My birthday was on a Friday this year and we spent it (big surprise) in Rock Hall. The kids had spent the previous week in Va. with my family and then drove up to spend the weekend with us.
On Friday night, Dave’s dad’s band, Unknown Legends, played at Waterman’s, so we all went there for dinner and to hear them. They’re pretty good and they even sang me happy birthday!
Afterward we went back to the house for some cake.
And we celebrated again the following night with the Townsends as well.
On March 2nd we celebrated Sophie’s 12th birthday! It was a Wednesday, so the Saturday before she had a slumber party with a few friends from school. We went out to Teppenyaki in our neighborhood, which was an idea that a lot of people had, because it was crazy crowded. We all smooshed around a table and were entertained and fed.
Then we headed back to our house where we set up an ice cream sundae bar and the kids watched movies in the livingroom – while Dave, Lauren, and I all watched Encanto in the basement.
I’m not sure what time they were all asleep, but I did need to come down at 2AM to tell them to be quite. There were some very tired kids in the morning.
On her actual birthday the Sharps came over for dinner and cake. She opened presents – a skateboard and fleece from the Sharps, crop hoodie and fluffy pillow cases from my parents, Lauren made her a wall clock, and we got her a VR set that she’s been asking for for ages.
There were a lot of things that happened in Sophie’s 11th year – she started middle school, she got braces, she joined the school theater group, she joined the Gender and Sexuality Alliance at school, she sang the national anthem at an Eagles game, she (just) started going to school without a mast required. We’re looking forward to all that will come in year 12!
To celebrate her 96th birthday, Nana rented a beautiful waterfront house in Rock Hall (how convenient!) for the whole family. Between our house and the rented house we were able to have the whole group together. Some people were there for a whole week, and others just the weekend. We didn’t want to take the kids out of school (they’re far enough behind as it is), so we were part of the weekend crew.
It was a beautiful fall weekend and we spent a lot of it outside.
Lauren and Ari got a lot of time to play and love each other. The time together is never long enough for those two.
The great-grandkids also got in some good Gigi time.
We had a big Italian birthday dinner on Saturday night and I made an apple bourbon cake for dinner. It was a very happy and festive celebration!
We also got in some sailing. Dave captained two crews. On Saturday there was wind and they were able to do some sailing. Doug, Vicki, Carly, Chris, Julia, Maithili, Dad and Sophie went on that trip. And on Sunday there was little wind, but it was still beautiful, so Mom, Becky, Dan, Maithili, me and all the kids went. It was Ari’s first time on a boat and at first she was nervous, but eventually got comfortable, and event went up to the bow to sit with Sophie for a bit. We toured around the harbor and enjoyed some wine and snacks. It was lovely.
On Saturday right before the birthday dinner there was a beautiful rainbow that spanned the entire back of the house. Very fitting.
Happy 96th Birthday, Nana!!
I mentioned in the previous post that at the 4th of July BBQ at The Sharps, Petunia ran right into the side of my knee. After having several sets of x-rays I found out my tibial plateau was fractured and required surgery to repair it.
On July 12th, I had that surgery at Penn. The surgeon begin arthroscopically, but ended up needing to make an incision to tamp the bone back into place, and then two screws were placed beneath it to hold everything together. Unless there’s an issue down the road, those screws will remain in my knee indefinitely.
The surgery was outpatient and took about 2 hours and I was home by the afternoon.
Below are x-rays from before and after. In the before x-ray you can see that the bone looks a little crushed down on the right (which is actually the left side of my left leg), which was then pushed back into place and held up with screws.
The first week after surgery I stayed downstairs exclusively and barely moved from the sleeper couch in our living room. Once the nerve block wore off I was in a lot of pain until I got the right combo of pain pills going. After about four days I started feeling better, and after a week I didn’t need to take pain pills anymore.
