I LOVE Babies!

We are anxiously anticipating our new nephew's arrival! My brother and his wife are expecting their 4th child - their 4th boy. He is due on November 28th, but the doctor has promised to induce by November 24th if Gina doesn't go sooner. Hannah said today that Gina looks like she is going to hatch! Honestly, she isn't very big normally, so she looks like she swallowed a beachball!

Anyway, we cannot wait for him to arrive! Since November is our birthday month, we are hoping he will come tomorrow for Dave's birthday, or Wednesday and share his birthday with his two other cousins, Conor & Robby!

Hurry Cole - you have a welcoming committee waiting!

The 2008 NYC Marathon

After making many lists and checking them twice, we discovered that Dave would have to leave Long Island via the LIRR on the 4:09 AM train (or as Paul said - the "butt-crack" of dawn). This meant the 4 adults setting all of the cell phones for 3:20, 3:25 and 3:30 - just in case! Even with getting the "fall back" hour for daylight savings time, I think Dave only got about 6 hours of sleep.

He left on the train at 4:09 and headed to Penn Station, where we decided he would take the #1 train directly to South Ferry, rather than another train to the Public Library and ride the bus. He ended up getting to Staten Island at 6:15 am - for a 10:00 am start. It was 40 degrees at that point. When I spoke with him at 7:30 he said he was sitting with 1000 other people all dressed up in trash bags to keep warm. It was a hard start to the day for him.

We headed out on the train at 10:00 am and ended up on 75th about 1/2 hour before he got to mile 17.5. We were easy to spot with our cool t-shirts - the whole big yellow bunch of us.

As we plotted our next watching spot, we headed toward Central Park. After buying cinnamon nuts, cashmere scarves and hoodies from street vendors (it was sunny, but still only 45!), we say some people cheering in the park. We walked up and found Dave at mile 23! (pic at right). He spotted the girls standing on a guard rail yelling his name!

After realizing he would easily finish before we could get to the end of the race, we decided to cut across Central Park (which is much bigger than one would think!) After trying to figure out if we should take this path or that path, we realized that 1. It is the prettiest park around, and 2. We may or may not have been part of a Law and Order episode. The kids were spotting sights from Home Alone, Elf and 27 Dresses. Led by their pied piper uncle - yes, the Lt. Col. - we finally found our way past the end.

Dave was waiting for us at Central Park W and 81st St. - along with 2000 other people. Conor spotted him first and we got to take a picture with him! He finished in 3:54:33 - 11004th place out of 37880 runners - top 29%!

All 5 of us (Emily, Dave, Hannah, Jill, Conor) - minus the LI branch of our family!

The great NYC weekend! Marathon Time - 3:54:33

Last Thursday we left after work for NYC - well, Long Island actually. We loaded the van with the 5 of us and our niece, Tess, who is 4 months older than Emily and drove the 415 miles east.

On Friday, we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - that was about all of the history the kids could stand. We headed uptown to the Marathon Expo to pick up Dave's packet and get some healthy snacks to hold us over until dinner. Kristi & Kyle headed back to LI so Kyle could get some trick or treating in, while the rest of us stayed with Paul & Katherine to visit Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central. It was Halloween, so the city was a bit freakier than normal :)

Saturday, the girls wanted to shop and I wanted to go to the beach, so we did both. Roosevelt Field Mall is really nice, a lot of the same stores they have here, but some new ones too! We visited Jones Beach and played some beach soccer and hung out. It was a beautiful day - about 68 degrees - too cold to swim, but just right to hang out.

Sunday was RACE DAY! We found out late Saturday night that Dave would have to get up at 3:30 am (the buttcrack of dawn) to catch the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, then a subway to South Ferry to catch the Staten Island Ferry. He made it to Staten Island by 6:15 - the race started at 10:00 am. (live and learn...)


More about Race day later - it deserves a post all on it's own!

This and that...

It is SNOWING! Yikes - luckily it isn't sticking, but still... It is supposed to be 60 by the weekend, no wonder we are all getting sick!

Since we are leaving for NYC tomorrow - it is time to get packed up! We've been talking to Paul & Kristi (in the pic on the left with Dave in Nags Head, NC last year!) almost daily and the only thing we've determined is that we will go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and Hannah HAS to go to the American Girl Store - oh and that Paul will drive Dave to the Staten Island Ferry at 5:30 am on Sunday (what a great brother!)

Since traveling has been on my mind, here are some pictures from our most recent "vacation" - March to the

Grand Canyon.(they just made me feel warmer on a day like today!)

Well, time to make some lists on what we have to pack! Say a small prayer that whatever "car trouble kibosh" someone has put upon us goes away and we make it the 420 miles safely to NYC!

It's FALL!

A good friend of mine recently reminded me that I need to post more often - so here it is (I really promise this time!) (Also - Happy 16th Birthday to my niece Katie!)

(Pumkins: Dave, Hannah, Emily, Conor-
P.S. Dave and Conor were too busy sneaking out of the room to watch Criminal Minds to fully plan the carving of their pumpkins!)

Ahh...leaves are changing, pumpkins are being carved, our small town is holding trick-or-treat the Saturday BEFORE Halloween(as is usual, heaven forbid the kids wander out 'in the dark'...) - it MUST be fall...

