Mother's Day Weekend and An Honor for Eamon

Mother's Day was the perfect weather here in southcoast Massachusetts - sunny and just about 70 degrees.  Due to work schedules and Mass attendance, we celebrated on Saturday morning with a breakfast out and only have this low-level selfie to prove it:

But I don't care because all my kids were there!  We then drove to The Cottage to take our annual family photo:

Wow has Xander grown!

Later on Saturday, Eamon had one soccer game, and Declan had two soccer games (one was a makeup for a cancelled game) and the sky decided to lightly drizzle while we were on the field.  This is why I prefer volleyball and basketball spectating to soccer spectating:

But the rain cleared out (is this a weather blog now?) and I took some kids to the vigil Mass with me where Father gave a beautiful blessing for Mother's Day:

It was hard not to cry through that blessing!

Week in Review: Another Pope, Another Season, Another Acceptance

Happy Friday!  

We have a new American Pope!

I got 21 texts within a few minutes once he was named, so even though I don't watch the news, I know the important things :)  Also, went on a deep dive to find out more about him:

Not only did we get a new Pope yesterday, but we also opened The Ice Cream Cottage for Season 3, and my brain is fried from *waves hands around wildly* everything.  But it's pretty much all GOOD things, just BUSY things, just LOTS of things.  Y'all can relate.

Opening Night!

Once we got back from Spring Break, it was time to really buckle down and get The Cottage ready to open, order inventory, shop, clean, organize, create social media content, etc.  To be honest, Phil runs the front end of the shop, and I keep it running in the background, where introverts thrive.  The kids are really great about helping out when they are not busy with school/friends/events/studying and somehow it all comes together by God's grace.  We have lots of new updates for this season, including a second soft serve machine that will house coffee soft serve and Dole Whip, plus an extended sidewalk with outdoor seating and umbrellas for our customer's comfort.

There are a few weeks of overlap between the ice cream shop and our "second jobs" - Phil is the DRE at our parish (his first job is a full-time high school Theology teacher) and I teach two accounting classes online at Franciscan University (my first job is a full-time District Accountant for a town's public schools) - so once Religious Ed classes/sacraments are over for Phil, and once I can submit my final grades at the end of this semester, things should hopefully be less stressful.

Muahahaha.

Why do I always believe that lie?

Our parish's First Communion last Sunday - Xander and Declan served

Anyway, life isn't all work, there have been lots of family things happening as well. 

Battle of Yorktown and Medical School Tours

On our last full day in Williamsburg, VA, we drove half an hour away to visit Yorktown, where the final battle of the American Revolution occurred.  Of course we listened to, and sang at the top of our lungs, select Hamilton songs on the way.  Guys, this place is so beautiful that it's hard to imagine the violent siege that once took place.

That's the American Revolution River Cruise ship in the background.

Yorktown has free trolleys with lots of stops where you can get off and on to see all the sights! 

Phil's always creating races or obstacle courses for the kids:

Colonial Williamsburg and Lazy Resort Days

We stayed in Williamsburg for four nights, and spent the day after Busch Gardens just relaxing around the resort.  Actually, Phil and I woke up and went for a run, then gathered all the kiddos and headed to Publix for groceries.  They all wanted to go because they like Publix and we don't have one near us, so it's a vacationy thing to do.  We had created an easy meal plan and made the grocery list ahead of time and it actually worked out perfect with hardly any food leftover that we needed to take back to MD with us at the end of our stay.  We will keep that meal plan and grocery list for future trips!

We have stayed at Greensprings before, but now it is owned by Hilton, and they are doing some construction and making some changes.  The only downside was that even though it felt like summer weather to us, the outdoor pool didn't open until May 1.  But this place has so many upsides!  We love it because you can get a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite with a kitchen and family room and dining room for pretty inexpensive.  We got two suites (so four bedrooms total that were right across from each other) for four nights for less than $800.  It allowed us to cook our meals and have plenty of space.  Honestly, we only have 2 bathrooms at home so having 4 bathrooms felt incredible luxurious!  As did the large tubs in the master baths:

Simple lunches of sandwiches, chips and fruit

Even though it was our Spring Break week, it seems that nobody else got the memo because the place was so quiet and almost everything we went to do was like a private event!

Pool to ourselves

Workout room to ourselves

Jacuzzi to ourselves

Mini Golf to, you guessed it, ourselves

The amount of fun these boys can have with a ball in the pool is wild.  They were jumping and catching, making up games to throw through the rafters, etc.  Maggie and I were amazed at their simple fun ways.

The resort is situated next to a golf course that you can see out of your balcony/windows and Eamon and Andrew brought their clubs to take advantage.  Hard to tell, but they're playing on the hole right behind our building:

They did not invite Maggie after her showing at the driving range back in Maryland:

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg 2025

We woke up bright and early on Easter Monday to drive straight to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA to be there right before it opened at 10 am.  We were shocked to hear the news of Pope Francis' passing before we left Phil's parents house.

Andrew was supposed to have driven back to college after spending Easter with us in Maryland...but he doesn't have classes on Mon, Wed, Fri and decided to skip Tuesdays classes in order to vacation with us in Williamsburg for a few days.  Worth it!

We just love Busch Gardens (not a sponsored post but if anyone knows anyone heehee).  It's clean and there are lots of beautiful grounds and walkways, cute shows, and it was not busy at all, so lines moved quickly.  I just love hanging out with my kids so much sans work and sports schedules.  They're fun!!

Easter is a Season, So This Post Isn't Technically Late

Hello!  Happy Easter!  On Good Friday, we drove down to visit Phil's side of the family in Maryland.  We left at 4:30 am and arrived at 11:30 am with one quick stop at Wawa for gas and coffee (My Uncle Tom loved Wawa and we don't have them near us so I took a picture to send to my mom):

Slainte Uncle Tom

I had kept a little secret from the family... a certain someone was able to drive from college in Ohio to celebrate Easter with us in Maryland!

Andrew!

We all went to the Good Friday service and then to our friends, Andrew and Katie's house to have some pizza and a bonfire and let the kids play.

On Holy Saturday, Phil's sister, Diana, came with her cuties to hang out, and Phil's sister, Kelly, sent her kids over as well while she worked.  I don't have many photos, but please imagine tons of cousins running around and playing together in the beautiful summer-like weather.

Like father...

... like son!

Give Maggie a child and she's a happy girl