I have another set of x-rays scheduled for next week and will have a better idea of my recovery plan, but for now I know I’m on crutches for at least six weeks, with little to no pressure on my left leg while the bone heals. It’s been both mentally and physically very challenging, but Dave and the girls have been my hands and legs. And my mom even flew in for five days to help out when Dave had to travel to Chicago (his first travel since the pandemic!).
My 42nd birthday also landed three days after surgery, when I was still pretty immobile on the sleeper couch. So we did a birthday dinner in the living room. As is my birthday tradition, I always have a hamburger, so Dave made a delicious one bedside!
My Nana turned 95 of October 28th. She had wanted to have a big party, but since that’s not possible this year, instead we all went to the beach! Nana rented the family four houses close to each other in Ocean City and we all spent time together outside – on the beach or on porches. Since the girls are now in in person school, we went town for a few days, came back for school, and then went back down.
Unfortunately we only had one nice day of weather – pictured below – where the girls were able to get in bathing suits and play in the sand.
The rest of the time was cold and rainy, but we still enjoyed it as much as possible!
We had two mini “parties” for Nana, since not everyone could be there the entire time. One night we had one at our beach house with cupcakes and balloon hats.
Our girls and Ari had to do virtual school while they were there, which was somewhat challenging. Who wants to work while you’re at the beach?! But Ari did participate in Lauren’s class Halloween party, which was pretty fun.
While the weather wasn’t great, we all tried to spend time on the beach, especially Nana who love to just look out at the water.
On the last night we celebrated Dad and Julia’s birthday, which are both the first week in November.
It was really a fantastic week, filled with family and celebration and reflection. While we couldn’t have a big bash this year, in my opinion this was so much better. We all got to see each other, which hasn’t happened in a while, and we all got to be in one of our favorite places. We were able to spend time together, and alone, and really appreciate where we are right now – which is not where anyone expected to be, but also finally together at last.
At the beginning of October we celebrated Kathy’s birthday with a small celebration at our house. Gotta love the low key COVID birthdays. The weather was beautiful so we ate outside and I made chocolate peanut butter brownies. I was a lovely family evening.
The first day of school was also Dave’s 41st birthday. As a result, it was a pretty low key celebration. We had a family dinner and the girls and I made him a Peppermint Pattie cake (his request). I have to say, it turned out pretty well – very decadent.
My birthday was very low key this year – partially because of the coronavirus and partially because I turned 41. Who cares about 41 really? We spent the day at the house and my big present was a bench for the backyard, which I love.
Here are a few shots from the lovely evening in the backyard. We enjoyed some champagne, takeout from the Guardhouse in Gladwyne, and some good snuggles on my new bench 🙂
On March 2nd Sophie turned a decade old! She decided to celebrate with a sleepover. She was limited to just two friends, for all of our sanity, and she picked Dior and Ella. My parents, Becky, and Ari also came up for the weekend. It was nice to have Ari there to play with Lauren.
The girls started the night with a favorite activity, making slime! After that I made cupcakes and they decorated them. We were going to make it a decorating contest, but decided to just let the girls do whatever they wanted – which was mostly adding as many toppings as possible.
Later in the evening the girls watched a movie in the basement, played with the Ouija board, and did Lord knows what else. I tried to get them to sleep around midnight, and at 2am had one of the friends come in and want to go home, but fortunately I was able to get her settled enough to go to sleep. I can confirm it was a night of little sleep for all.
The next day we had a family party with Dave’s parents too. She opened presents and we did cake.
Overall it was a pretty good birthday weekend! Sunday night everyone slept very well 😉
Last weekend we celebrated Dave’s 40th birthday by spending a weekend in Rock Hall with a few friends. John, Crystal, and Bella came up from DC along with Joe, and Rebecca, John, Ava, and Emma came from Philly, along with Walt. We had a mini raft-up with our boat and Walt’s boat. There was no wind, so we motored right to our favorite spot in Swan Creek and spent the afternoon swimming and grilling. The weather was perfect!
