Week 33

Monday, Aug. 11th
The O'Connors came over for the afternoon.  Kevin let Rocco try on his (heavy) gear.

Girls' Night Out on a perfect summer evening.

Tuesday, Aug. 12th

Wednesday, Aug. 13th
The day before, the Orzolek's had come over for lunch and an afternoon in the pool. Joshua spent the night.  Wednesday's rain didn't stop them from playing soccer on the trampoline.

We also got to have Bennett and Mason over for dinner and some good play time.  After Bennett left, we ran across the street for 15 minutes to sing to Jules on her very special day.

And Mason spent the night!!!  I wasn't sure if the room would be quiet before midnight.  After all, once the jokes start, they just get funnier and funnier.  Especially if they're made up and include any potty words.  They were actually all sleeping by 9:30...not too bad!

Thursday, Aug. 14th

Friday, Aug. 15th

Colombo and I were on the road by 9:00am headed for the Cape.  It was our annual trip with Bob and Jules.  This year had a twist.  Jules' *surprise* 50th birthday party was to be held on Saturday and I had been helping Bob plan it for a couple months.  So Colombo and I had our Arlene-given task list.  We made several stops along the way to pick stuff up and arrived by mid-afternoon to help with party prep.

We headed to the clubhouse for dinner.

Blurry, but... the kid on the right is Jules' nephew, Sam.  He and his bud were doing the Friday night entertainment. Ben (?) on the left, is *quite* the musician!  He quit Messiah College after two years to pursue his music career.  Imagine his parents' enthusiasm!  He now lives in Boston and wheel's his keyboard to Quincy Market every day, and actually makes himself a living playing and singing anything and everything on demand.  It's really quite remarkable.  And his little 16 year old brother (oh, maybe he's Ben ??) is an unbelievable tenor who can belt a good show tune.

Saturday, Aug. 16th

The BIG day.  We spent the morning pretending that brunch on the beach was Jules' actual birthday celebration.

Until we walked into this...

Two days before, Jules has woken up and said to Bob, "Tell me I'm not going to walk into a room full of people this weekend, 'cuz you know I'd hate that, right?"

In the end, she forgave.   It was a beautiful day. FULL of beautiful people professing their love for Jules and their funny stories.  I say everyone should have one day like that at some point in their lifetime.  Before their funeral.  It was just so overwhelmingly perfect for her.

Here are some of my favorites from the day.

About ten of us shared our 'thoughts' about Jules.  Here is my toast.  I appear very nervous.  I wasn't nervous speaking, I was just trying desperately not to start crying.

Maybe my favorite from the day:

"Happy Birthday"...another surprise.

 Then the party moved over to Dan and Arlene's.

Sunday, Aug. 17th
We went to Cape Cod Church, as we do every year, except this year we attended service in their brand new 1,100 seat sanctuary. Their pastor, Ben, is very good!  We love our annual visit!

After brunch at Moonakis, we hung out again at Dan and Arlene's.  They presented her with one more gift- one of their father's handgun's.  It was very special.

Monday, Aug. 18th
Adventure!  Since we stayed an extra day, we decided to take the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard for the day.

And back YiaYia's to say goodbye!

Dad and Christina had the kids for weekend!  As usual, they managed to find an adventure in Deerfield, MA.  

Unfortunately, Renna broke out in a weird rash. They eneded up laying low for most of the weekend to best watch that and care for her.  She ended up being fine.  I think it was a viral thing that worked its way in and out of her system.  Thanks, Pop and Kiki for a wonderful few nights away!