Fall Road Tripping - To Ohio for the Hallow Summit

Hallow from the other side!  

We just did a whirlwind drive from MA to MD to PA to OH to MD to MA in order to attend the Hallow Summit and see our lovies out at Franciscan University this past weekend.  We left early Thursday morning with our youngest three kids in our giant 12 passenger van, so even Lucy Doodle got a seat.

We arrived at Phil's parent's house after a pretty long trip filled with traffic, but who could complain with this warm weather in October?

The Twins (born 9 days apart)

We left Declan and Brendan and Lucy with Phil's parents, who not only kept them alive but did lots of fun activities with them, and then Xander, Phil and I headed to Phil's brother's house in PA where we spent the night.  My sister-in-law happens to be my bestie, so we love any chance to sit and catch-up, especially when it's outside by the fire pit.  We stayed up way too late (midnight!) but were on the road at 6:30 am Friday morning to get to Franciscan so Xander could join in with the official college visitors.  We made it to campus and ran up to this science and engineering presentation:

Maggie had been stalking our location and we had a romcom-style running up to each other big hug in the academic building.  Ah it was so great to see our girlie again.  Then we had lunch in the cafe with Xander, Mass with Maggie and Eamon (so beautiful that I couldn't stop crying) and a tour of campus that we skipped because we're pretty fluent in Franciscan campus.  We randomly saw our nephew:

Xander got a haircut the next day

And Maggie and her college bestie eating lunch outside:

Week in Review: Feast Days, Fundraisers, Fall Fun

Happy October!  We had another full week here in the Martin family, which included a lot of worrying over JP's whereabouts while he was serving a medical mission in Guatemala.  He arrived back to school late Saturday night, thanks be to God, and I'm hoping to have him post a little about his adventures soon.  Here's one photo from the hospital, where he was allowed to scrub in on some surgeries:

I saw a recipe that looked good on Instagram, and tried it, and it was!  Butternut Squash Soup with Boursin.  I topped with Hot Honey and some Chow Mein noodles we had leftover.

We had bought some Chicken and Cilantro wontons at Costco last time we went and I turned them into a quick soup with chicken broth, sesame oil, soy sauce, hot chili sauce, garlic and onion.  We all loved it and it took less than 15 minutes:

Week in Review: Sickies, Stormies, Studies, and Service

Happy Friday, errr Monday!  Xander and Brendan stayed home sick on Friday, so I used a sick day to play nurse and I brought them to the doctor to get tested for all the things before our big stormy Nor'easter weekend.  They were negative for everything, so just a run of the mill virus it twas.

Happy to have the throat swab and nose swab over with!

Out in Ohio, Maggie brought her friend to Urgent Care because she was feeling sick with mouth/throat pain.  Maggie volunteered because "I thought she probably had strep and I'm immune to strep since I had my tonsils out."  Girl!  That's not even true, but she hasn't had strep since, sooooo hmm.  Anyway she took her friend who ended up being diagnosed with Hand Foot and Mouth.  Ugh!  So painful and soooo contagious.  Praying Maggie doesn't get it and that she will somehow be immune to that because she has no tonsils ;)

All up in each others business

"Studying"

Intramurals

Xander 's Cross Country meets are usually at 3:30 and I get out of work at 4 so I don't get to see them, but Phil was able to catch one last week:

Sophomore Year

Martins on a Mission

Hi! Our names are Andrew and Maggie Martin, and we are siblings and students at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Andrew is a senior biology major, and Maggie is a freshman nursing major. 

 We will be going on a mission trip to Arizona in March, and we are responsible for raising the funds required for our trip ($2,000 each). Andrew completed this mission trip last year and had such a wonderful experience that he is the mission team leader this year, and Maggie is so excited to join her big brother in serving those in need. 

 This mission focuses on working in a Catholic school just inside the U.S. border with Hispanic students who cross the border each day to attend the school. We collaborate with the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. 

 Thank you so much for your financial support and, more importantly, your prayers for a successful mission where we can help a lot of people.  Thank you all in advance :)

Week in Review: Fall Sports, Fall Pictures, and an Actual Fall

Happy Friday my friends!  

Last Friday, Phil, my parents and I went out to dinner at the restaurant next to our shop to celebrate the closing of the Cottage, and it was delicious!  

My mom will happily give up carbs at dinner to leave room for dessert :)

The next day was spent deep cleaning, with little helpers:

In this off season, we will be replacing the roof and floors and are currently getting quotes.  We called it the Ice Cream COTTAGE because it is a tiny space, but the prices we are getting for roofs and floors feel like they're for a mansion.

I took a half day from work last Friday, just because I wanted a little break, and decided to try and take my half day off in the morning, instead of after lunch.  I dropped the kids at school, walked on the treadmill at the gym and took a delightfully hard cardio and weight class, came home and walked the dog a mile.  I had almost hit my daily move goal by 10:30am!  It was my perfect way to spend the morning, and then I showered and ate and went into work for 4 hours.  I think I prefer taking half days like this because when I used to work in the morning and leave at lunch time, I would go to the gym, then drive home, shower, eat and the kids would be getting home from school already.  It didn't really feel like time off.  Having hours to myself in the morning felt luxurious!  I can't wait to be a stay-at-home grandma one day.

Saturday morning brought Declan's first soccer game:

and then a birthday party at Top Golf:

Week in Review: Cottage Closing, Living Life, and a Physical PSA

I was trying to think back as to what went on this week and the biggest and bestest news was that The Ice Cream Cottage is officially closed for Season 4.  Woohoo!  We were running it on a skeleton crew, with Phil and Xander working doubles each day, so it is nice to be done with that until next May (once it's cleaned and winterized, of course).  

The last shift of wonderful workers

Even I had to go in on the last day because we were so busy and they needed waffle cones!

Once a season whether I like it or not

Fr. Cook helping himself to a last supper scooper

Everytime we covered up a flavor with tape, the crowd booed.  It was very dramatic! I loved it!

By the end, we only had Rum Raisin and Grapenut left (aka the old people flavors, even though I love grapenut), and people just kept ordering them until this was all the ice cream we had left in the shop:

Xander: I've never heard so many people ordering Grapenut before!

Me: That's because it's all we have left.  Desperate times!