Thanksgiving 2018

Once again the whole clan made the annual pilgrimage over to Aunt Jo's for her awesome feast.  Boy was it a feast.  Aunt Jo takes the whole week off and fires up enough grub to feed a couple armies....She's even nice enough to make some concoction that the others think is cranberry sauce...Ooo they are so foolish.  Listen, only authentic ridges on my cranberry sauce...







Here they all are stuffed inside the hallway...not a frown in the group....It was a great time...I'm very thankful for all of them...Jimmy has the eyeblack from football.....which he and his team were victorious!!!  It was sooooo cold there.
Jimmy is Number 83

Another day out

Its the day after Thanksgiving and we are home and they thought they were housebound...but not for too long.  I request Black Gordon and off we go....Jackie took the football and tennis ball.  We played catch for a little while alongside that old train.  Boy was it cold but i'm thinking it didnt bother them as much as it did me....brrrrrr...Anyway, We stayed here for a while and then we headed out.....We decided that we would stop over at the refurbished Mill and grab a coffee and some grub...We had already been to Einsteins bagels but we burned that off already.
We went to a great coffee place inside the Old Mill and the kids found their own Cubbyhole to enjoy their hippie drinks and snacks...I got myself a coffee...of course

\On the drive home we werent ready to shut it down so off we went to the waterfront for some more football catch and tennis ball ....Catherine of course wanted to play tackle here they are going at it......she does appear so cute most of the time...but she's a tiger!!!

How else can you finish off the day but to go for some pizza and bowling.  These two wanted to show off their skills and try to beat Daddy....Not today my little sweet things....But we did have a great time!!!

States at Harvard

Off to Harvard we go for the much anticipated State championships!!  She had the flu all week..the timing of it all....but that didnt stop her from practicing and swimming her heart out on Sunday.  She ended up with a third and second and two good showings on relays.....She really swam her heart out and was so sick...She never used it as an excuse.  You could tell she was disappointed but lets face it...we certainly weren't disappointed......being second and third in the whole state for your age is nothing to sneeze at...thats the standards that she sets for herself...the good thing is that she usually brushes it off and goes on to the next chapter....you have to...All I've ever asked of any of them is to do your best and they never disappoint me....I'm not just saying that....there are some good kids there i must say

There was quite a following of fans to make the pilgrimage too....Mr and Mrs Ring,Umple Eddie, Auntie Jo, Cat, Jack,Erin, Emily and Kara, Nana and Doe, and of course Mommy and Daddy......though Nana got struck with the sickness bug and had to flee unexpectedly early...but she got to see the first half.  she mustve been pretty sick to leave early cuz she's a constant fan of Laura's meets....But overall it was a grand ole time.  Poor Laura has been recovering and is still a little under the weather a week later....She's a tough son of a gun and fights through these things.

The greatest neighbors on earth...We love the Rings!!!

The winners podium

Here is the number one fan....Alex is a great friend (and member of the family I must say)

First gymnastics meet of season

Catherine had her own cheering section...with Lia, Tori, Erin,Kara, Mommy and Daddy coming to cheer her on in Worcester.....As usual, she was spectacular....
She got two second places and a fifth place....which is quite remarkable....She left with a trophy and three medals....okay i'm looking at this picture again...beautiful, just beautiful....Catherine loves her gymnastics so much....it melts my heart to see pictures like this

 

Sectionals 11/11/18..Laura 100 Butterfly...First Place

ooooo Let it go Laura..let it go...I really dont know why but I break out in the Frozen song when she's flying down the lane....but what a freaking exciting race this was.  She was racing against a Senior whom she had never beaten before.  Laura got a great jump off the block and off she went, the turns were great and she got an arms length of a lead and never lost it....And saying an arms length....well, it was more of a hands length...Oh my goodness it was so exciting...The feeling that you get...yeah, you get the point.... have you ever gone to Fenway Park for a walk off victory....I remember being in section 18 when Jim Rice hit a grand slam in the ninth inning, into the bullpen to walk off to victory...and another time when Jeff Stone hit a gap shot double in the tenth during the Morgan Miracle....well, you might get the point.....But with those you could just stand up and scream and jump up and down....Here, it has to be more reserved.  Its exciting because its more personal...but you just lose it.....All four have provided us with that same feeling....I'll never forget Jimmy hitting a walk off homer to right center to end the Bay State league championship....and who could forget Catherine's first reverse double back hand spring and Jackie hitting his first home runner with the guy in the stands yelling EVERYBODY GOOOO....Its really been quite the ride!!

she stands alone....I wonder why

ALEX !!!

Of course Mr. Ring wouldnt miss such a huge meet for his star pupil.  After Laura's huge victory she came up to the cheap seats and Mr. Ring was so excited for her and led her with some more advice.  We are so lucky to have a Mr. Ring in our life.
Ahhhh, how can you top this....well next week is the real big one!!!

Red Sox Parade

I am sooooo happy that they got to go to the Red Sox parade with Ant Jo.  Yes, they missed skool to go....but its such a cool day and they are very good students so I think they can rebound.  Besides, I checked with an official from the End line and I was given a final ruling.....There are no DO-OVERS.so the time to create memories is when they are right in front of you......
Really though, they were so happy and proud to go there....One of the best parts was when Catherine told me that she walked in to Ant Jo's work and everybody knew her, Jack and Erin.  Cat was so impressed about how famous she was.......Just hearing them talk about the day made me so happy!!!


Cat told me that Big Papi was in one of the Duck Boats and looked right over at her, Jack and Erin and pointed at them.....What a memory of a lifetime for them....I love this picture, Jack looks immersed in something....probably something that Devers is doing....I just keep looking at this picture and it makes me wonder whats stirring up there....and while i'm thinking about that I see Cathering smiling at me in the background....I mean really, how cant you just love these kids !!!