a visit from the aunts

my aunts (dad's sisters) came to visit for a couple weeks from illinois.

we hadn't seen them for almost 5 years - since the summer my dad died.

i was pregnant with john that summer, so they had never met him.

the weather was just perfect the entire time they were here.
we were outside for like 8 hours the first day they were here and all day most days.
they were amazing with the kids and are in great shape themselves.
this is my 78 year old aunt, nancy, pitching to john...

she plays tennis three times a week...at age 78...amazing!
it is so wonderful to see them doing so well, they haven't aged in like 20 years!!

the kids were so excited they were coming, ella had talked about it for months.
she would get teary eyed out of anticipation.
she left them little notes on their pillows.

since she was only three the last time she saw them,
she couldn't remember who was who (before they came).
so, i kept telling her what each of their hair color was to describe them.
i came up with some nicknames:  nancy brown and joan white...

here they are hang'n out with ella after school the first day they were here.
they had arrived late the night before and hadn't seen the kids before they left for school that morning.

the next night was the all star game for andrew's basketball league.
it was so fun to have them there cheering him on.

it was such a close game.
andrew's team won by one point.
they are major sports fans,
we were all cheering our hearts out during the close end of the game.

the next day (friday) i took the kids out of school early.
we went to the first opening spring training game.

it had been cool and very windy that morning so i was worried it would be too gusty.

but, the weather was perfect and we had such a wonderful time there relaxing together.

as i said, they were so good with the kids...so interactive with them, just like my dad was.

here they are playing games with them saturday morning after our pancake breakfast.

that night we all went out to dinner and then went bowling.
it was my brothers' idea to go bowling, and man was it a good one.
we had the best time...i haven't bowled probably since i was in junior high -
when i was the leading scorer for the girls on our 7th & 8th gr. field trip...i'm just say'n.

this is my 80 year old aunt, joan, bowling!!
just look at that form for crying out loud...she is truly amazing!!

john john had a lot of fun with it too.
he was the ball police...just loved watching those things come up and who chose what ball.

 and he and daddy did some bowling together too...

i know my dad was looking down smiling at these things we all did together.
it was from his example that we learned to go out and spend time together this way.
family trips with the aunts and cousins were always centered around doing things like this together which in turn brought us all so close.

whenever we all traveled together he insisted we rent a car that we would all fit in-
that was a big part of being together - we all had to be in the car together-
and there were usually at least 10 of us, that was a tight squeeze but it did make it fun!

another important part of our family trips (we did some amazing traveling together) was

eating at wonderful restaurants - the food and atmosphere had to be equally rewarding.

on sunday we went to his favorite local brunch spot (adobe @ the biltmore) after mass...

this had been a ritual of ours that we did with him and our young family for years.
sunday mass at st. gregory's, then brunch at the biltmore and putting after we ate.
so, it was the obvious place to have the reception there after his funeral - it was lovely.

we all went to the cemetery after brunch (when the aunts were here).
we all miss him so much, and we all shed tears talking about him throughout their visit.

it was so great to have them here, it had been too long since we had gotten together.
my dad made a point of us all getting together several times each year for weeks at a time.
we will be doing a better job of that now.

the 'aunts' stayed with us, in the boys room.
we took down their bunk beds,
and since their room has it's own bathroom it worked out perfectly.
they had their own mini hotel room in our house and were so appreciative of the accommodations.

i feel so blessed that we were able to spend this time them.
and that they were able to really get to know the kids.

and i loved that i learned more of our family history...
my great-grandmother (dad's mother's mother) was the youngest of 14 children.
her mother was 16 when she married her husband 30 years older,
leaving ireland (because of the potato famine).
they came to the u.s. and had 14 children together -
now that is some interesting family history!

although we grew up very far from all of our family, we are all very close.
we are so close because of my father.
he made sure we all got together, he made it a priority.
and as i said, for weeks at a time - so that we could really get to know each other.

we would all rent a house somewhere together: hawaii, the hamptons, the carribean, colorado, washington, long island, the san juan islands...
we would go on adventures together (water skiing, snow mobiling, river rafting, mopeding)
we have some great stories of these travels we took together.
and we would eat amazing meals together.
we were so fortunate to be able to do these things together.

it is thanks to him that i have such a strong connection with these lovely ladies,
and feel such a deep love and respect for them and the entire family.
i know that my kids have now caught a glimpse of that and that makes me so happy.
i'm sure my dad is smiling down on us because of it too.