Life has definitely gotten in the way of blogging (not that I was much of a blogger anyway- hah!)

We left last Thursday evening to go up North to visit my family.  I haven’t seen some of my brothers and my father since last summer so despite the fact that I am currently poorer than a church mouse from the trip to Orlando; I filled up the tank, gathered up some warm clothes, charged the electronics and hit the road after work.

We made it lower NJ before everyone was doing the potty dance and we pulled over for the night.  Luckily, the hotel had an indoor pool and it was just before 9:30 and it closed at 10PM so we had time to check in, get our suits on and take a quick dip.  Everyone was pretty beat and we all fell asleep quickly. We got up and had breakfast and headed the rest of the way to MA.  It was a smooth trip with relatively little drama – except for the $4.09 / gallon gas I had to pay for in Maryland.

The 4 days with my sister and family was great.  The kids love to play with their cousins and my sister just moved into a new house that is in a very kid friendly neighborhood so they were outside the whole time.  It was somewhat cold but they had jackets and mostly were too busy to worry about it.

We went to see one of my nephews play baseball and Riley and Matthew both loved it!  Then they all got to ride on my brother’s go-kart in his back yard and Matthew even proved that he was probably the least reckless of the drivers!  Riley got to throw the ball around with my brothers and his cousins so he was happy.

Then we left for my sisters Jean’s house on the way home and spent 2 days with her and her kids.   On the way, I stopped in Rhode Island to look for some of the sights we used to go to as children when we would go fishing with my dad.  I couldn’t find the house my parents owned but I was able to find the rock we used to imagine was Moby Dick and Riley was brave enough to go out in the cold and wind to get a picture of it!  Moby was too far out in the water, but Riley posed on a rock in front of it.  See the flat rock in the background.  It has a crack where the mouth would be and divots for the eyes.  At low tide we would be able to sit on it and “rule the sea”!

Jean’s house was a great time – for the first time, Matthew really played with his cousin (who is 9 years old) as they bonded over playing the DS and spent hours with each other.  Riley was a little put out that the other kids didn’t want to stay outside playing baseball the entire time but he tolerated playing with me and my brother-in-law.

The girls had a great time seeing their cousins.  Only problem was that Amalia broke out is hives and a rash on her face that I had to get one of my friends to call in a prescription for her.  She was miserable for a couple of the days but it didn’t hold her down.  she is looking much better except for the occasional acute itching attack she gets and her facial rash is improving.  The picture above is actually after 2 days when her lips were much less red and swollen.

Wednesday am we got up and started the trek home.  We ended up making very good time and got home around 1 pm – just in time to rest for a little while, clean out the car and get Riley dressed for a scrimmage game.  Since then, I have been rushing around at work and home.  It is great to not have to work this weekend (well at work…I am doing an intense spring cleaning at home! (much to the kids chagrin).  I am nearly done with the kitchen and am recklessly trashing things in drawers and boxes that I haven’t used for a while.

Next up is to clean the living room and finish separating the winter clothes into a donation pile and a put away pile.  I did two large boxes full this am and one this afternoon.  I think it is okay to do it since the weather is supposed to be 88 tomorrow and we can keep one jacket out for each.

Categories: Baseball, Family

Tags: family life, vacation.