Abby’s Birthday Dinner With Grandmom Phil

Grandmom Phil took Abby out for her birthday dinner a week early because she was going to be in Aruba on the actual day.  Abby chose to visit Morimoto’s Japanese Steak House in Royersford for her dinner.

Our guests for the evening included Liam and Meghan Haffey.  Our kids have been before but I believe it’s the first time that Liam ever went to a Japanese restaurant.  It was funny watching the two first graders because they were both awfully nervous watching our chef in action.  They actually didn’t sit around the table/grille until after the chef was done cooking.  I’m guessing the flame intimidated them a bit?

Halloween 2009

I’m really behind in keeping up with our pictures, but here are the kids costumes from Halloween.  Brett was a robot, with a costume he designed and made on his own.  His buddy Liam is a gorilla.  Abby and her best friend Meghan went out as babies.

Jake was sadly too cool to get dressed up.  He took advantage of the wave of Phillies euphoria and simply went out in a Phillies cap and Phillies sweatshirt.  I know if he showed up at our house he wouldn’t have gotten a treat, but he made out quite well when all was said and done.

It was a miserable night. It started in a slight drizzle and by the time the evening had wrapped up, we were in a downpour. At least it was on the warm side that night. We didn’t trick or treat in our neighborhood. We ended up going to the Haffey’s neighborhood and going around with the Haffey’s and Piontek’s.

From 2009 10

From 2009 10

From 2009 10

Abby’s 11th Birthday

Abby’s birthday fell on a Tuesday night, and as has been the case with each birthday this year, we weren’t able to celebrate it on the day.  Abby had travel soccer tryouts, Jake had a baseball game, and Jean had school, so we ended up staging it over a few nights.

We started on Saturday night, when Jean and I took Abby and Meghan Haffey out for dinner.  We went out for Chinese at Country Garden over in Harleysville.  I had been with the girls at a soccer tournament in North Wales, so Jean met us at the restaurant on our way home.  After dinner, we did Rita’s and headed home.

Sunday night we stopped by Grandmom Phil’s house to have cake and celebrate with Aunt Kate, Uncle Casey, and Aunt Erin.  The final piece of the puzzle was on Wednesday night when Gram and Pop came over for dinner at our house.

The big news was that Abby got a cell phone.  She had been dying to get one, and she was convinced her dad would never get her one.  Luckily, Grandmom Phil came through for her.

Here’s footage of her right outside of the phone store, when she still didn’t have a clue what was going on.

A Day at the Spa

Before Erin left to go back home to Africa, my mom decided to take all of the girls out for a day at Verde Spa over in Parkerford.  It was a morning of relaxation and pampering.  Abby was also included, and she got to bring her friend Meghan along as well.  They had a Cheetah soccer tournament later that afternoon, but they each managed to squeeze in a pedicure.

 

The rest of the crew (both Aunt Kate’s, Jean, Erin, and my Mom) had the whole works done, but it was a nice and relaxing day to spend a Sunday morning.  It sure beats going to church.

The Jefferson Cup

This weekend, Abby’s soccer team (The Cheetahs) qualified to play in the Jefferson Cup down in Richmond, Virgina.  This tournament is the #5 ranked youth soccer tournament in the United States.

More than 400 teams that applied to enter the tournament were rejected, so it was quite an accomplishment for our girls to get accepted, especially when you consider that we are our clubs “B team” for this age bracket.

I ended up taking Friday off because I didn’t feel like making the 5 hour drive after work.  Jean stayed home with the boys, so it was just Abby and I who made the trip.

We ended up driving down with Chris Haffey and his daughter Meghan; we also ended up sharing a room.  Lucky for me Chris even volunteered to drive.

We stayed right in the heart of downtown Richmond at the Marriott, but I’ve got to say that Richmond was a depressing place to visit.  The downtown area was virtually empty, with a lot of empty buildings surrounding our hotel.  It was weird to be downtown without any sort of people milling around.

Our “A Team” (the Wildcats) also qualified for the tournament, and we ended up sharing the same hotel with them.  It was a bit weird to have the two teams together because for whatever reason the parents don’t seem to be comfortable with one another.

The results didn’t quite go our way; we lost two games and tied the third.  As always, the girls seemed to have the time of their lives.  They got to play some really good competition, swim in the hotel pool, as well as run around like crazy ladies throughout the hotel with little to no adult supervision.  What more can you ask for when you’re 10?

We didn’t get home until almost 5 pm on Sunday, so it felt like a bit of a lost weekend, but I know that Abby really enjoyed herself.

Dinner With The Haffeys

We had dinner the Saturday night of the West Mont Tournament with Chris and Terry Haffey at our house. The Cheetah families were getting together for an extension of the afternoon pool party from that day, but it had been a long day at the fields and we were looking to keep the evening a bit low key.

We had a real nice time just hanging out on our back porch enjoying some really good food, a little bit of wine, and some really good company. Jean made her chicken and pesto sandwiches fresh off the grill with fresh home grown tomatoes and basil, and it was delicious.

I’ve coached a few different events with Chris, and Terry and Jean are really familiar with one another through Sacred Heart. Terry is the current Home and School President over at Sacred Heart.

Their daughter Meghan is a grade ahead of Abby at Sacred Heart, but they play on both the West Mont and CYO teams together. The two of them get along really well with each other, which is great because the Haffey’s live just off of Major Road, which is part of taking the back way to Gran’s house (over the river and through the woods…).

They have a middle son, Christopher, who’s in third grade. Chris is a lot younger than Jake, but the two of them get along really well. Little Chris loves sports, so that may be a big part of the attraction.

The third member of the crew is Liam, who is going into kindergarten this year with Brett. The two have become the best of friends over the past few months, and the two of them will be trouble once school starts. For those that haven’t spoken to Brett in a while, he still struggles to say his L’s, so it’s pretty comical to hear him say Liam’s name. It almost comes out sounding like Wham.

Chris and I are coaching Brett and Liam’s soccer team this fall, we coached both the boys together during t-ball this spring, and we coached soccer together long ago when Abby was 5(?).