What an Amazing Visit

Well, we are back from Maryland.  We had a fantastic trip full of time with family and friends.  I wish we could have stayed longer, but I think that we made the most of our trip.  

We headed out on Wednesday and drive to Scranton, PA to stay with our dear friends, the Carrolls.  We made record time. We arrived in time for an amazing dinner with Mike and Jean.  It was so nice to finally see their home, after hearing so many stories about it.  We had a drink in the Notre Dame room and the kids got  to sleep in the room where Colleen lived as a kid.  They thought that was so cool!  Thanks Mike and Jean for your wonderful hospitality!

We headed on down to Hampstead on Thursday morning (after a great breakfast at the the Moosic Diner!).  It was super sweet to see the kids' faces when they jumped out of the car.  I think they hugged for about 3 minutes straight before finally releasing to go inside the house.  Once inside the three of them ran off to play, as if they had just been together yesterday.  

Later on in the day, Colleen and I took the kids to Liz's lacrosse practice.  It was great to see her out on the field.  She really is quite an athlete!  

After practice, our neighbors Mike and Sandy hosted a get together with all 5 families from our original Spruce Meadows playgroup.  Brenna and Andrew were so excited to see all of their old friends, and we have a great time catching up with the old gang.

The next day, Jean and Mike arrived.  The kids had a blast dying eggs (with lots of glitter).  I was so happy that Colleen had picked up the stuff to do them as I had not had a chance to dye any with the kids before we left.  It was funny to see the difference in how Andrew dyed his eggs (dumping them in the dye) and how the girls did it (patiently mixing colors and adding lots of glitter too!).

Since it was Good Friday, we had a meatless day.  Since Todd was near a Wegmans for the first time in months, that meant that we did not really make much of a sacrifice.  (I know, that is not really a good thing to admit.)  Todd and Carl handled the menu and we eat very well.  Crabcakes, crab claws, shrimp cocktail, Jean's crab dip (a must have), and more.  They were accompanied by Carl's world famous Pomagranite (sp?) Martinis!  In a word, YUM!

Colleen had picked up this cute Chef's hat for Kevin (who is attending the Culinary Program at North Carroll this year).  She could not resist putting it on Todd.

Emily made a surprise visit back home from Washington College.  We had not seen her since she left for school in August.  It was nice to hear how much she is loving college.

 

We were joined later in the evening by Grandad and the West clan.  Andrew was the lucky recipient of a Bruins' jersey for his birthday and was quite proud to put it on.  (I was surprised that Uncle Chuck "crossed party lines" and did not get him a Penguins jersey instead!)

The kids LOVED playing (OK wrestling) with Uncle Jason and Aunt Brittany.  They were both real troopers to put up with all of the kids.  They are, after all, as close to celebrities that you can get in Brenna and Andrew's minds.  We are looking forward to their visit up north this summer!

Thanks for the amazing hospitality Hordesky Family!  We loved every minute of it!

On Saturday AM, we headed over to Todd and Jenn's house for the second leg of our stay.  The kids were super excited (as was I) to hear that Taylor was coming over that night to babysit. She is such a nice young lady.  So, as the kids were hanging out with her, we were fortunate enough to head out to a nice adult dinner.  Jenn had picked a relatively new place called Dogwoods in Hampden.  The food was great, and the company even better!  

On Easter morning,  we awoke to the kids searching for their Easter baskets.  Luckily, Aunt Jenn had e-mailed the Easter Bunny to let him know that  we were going to be at their house this weekend.  (Doesn't she just think of everything!)

After baskets, the kids headed outside for the Easter Egg hunt.  We were surprised when we realized that the girls had the exact same Easter dress.  Can you believe that we did not do that on purpose!  It is true!

It was nice to get a family picture.  We are not very good about that anymore.

Can you tell that Andrew was pretty much "done" having his picture taken by this time?

We had a nice Easter dinner with Todd and Jenn's families, and the kids were spoiled with even more candy!  Jenn put together a really nice dinner, and I even got a new recipe from her!  (who would have thought that 2 years ago I would be getting excited about a non dessert recipe?)

We woke up Monday morning and began the long process of packing our gear up.  (I would late find out that we did not do such a good job.  We left a ton of stuff at Colleen and Carl's, and took a ton of stuff that was not ours from Todd and Jenn's!)  

As always, it is hard to say goodbye.  This was the first time that Andrew was really upset too.  Although as we headed home, he said, "It makes me sad to leave.  I am going to miss my friends.  But I know we will come back and visit.  And it is OK to miss them until then."  Pretty insightful for a 5 year old, wouldn't you say?

Thanks so much to everyone for making this a super special trip.  We love you all!