Summer Days...

There has been a heat wave on in NY, a hurricane somewhere off in the Atlantic and all around perfect weather for late afternoons spent at the beach. As soon as the kids get home from camp, we hit the beach for our merenda and cool dip in the ocean.

Sarah and Anna have always been quite good swimmers (thank you San Diego)  and now surf the waves like dolphins, or as Anna says, like penquins - no arms.

To catch up.

I have been taking care of this and that, kids have been having a great time at camp where Anna has quite a following of male admirers and Sarah is a regular queen bee. They both spent the weekend at a friend's house and I finally got out with some adult company! Party!

While my dear Sam has been riding around in very fast Italian sports cars, I have been driving my new rental - a Ford Focus! 

A presto

Krista

A New Career!

Mommy Mommy... Guess what?! I am the new bus monitor! 

Yup Sarah now is the official Monitor of the Route 49A Usdan Bus. Control is mine she says to her sister with a sinister laugh. 

As you can imagine, Anna is not impressed and not going to listen to her sister.  

Bunnies Bunnies Everywhere....

There seems to be an explosion of little cute bunnies up and down the lanes of Levittown. Here is our evening friend that comes out around 6 pm for his or her bedtime snack. Our bunny is an Eastern Cottontail and every lawn seems to have at least one munching away.

It is not surprising that the bunny finds my dad's backyard so inviting, so do we, unless there is rain and so far, it has been dry and so we eat our dinner on the patio. Anna does the cooking, this evening Talapia, scallops and shrimp wrapped in foil with fresh herbs from the garden and grilled to perfection accompanied by home fries.

Wish you were here!  

Bon Appetito!

Krista

Family First!

The gang! Lillian, Grandpa, Anna and Sarah.

Here is my Dad, Jack with his big sister Lillian sitting on her porch waiting for the sun to set and the fireworks to begin - again.

Love this photo! Look - my aunt on her tippy toes making sure that the lobster she is getting is the lobster she wants! 
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard where my grandpa worked many many years ago!

Anna Banana and me on our Harbor Cruise.

Krista

Portsmouth, NH

What better way to spend the 4th of July that in the heart of Yankee Doodle Land! 

I dragged my poor Old Dad off to see his "big" sister Lillian (89 years young!) for the fireworks and an old fashioned Independence Day. We filled ourselves with lobster rolls, chowder and the girls and I even went on a harbor cruise -where Sarah and Anna experienced the fickle New England weather - one minute fog next minute sun - and well, we just had a great time shopping downtown, sightseeing and catching up with family. 

We rushed up to Portsmouth on the 3rd at leaving New York at 6 am! On the way up we stopped at Mc Donald's for breakfast... a first for Sarah and Anna, living in Italy has its advantages. I should post about all the firsts for the kids, sometimes while we are here in the states it really seems like the kids just crawled out from under a rock. 

Anna, Sarah and I spent our first afternoon in Portsmouth taking in the sights then my cousins Sally and Frank joined us at Lillian's for dinner and fireworks. 

My Aunt Lillian house has a front row seat for the fireworks and all afternoon she and my dad had been keeping track of all the people laying out their blankets to save their favorite spot. After dinner the clouds rolled in and the skies opened with thunder lightening and heavy rain. Finally the event was called off.  I think we all had more fun watching everyone get wet while running for cover. 

Homecoming

The girls and I have been enjoying New York, Camp and catching up with family. In fact, we have been so busy we go to bed way earlier than normal and well... I have fallen off on the blogging. Here is a cute photo of Sarah and Anna and a few quick posts to catch you up on what we have been up to!

We Touched the Ground at JFK...

And we have hit the ground running.

The girls and I are back the US of A, slumming in Levittown with Grandpa Jack. 

We arrived late Friday afternoon after a killer 3 am wake up call to catch a 6:50 am flight out of Pisa. All went uneventfully and we even landed 30 minutes early in JFK. We slid easily through immigration, always helps to get an officer of Homeland Security that grew up on Long Island to welcome you back, two bags were waiting for us on the luggage round - but - the rest came last. We were out of the airport and home with Grandpa by 4 pm.

We spend the weekend getting sorted, shopping and eating Grandpa's good food off the grill. The girls started camp yesterday and all their friends were happy to see them once again. 

Weather has been a bit stormy and the prices at the supermarket and gas pump are shocking. At least for the moment gas is still cheaper than in Italy!