I find it amusing that I've spent the last 18 years trying to develop, maintain and beat family traditions into my children, often to be rebuffed, or have them grudgingly come along. Now that Emily is in college and is often working when the rest of us are doing "fun things", she has taken it upon herself to be the "official family scheduler of all things that are - or may have once been-our family traditions" - this includes making it mandatory that everyone clear their schedule on her day off so we can ALL carve pumpkins together - even if it happens at 9:30 on a school night. Of course, where else would we get these kinds of "happy family pictures" - yes they were mugging for the camera...

Our other family outing this month was to take a trip to Linesville, PA to the spillway- this was after a trip to "Peter's Pumpkin Patch" - a locally owned pumpkin farm where my mom and dad have taken the grandkids for years. so the kids wanted to make sure they kept that tradition up. We bought 18 pumpkins and headed north to "feed the fish" - this is a place where my parents have taken me and my brother and sisters since we were small. It is a carp spillway on Pymatuming Lake - you toss bread and the fish literally climb over each other to get to it - and it's FREE! (watch this video!)

(photo: Conor, my Dad, nieces Katie & Liz, Hannah and Emily, my sister in law Gina - 8 months pregnant, and me! In front are Gina/Bill's boys, Billy and twins Anthony & Dominick - 8 1/2 of the 12 1/2 grandkids present)

Our next "family trip" will be this coming week, when we head to NYC for the ING New York City Marathon. This will be Dave's 4th marathon and has been on his short list of runs he wanted to do. Unfortunately, it is a lottery system - you enter your name in February and in May, they let you know if you are in - he wasn't. The good news is, he is friends with a girl at the running store and she was able to get him a vendor's entry from ASICS - which are the shoes he wears anyway, so they should sponsor him. It's been a long training season for him, and I'll be glad when it's over. I think the marathons are too much for him and would rather he do the shorter runs. The kids have never been to the marathons, so this will be a first for them. The girls are looking forward to shopping - Dave wants to see the Statue of Liberty. We will stay with Dave's brother Paul and his family on Long Island during our trip.

That is about it for October - next month is "birthday month" - Dave will be 47 on Nov. 17th and Conor will be 17 on Nov. 19th. AND we will have a new baby -well, not me, but my brother, which is even better because I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night - we know it's a boy - probably Nicholas - he is due Nov. 28th, but I would bet money he comes before that.

(Dave, helping Conor with his tie before the Homecoming Dance)

Congratulations Emily Q!

When you first have a child, people tell you "Enjoy it, time flies by..." Well, I'm here to tell you they are RIGHT! On June 1st, our oldest daughter Emily Quinlan (middle name is Grandma Pat's maiden name!) graduated from High School. (Right: Emily with Dave's mom and my dad)

It was a beautiful day with 179 graduates in the high school gymnasium where I graduated 26 years ago. Dave's mom and my dad were present along with my sister Jodi (her godmother) and her family. We had a small gathering at our house after, but the BIG party is this Sunday! (Left: Emily with her godparents (my brother & sister)

A good friend of the family made her a sign from the party invitation - as if we didn't already recognize the freakiness of genetics - everyone was amazed at how much Hannah (11) looks like Emily did as a child. She didn't start out that way, but certainly has ended up. Our neighbor asked why we put Hannah's picture on Emily's sign!

Since I'd be remiss if I left out my other child - this is what we've been doing when we are not planning senior activities.... Conor has been on a traveling club soccer team - I've seen 3 different beaches along the shores of Lake Erie over the past 4 weeks - about 130 miles apart! (Conor on the right - not the keeper!)

I'm back...

Ok, I finally remembered how to log in to my blog. Remember, my New Year's resolution was to blog more often (well, at least the diet/exercise resolution has held up...)

Since December 28th I've lost 20 lbs. Someone asked me how and I said "Well, diet and exercise as I should have years ago - I guess it really does work" I still have quite a bit to go, but I'm moving at a speed where I don't want to quit, so that's something. I've become somewhat enamored with spinning. I have a love/hate relationship with my hour long class. I dread starting, but once you're in, there is no stopping. I don't think I've ever sweat so much or been so drained and exhilerated at the same time.

We are neck deep in the end of school year stuff - this year is really different because Emily is graduating from high school. Everytime I write or say that to someone, it becomes more and more hard to believe. She has grown into such a beautiful young lady and we are very proud of her. Conor got his drivers license (my hair is turning gray as I post this). He is a good driver, but it is scary nonetheless. Hannah and I went to NYC last weekend on the "5th grade trip" - sleep on the bus going, get off bus, tour NYC for 16 hours, get back on the bus and sleep for the 7 hour ride going home. My favorite part - arriving in Rockerfeller Plaza and finding out that mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral was in 20 minutes and my friend saying "Go! We'll take Hannah with us - call us when you are done!" It is an AWESOME place! Hannah at 11 has decided that she will attend school in NYC and we can visit her (ok!). Hannah become very adept at haggling with the "men who sell counterfeit things on the street". Asking how much for a cute Kate Spade purse and being told $45 - she just scoffed and said "I only have $15" - sold!

Aww...spring! Tomorrow is the big garage sale at my dad's house (I hate garage sales!) The older kids are going to Cedar Point with their French Club, and Dave is in charge of soccer signups for the rec league... Next up: I am off to Myrtle Beach with my dad next Sunday. My family is going for the week and I decided to take a few days for myself and fly down. I talked Dad into flying with me so he would only have one 14 hour car ride (back) with the 7 year old, 5 year old twins, my brother and my pregnant sister in law! (No thanks - I'll fly!)