The Family Holiday Season

Ok, here we are again, another year has passed and I am sat here typing up a summary of the past couple of weeks which for all of you I’m sure is a busy time.

We actually feel fairly relaxed with it all, although spending a sustained amount of time in each others presence can sharpen things up a little he he….

It all started with what has become an annual occasion – spending Christmas Eve with my uncle Bob and his/my family. It as always is nice to catch-up with cousins and other relees who all were there. This is the first xmas where Harry really gets it this time and he certainly got into the Christmas spirit ! It was lovely watching him interact with everyone and it was very sweet seeing him discover this crazy occasion which will be a part of his life forever.

Christmas day was a first for everyone in that my cousin Ben invited us around for a Turkey meal with his new extended family. Again it was a fun time and he is a dab hand in the kitchen producing a very good bird enjoyed by all !

Here is a film which sort of summarizes our exploits at this time:

Boxing Day (Dec 26th) saw us drive 5hrs to Pittsburgh to stay with Barbara’s mum Nancy and see her relees. It was nice in that her uncle Ray and Aunt Cheri had all their boys home from the West Coast for the first time in 15 years and arranged a party. They live our side of PIT and we drove straight there after randomly passing the spot where United 93 (Sept 11th) plane came down – we decided to stop off and have a look…… a very moving peaceful experience.

What was really nice was that as well as Barbara’s cousins, a couple of them have children around Harrys age – I think that makes them 2nd cousins to Harry….? so he had real fun playing with his new found friends Tyson, Ava and Lily (who is still a baby).

After that fun reunion we went home to Nancy’s house and stayed a few days. We kept ourselves busy by going to see the Steelers play (Xmas prezzie for Jon) and also take Harry to the Pittsburgh Aviary to see some birds – he loved meeting the Penguin up close. Finally on New Years eve it snowed so he had a ‘Superfun’ (his word) time playing in the snow with his parents who enjoyed scoring a couple of direct hits on each other throwing snowballs……

Anyway see the below film for a summary of this time and also check out the photos of the Belsick/Hogue family and Harry with his beloved Grandma Nancy who is as always so generous with us and her grandson.

Barbara's mum's side of the family !

Harry, Tyson & Ava

Cousins Together

Er... how does this toy work again......?

Snowtastic !

Harry and Grandma !

Harry & Family at the Pumpkin Patch

Hey Folks,

I keep getting delayed in writing these posts but hey I get there in the end. Busy time at the moment for everyone it seems and oh yeah we just elected a decent President ! Werhoo !!

A couple of weeks back Harry needed some outdoor farm action so with Halloween upon us we decided to take him to a farm near Doylestown which has all sorts of interesting themed activities through the month of October.

You can pick your own Pumpkin and ride on horses, tractors and mini carts. Needless to say we had a blast and Harry has not stopped talking about it ever since.

Who needs to spend a fortune on expensive amusement parks when a lovely farm is all you need, well worth the visit and highly recommended. Check out the below film to get a taster.

Obama in Philly

We figured this could be a very historical time we are living in at the moment so decided to go and see Barack Obama speak in Philly yesterday. He was doing a whistle-stop tour of the city – 4 events around the city phew.

Our nearest one was in a park in Germantown. We got there fairly early but there were still queues around the block just to get into the Park. It took a lot of patience and 2 hrs of our time to finally make it into the park. We could not get into the compound in time but got a good spot outside looking in. It was very hectic and Barbara took Harry away to keep him sane after such a long time waiting.

The event was alot of fun and it was lovely to see so many people engaged with the world. He truely has star appeal and it was a great privalige to get to see and hear him speak live !

See below film & piccy;

He has to win !

St George’s Island Wedding

Wow it’s been a hectic September starting with the Philadelphia Live Arts and Fringe Festival which both myself and Barbara were involved in. I looked after one of the venues and Barbara produced a presenters convening. This all of course coincided with the start of my work college year for me and Barbara moving to a swanky new office for her business. Juggling Harry with Nancy’s help was tricky as we were far too busy but we got through it in the end.

The end of the month was hectic too but in a very pleasurable way. Barbara’s old college friend got married on an island in Florida’s panhandle. St George Island is its name and it is a truly wonderful place. Not overdeveloped, amazing beach that runs the length of the island with fantastic weather.

We decided to have a break from family life and deposited Harry with his grandma Nancy in Pittsburgh and went to Atlanta where Barbara had a conference and proceeded to drive to the Florida coast from there. Crazy 5 1/2 hr drive enjuring petrol shortages in Atlanta (due to the recent Hurricanes) and wild back roads through amazing state parks eventually spitting us out on the florida coast nearby the fantastic Island of St George.

We rented a rather large house on the island and met up with the wedding party and did just that for the next couple of days ! It was alot of fun and everyone was really nice and friendly. We decided to hire bikes as we didn’t want to drive so it gave us lots of opportunities to discover this magical place.

