Seems like a long time since we’ve put out a postcard! To catch you up, we have to go way back to the end of last year… It was a snowy December around here and we were enjoying the prospects of a great snow season as we prepared for the holidays. Christmas was a very busy time for us - seemed like we just had too much to do. The boys were both in the Christmas Pageant at church - Jacob as a narrator and Joshua as the Innkeeper. They were both stars for sure!
The local running friends, loosely formed as the Ipswich River Road Runners or IRRR, kept up their tradition of a “Jingle Bell Run” on Christmas Eve morning. Not only did they wake all of the dogs on their route, but they had some fun too!
Aunt Ellie and Uncle Cleon joined us, along with Grams, for Christmas holidays - we had a grand time opening gifts and eating too much food! Boy it’s great to have family around for the holidays - it makes things so much more fun!
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On New Year’s Eve, we were hosted once again by our friends Mary and George. Though there was no fire this year, we had another rollicking good time!! They put on a great spread and a fun party!
In January, the boys hosted a Super Bowl party for the local kids. All of the local kids. Imagine 30 kids in your family room. It was chaos. It was madness. It was a hoot. Fortunately, we sent them all home before the end of the game - otherwise they might have been turning over our cars when the Pats won!!
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Come February, Shawn and John ran in the Mill City Relay with friends Dave, Lori, and Bob. Rescheduled from December due to a snow storm, the much heralded event hosted 102 teams running 28 miles in cold, windy weather. Though we finished 62nd as far as time goes, we’re pretty sure we were top ten on the fun scale! Spending a day in a mini-van with five stinky runners, having Josh and Jake came along as the ISSC (Intorcio Sons Support Crew) to hand out Gatorade as team runners passed, running with numb feet, a great beer blast and pasta feed at the end - priceless!!
About mid-February, we loaded the trailers, polished the chrome, greased the wheels and headed for the Cub Pack’s annual Pinewood Derby!! We had a pretty good night as Jacob won second place in the Tiger division and Joshua won second place in the Bear division! What a night for the Intorcio racing team!!
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For the February school vacation, we traveled to Mount Tremblant in Canada, eh? Our first few days there were a bit on the chilly side - highs around -25F (yes, NEGATIVE twenty-five Fahrenheit) - but we threw on an extra couple of layers, sucked it up, and got out there anyway for some great skiing! It warmed the rest of the week and we had fun on the slopes, in the village, and generally being away from the grind! Josh even found a pen-pal from England, Danny, who both he and Jacob enjoyed skiing with through the week!
The boys handled everything Tremblant had to offer. In the prime snow conditions, we skied everything from the gentlest beginner slopes to the precipitous “Doublez Noir” challengers. Shawn and John managed to keep up with he boys, for the most part, but it won’t be for long…
We got to go Dog Sledding one night - now there’s a fun time! Six dogs pulled each sled - Shawn and Joshua on one, Jacob and John on the other.The boys snuggled in warm blankets in the sleds while Shawn and John wore headlamps to light the trail, struggled to learn the French words for Mush (”En avant!”) and Whoa (”Whoa”), and clung desperately to the backs of their sleds as they glided through the floodplains of the Rouge River. What a hoot!
We’ll be back to Tremblant for sure!
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On February 22, we celebrated Scout Sunday at our church. Joshua and Jacob had both worked hard to earn their “God and Me” awards and were presented with them as part of the ceremony!!
We got to spend a night up in the Hub of the Universe, Otisfield, ME, with our pals Danny and Noreen. We all had fun playing pool in their basement and soaking in their hot tub! The boys love visiting up here - Uncle Danny let’s them have all kinds of fun!
Along with the other third graders at our church, Joshua was presented with a new bible as part of “Bible Sunday” on March 14. He was quite proud!
Onthat same day, Shawn ran her first ever Half Marathon - 13.1 miles offun!! She learned some lessons along the way about things like starting too fast, Bodyglide to prevent chafing, mis-measured miles, hills… But, she worked diligently to prepare and ran hard with a great result at 2:12!
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It
was John’s turn the following weekend. He ran the New Bedford half marathon as the opening event of the USATF New England Grand Prix series. John had a pretty steady race, had a lot of fun with his MVS teammates, and was reasonably happy with his 1:34 result.
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Attempting to escape the persistent cold weather, we made a trip to Florida for Easter. We got to spend a couple of nights with Charlie and Cyndi at their lovely new home in Crown Colony. John spent an afternoon on the beach (wait, those were sand traps!) with Charlie while Shawn and the boys had an awesome time playing in the pool and doing glass projects with Cyndi. Great stuff!
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It
was then North to Sarasota for a few nights with Grampa. We ate too much, played in his pool and mini-golf course, attended a fantastic Easter ceremony, took Grampa and his pal Victor out to dinner to celebrate his birthday, and generally relaxed and visited! Very fun stuff!
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We were back home to celebrate Joshua’s birthday on April 16. He had a few of his buddies in for a movie and a sleepover and they had a lot of fun - not much sleep, but a lot of fun.
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April
19 arrived with a dramatic temperature upswing and John survived the Boston Marathon Meltdown of 2004 - 77° at the start, 86° at the finish, and 26.2 hot, steamy miles in between! John ran a “Personal Worst” time of 4:04 but finished vertically (more than many could say in the heat) and will give it another go on a cooler day!
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There’s been a lot of baseball talk at our house this spring as both boys are playing North Reading Little League ball and watching the Red Sox at every opportunity. Joshua, or “J-Rod” as his teammates call him, is playing for the Tigers in the Farm League while Jacob is tearing it up in the Instructional League with the Marlins. Joshua enjoys playing third base and got his nickname snaring line drives at the hot corner. Jacob’s the power hitter on his team - swinging for the fences on every pitch and connecting more times than not. Both guys are having a lot of fun!
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Jacob and his first grade class were part of a big show at the High School in May - “Teach the World to Sing!”. Jacob was one of the narrators with a solo part and did a great job!!
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Mother’s day began with Shawn running a 3.5 mile Mom’s race in Melrose and finished with a celebration at at our place with Grams joining us for dinner. After an afternoon of watching baseball, both on the local little league field and on the TV from Fenway, we had a nice dinner and opened a few gifts. We love our mothers!
And finally, the moment Shawn and Grampa have been waiting for, the wisteria bloomed!
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Spring continues to spring around here and we’re looking forward to a summer of fun! We hope we’ll run into you during our travels - if not, please drop an EMail to Josh, Jake, Shawn, or John - we’d love to hear from you!
