. The boys ran hard in the traditional Pancake Races and had a grand time playing games, busting the piñata, and eating flapjacks.
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The March Blizzard of ‘01 left 22″ of snow at our place. The kids had a blast climbing the snow banks and helping with the shoveling. We lost our electricity for a little over 12 hours during the height of the storm but we built a fire and lit lots of candles and snuggled the kids in their sleeping bags and made the best of it! Three days later we got another 12″ of snow and started to tire of the shoveling routine. So we built a snow fort!
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In mid-march, we abandoned our children (with Grams) and made a trip to Loon Mountain to celebrate our friend Toni’s 50th birthday. Our accommodations at the Alpine Village were quite posh and the company, like the skiing, was awesome! Shawn, unfortunately, came down with a stomach bug (or was it the chili?) and missed out on the skiing. The rest of us had a great day on the slopes with bright sun, fantastic snow, and good friends! We skied until we dropped, toasted Toni’s coming of age, ate too much lasagna, soaked in the hot tub, watched Kjartan shovel the deck, voted Lisa out of the condo, and generally had a grand old time!!
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Shawn and John snuck out of work for a day of skiing at the end of March - we dropped the kids at daycare, bolted North, skied for the day, and then picked up the kids! It was a blast! !! March 27 at Mount Sunapee was winter-like with cold temperatures and snow everywhere!!
And, of course, March brought the basketball pool!
That’s enough for this edition! Here’s wishing you a blessed Easter and a fantastic summer to follow!
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