To get a taste for our time away have a look at the below video clip and pictures including Harry at Grandmas.

Enjoy and if you get the chance ….. go there !

Nice place to get shipwrecked !

The Bride and Barbara

Edd & Tasha Visit from the UK

A couple of weeks ago my old and I mean OLD… friends Edd and Tasha visited from London for 8 days. They are our first non family visitors from the UK.   

I went to University with them both in Manchester 94 – 97 ouch…. And actually went to college with Tasha before that 92 – 94 phew…… Needless to say they are good friends who have stayed in touch all these years.

It was nice to hear from them a few months ago that they fancied a trip over for their summer hols and decided a trip to Philly with a stay in New York was just the ticket ! Seemed like a great plan and it was.

I convinced them to fly into Philly as JFK New York is a nightmare and we met them at the airport and proceeded to show them the sights and sounds of Philadelphia and surrounding Pennsylvania.

Activities included a few historical sights in Philly, educating the Brits on how they lost this great nation and a nice jaunt up the Rocky Steps at the Philly Museum of Art, I knew it that Edd and Sly Stallone were separated at birth ! - see below film,

Also we took them Amish spotting in Lancaster County, about an hour from Philly. It’s lots of fun as its like being in a different country. Harry loved the area and the main town called….. wait for it…. INTERCOURSE !! Edd made sure he got a copy of the local newspaper named ‘Intercourse News’ (not kidding).

There is some farm animals there which we enjoyed petting, Harry also had to spend some time minding the tree house which watched over them.

Harry

After that we all went to New York for a couple of nights and then left them there for a further two nights. New York was a lot of fun and is as always hectic, crazy and busier than ever. It seems that now because it’s safe everyone has moved there or is visiting.

It took us two hours just to get on the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island. This was something that me and Harry had not done before so was fun to spend a day being total tourists. Barbara knew better and stayed in the hotel room working. Actually it’s one of those things that has to be done once, and the Ellis island building is very fab. I particularly enjoyed watching Tasha reject Edd’s immigration application at one of the desks in the great hall that was used, he is too London/Cockney/Southener for this place! see below;

Taking liberties again !

 

 

 

It was nice to visit some good foody places that New York is great for and having Barbara and our friend Scott who came out for a night with us made it easy to do the risk free restaurant thing.

Other sights included Brooklyn Bridge (a must), Times Square and after leaving them in NYC, they did the local knowledge thing and went up the Rockerfeller building and not the Empire State (queue nightmare). As you can see from the piccies it was the correct choice, you can see central park and the Empire State only from there.

 

 

 

They also caught Mama Mia on Broadway and a boat trip around Manhattan, then got on a ‘Megabus’ back to Philly where it was raining and felt like being back in Britain !

Our last day was spent mooching around our local neighborhood having one of those huge American breakfasts and taking them for a nice walk in a local wooded park where we have these awesome covered bridges, although if you get caught short maybe the portable toilet is not such a good idea !

Stop watching the Olympics Harry !

 

 

 

 

 

such a pleasant experience.....

Big thanks to them for a lovely visit and big thanks to family Brighton for pulling it all off !

Until the next visit from distant friends ! C’mon don’t be scared we won’t leave you with the Amish, honest….. he he

Jon’s Bday, Garden Stitches

Another year another birthday passes without much fuss. I had a nice time celebrating with Barbara in the morning by going to see Batman in an IMAX cinema, then going to a very nice Mexican restaurant in Center City Philly for lunch.

I received some lovely thoughtful gifts including a 19C print of a map of North Wales ! Also Barbara made a yummy cake for us to eat.

 

My friends Edd and Tasha are visiting from London tomorrow so it prompted us to get on with those household jobs we have been putting off. Including me replacing some window glass, replacing the doorstep and half the front door frame and tackling the back garden bank which now has no annoying berry tree that was removed earlier this summer.

The actual job of clearing some of the weed infested bank was crazy hard work. I then had the bright idea to put the tree stumps from the removed tree in a row above the newly cleared top of wall. This entailed me going to the top of the garden and rolling the stumps down to the wall. Unfortunately one of them got away from me and I proceeded to throw myself in front of it to stop it falling onto the lower garden and hitting Barbara. This was very heroic as you can imagine except I had some pruning clippers in my pocket and my forearm was pushed into my side and managed to stab myself with said clippers. Total freak accident !

A trip to the hospital and 5 stitches later I was good as gold and managed to finish the job. See below pics of the newely finished garden with tree stump battlements and my grusome scar !!

July 4

So I have been a bit lazy getting it together to write a post about a small national holiday here in the states. For those in the UK I am talking independence day, not the film, but the day Georgy Porgy (George III) lost UK sovereignty over this small postage stamp of a place !

