Monday, July 6, 2015

Celebrating the 4th with Baseball, Babies and Running!

Helloooooooooo!  What day is it??  I've been out of town for the past 3 1/2 days and feel all out of sorts.  What month are we in again?!

There was a lot going on this weekend back home so this post is going to be laden with plenty of pictures, particularly BABY pictures.  You're welcome!

Friday started out with a 4 mile run around my parent's neighborhood, followed by manual labor in my father's garden.  I pruned tomato plants for the first time ever.  I'm a farmer now.  Do these look pruned or what?!

 

Later that evening, my dad and I celebrated the 4th in possibly the most American way ever: with baseball!  The Phillies' AAA farm team plays in Allentown and my dad got seats in his company's box for us.  LIVING LARGE. 


Just a couple of ballers.
 
The game went into seven extra innings.  I repeat, SEVEN.  I watched 16 innings of baseball that night.  And after all that, they lost. 
 
And then we stayed for the midnight fireworks:
 


Saturday morning I met up with one of my very best friends so that we could run together.  We ran track together in high school, TWENTY years ago!  And she was amazing.  Definitely faster than me.  She was a middle distance runner (the 800m was her event) and made it to Districts freshman year.  Well, she has just started running again, and is training for her first half marathon in the Fall.  So I couldn't wait for us to take a trip down memory lane and go for our first run together in years.  I HAD SO MUCH FUN!  I hope she did too.  I can't wait to do it again.  In fact, I think I'm going to run the half marathon she has chosen in the Fall as well. (This one)

High school track teammates and BFF's - 20 years later.
 
 
Later that afternoon, I went over to my sister's house so I could hang out with my new nephew!  He is such a sweet baby. 
We had a nice chat.


 

I miss him already.  Every time one of my sisters has another kid, I think, "How can they possibly top any of my current nieces/nephews?".  And somehow, each one comes out just as cute.  I really hope there's no limit to these good looking genes because I'm counting on them coming through when I eventually reproduce.

On Sunday, I went on a long walk and then came home and stacked firewood outside for my dad.  WHO AM I!?!  Paul Bunyan apparently. I am paying for that manly display today. 

In the afternoon, we were invited to our grandparent's house for a 4th (5th?) of July cookout.  My grandfather is the one who has the grape arbor that came from Sicily almost 100 years ago with my great grandparents! The grapes are so plentiful now that they create a huge shaded awning over the back patio, and this is where we've had all our family cookouts since I was little!






It was great seeing my grandparents, cousins, aunts and of course THIS GUY again!



We had 4 generations of our family celebrating Independence Day yesterday! 

So much outdoor time, family time, and baby time this weekend.  It was perfect.  I hope yours was wonderful too.


What did you do for the 4th?


12 comments:

  1. Wooooo what a weekend! July 4th should be spent with family. Simple as that. That's the one thing that was missing from mine- otherwise it would have been perfect. You just can't have a real holiday without the ones who are stuck with you for life. So glad you got so much time with family (and outdoors aka the best place to be)

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    1. Haha the ones who are stuck with you for life! That's great. But yes I do love seeing my extended family. I have so many good memories with my cousins that I love when we are all able to get together. Your weekend pics looked lovely as well!

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  2. Sounds like a wonderful holiday weekend! You had such a nice mix of family, old friends, fitness and babies. :-)

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    1. Yes it was! I wouldn't have minded also being near a beach but it was still pretty lovely!

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  3. I was on vacation all of last week! The 4th was spent at my aunts in Annapolis with family. Then home to get things together for this week!

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    1. Oh how wonderful! I hope you had a great vacation!

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  4. It's time for someone else to reproduce in my family. My sister is the baby and she's 29. LOL

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  5. I love how close that you are with your family. And those tomatoes are as pruned as your hair :D I mean that with love, because I love your hair and its controlled chaos.

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  6. Hurray for a holiday with friends and family and BABIES! (jealous)

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  7. The only baseball game I've ever watched was the Phillies vs. the Giants (I'm from the bay area in CA and my significant other at the time was from PA, hehehe)! Since I didn't follow any teams, I rooted for the away team and made him promise to save me (if I needed it) if I unintentionally started any fights by doing so. That is a wholeee lot of extra innings!

    That's awesome that you got to spend time with one of your best friends! + your nephew is adorable!

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  8. Sounds like a phenomenal weekend to me! :) This past weekend I went to New Mexico to visit my parents, which was very nice! Relaxing and a great way to disconnect for a minute!

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  9. What a nice weekend! It is fun to catch up with old friends. Glad you were able to spend time with your family and your new nephew. So nice your family has that 100 year old tree!

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