We spent the day with my uncle’s family and friends that celebrate every year at their house. It’s nice as there are lots of young un’s there who this year took great delight in interacting with Harry. It is amazing to see how the family is getting larger by the year with the addition of Cousin Ben’s new family adding to the family fun.

There were a smattering of Brits there to make me feel not too threatened, one even mentioned how he likes to tell people here that we celebrate Independence day in Britain but treat it like thanksgiving, kinda funny especially as he said that many don’t get the joke.

Anyway Cousin Emily and husband Pablo came up from DC which was nice and the weather held off in the afternoon although it rained in the evening to dampen all the fireworks, by then though we were partied out and Harry took a well earned nap in the car on the journey home.

Bob and Linda as always were great hosts and we had a very pleasent day playing games and catching up with people. Until next year !

 

Brothers-in-law, no really one is in law, he's a lawyer

Giddy-up Daddy

Fun & Games

You were saying......?

Pittsburgh Visit to Grandma

We are just back from a week in Pittsburgh to stay with Barbara’s mum Nancy and to see the other relees including Harry’s Great Grandma Annie who is 95 ! He has 2 by the way, my Gran Millie is 98 !

Although loving the pool most of the time, Harry decided on camera to assert his independence with his great uncles Bob and Ray, click on below film.

It was a nice relaxing time and we took the opportunity of having Nancy available to spend some one on one time with the kid. It meant that myself and Barbara were able to sneak off for a couple of days and visit ‘Fallingwater’ which is this famous house built over a waterfall in a forest ! I don’t need to describe it to you, just think forest, waterfall, unique architecture….. magical stuff.

 

 

After a nice long cultural experience we checked into a hotel on top of a large mountain for a night of relaxation – yes Barbara got a massage and I swam in the Olympic size outdoor pool….. All in preparation for the next day activities which involved white water rafting !

We decided to really go for it and go on a 5 hr level 3 river rafting trip. It was totally fabulous and so enjoyable. We luckily had a guide in our boat which ensured we did not capsize unlike some of the other boats. It is so nice to float along and get the odd adrenaline rush. There were even sections of the river where we jumped in to swim and at one point a swimmable rapid which was very exciting.

It’s an all age thing, we saw old and young doing it. I highly recommend it as it ticks so many boxes – exercise, nature, cool water on a hot day and general fun at watching others get tipped into the water ! Although that’s not us in the boat, sorry we weren’t about to pay $25 for a photo, you get the picture…..

 

Anyway all in all it was lovely to get away and spend time with relatives. Harry seemed to have fun and loved having Mana (his word for Grandma) on hand to look after him.

Here they are by the way;

Harry’s 2nd Birthday

It’s amazing how fast time flies and our little or not so little boy is 2 already !

Being the centre of attention in our family has resulted in lots of thoughtful and kind presents for him to enjoy. It’s lovely to know all sides of the family make such an effort with him and it really reflects in his fun and loving character.

We decided a fun thing to do with him on his birthday was to take him to Sesame Place which is a Sesame Street themed amusement park located not too far from Philly. I was surprised to find out that people fly from all over the country to visit it.

Of course we picked one of the hottest days of the year to go there. Luckily it is part water park, part theme park so we were relieved to jump in some of the pools that they have for all ages to cool off.

Harry had a nice time, its what you expect from a place like that – lets face it it is owned by Anheiser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser and famous republicans, I think John MCcains wife is the heir to that fortune !

It was fun for him to ride on the horses which as you can see from the below photo he loved.

We attended the live Elmo show which was fun for Harry as like most kids his age ‘Elmo Rules’

Click on the below clip to get a taster.

Here is a pic of the Birthday cake which Barbara made in reverence to the ELMO !

Philly International Bike Race

On Sunday the annual international bike race happened here in Philly. It’s a really big event and very prestigious. What’s great about it is that the course runs to within 4-5 blocks of where we live.

We live on a big sloping hill and the race organizers take advantage of that and force the competitors to ride up a section of the hill that at times seems almost vertical ! Its called the Manayunk ‘WALL’. Yes indeed its a real bitch for the riders but as spectators it’s totally amazing as you get up close and personal with them as they slowly and painfully cycle past.

If you have ever seen a professional bike race, the biggest problem is that because they travel so fast you barely get chance to see them so the ‘Wall’ came to our rescue on Sunday.

Also we are having a heatwave at the moment so the poor riders had to do the course 10 times in 95 deg heat for 5 hrs ! This is also great for us as we saw them every half hour so we could move to different parts of the course. Needless to say it was a drinkfest, as lots of students and local residents who live in Manayunk (neighboring area) got into the beer on this hot day.

Click on the below clip of film taken by us, Harry loved it and was trying to touch them as they were indeed within touching distance, also the ’Wall’ does not look as steep as it actually is !