We Miss You Aunt Jenise & Happy Birthday!!!

Jenise Fortunato, my best friend from the days of junior high school back in Franklin Square, spent the month of July in Philadelphia.  She stayed at Drexel while participating in an Abolitionist Movement teacher seminar.  Jenise went to college in Rochester, New York, and began her teaching career there after graduating.   Because of the distance, we've seen each other sporadically through the years, usually just for a long weekend.  Having Jenise around for a month was a rare treat, and a great opportunity for her to spend some quality time with the girls! 

Aunt Jenise met Leah for the first time, and quickly became reacquainted with Eliana.  Eliana was instantly in love.  It did not hurt matters that Aunt Jenise brought presents each and every time she entered our house.  (All month!) But, even presents aside, it soon became clear that Aunt Jenise was a lot cooler than Mommy. First of all, she is into princesses.  She knows every Disney princess story, and even sings the songs from the movies, on key!  Eliana and Leah both enjoyed snuggling up on Aunt Jenise's lap to listen to Disney princess songs on You Tube.


 
Leah's pretty picky about who she hangs with, and you can see she is quite happy with Aunt Jenise.  Jenise got to experience just how snuggly and cuddly the little one is.  And I got to stay out of the Slime Bucket, which makes me really queasy! 
 

Here we are before church one Sunday.  Eliana decided she wanted to stay with the grownups and listen to the Pastor so she could spend more time with Aunt Jenise.  (We didn't let her though - she is an absolute terror in church!!)

Aunt Jenise even helped out with bath time, and did hair too!  Not to mention manicures and pedicures for both girls.

This is a very rare moment in Dillard life.  Both girls are actually sleeping here - not pretending!  Eliana falls asleep in the car about twice a year, so it is a big moment!  This was on the way to Wegman's.  (Aunt Jenise may have been pretending!)

 Daddy of course took the opportunity to sleep.  

Even Mommy decided to take a little snooze.  Actually though, the funny part was how energized the little cherubs were once we got into Wegmans.  Eliana of course only wanted to hang with Aunt Jenise.  Aunt Jenise, being much cooler than Mommy, lets Eliana get away with a lot.  Like, running up and down the aisles of Wegmans.  Poor Aunt Jenise!  She needed a real nap after this excursion.

Aunt Jenise proved her bravery by babysitting these girls by herself, and even braving the playground and The Little Treehouse with them.  It was great to have some date time with Pete while she babysat!  But, it was even greater to watch the bond forging between these ladies.  It was kind of surreal.  I distinctly remember us promising each other that we'd always be friends, even when we had kids, even when we got to be REALLY old, like 30!   Part of me still feels like that 14 year old getting into mischief all the time with Jenise . . and as much as everything is different now, a lot of things are still the same too.  It was great having Jenise around all month and getting to spend so much time together after all these years.  It made me wish that Rochester and Glenside were a lot closer, but grateful that some friendships just graduate to sisterhood, so distance is not such an obstacle.

So, it's been a few weeks since Aunt Jenise has gone back to Rochester.  But Eliana still remains the President of the Fan Club.  She is missing her Aunt Jenise.  She's told me that sometimes she imagines that  Aunt Jenise is her Mommy, that she really wants us to take a trip to Rochester to visit her, and that I should learn some more princess songs.

                                                  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JENISE! 
We all miss you and love you!  Hope that this year is as amazing and special as you are!!!

Daddy's On Vacation!

Our weekend away in Lewes, Delaware kicked off two weeks of vacation for Pete.  We decided to spend the first part of our vacation in New York.  Our first stop was to visit Gran on Roosevelt Island.  We enjoyed a lot of good food at Trellis, and then spent the afternoon walking around the Island. 

 

The highlight for the girls was the sprinkler park.  They would have stayed there all day. My favorite was watching them try to figure out how to fill water balloons in the fountain.  They were working so hard together.

The next day we celebrated Mom & Dad's 40th Anniversary with Aunt Jessie & Sara, Uncle Matt, Aunt Jill & Penelope.  Eliana and Leah were thrilled to spend time with their cousins. We attempted a professional family portrait at Sands Point Preserve.  The kids all looked especially adorable, despite the 95 degree heat and mosquito attacks.  We celebrated with dinner at Benihana, and the kids of course loved the ice cream.

 Happy 40th Anniversary to Mom & Dad!!  We love you!!!

We had a lot more fun that did not get captured on film, including a lovely trip to the beach, a trip back to Roosevelt Island where we rode the tram and went to Dylan's Candy Bar, and a secret grownups only excursion to Ralph's late at night.  (Philadelphian's, Rita's is NOTHING compared to Ralph's.  Once you've had Ralph's you can't go back.)



These pictures do capture the essence of our very long car ride home though.  After several hours in traffic, little Leah has had it.  And below, Eliana is making good use of our spacious minivan, and portable potty, as we're pulled over on the side of the NJ Turnpike. 

Back home in Pennsylvania we continued to enjoy Pete's vacation.  The playground is definitely more fun with Daddy around.  He pushes way higher on the swings!  So high that Mommy can't even watch!! 

 

We went on outings to Happy Tymes, U-Swirl, and even the Mann Music Center for a concert.  And we really enjoyed hanging out with beloved houseguest, "Aunt Jenise," but more on that later!

  But MOSTLY what we enjoyed was the emergence of the man you see below, who we call Vacation Pete around here.  Vacation Pete smiles bigger, laughs more, and tells the corniest jokes ever.  Once removed from the stress of Lakeside School, Vacation Pete is in rare form, and you never know what could happen!  I can't even imagine if he got rid of the Blackberry for a few weeks!!!  :-)

Peter is back at work now, and while we're sad to see Vacation Pete go, we are glad that he had the luxury of a vacation, and that he has a good job to return to.  The kids are still adjusting to Daddy being back at work.  When Pete left for work Monday morning Eliana woke up to tell him that she had already started missing him, and all week Leah has been calling out the window every time she hears a lawnmower.  Whether it is Vacation Pete or Regular Pete, he is a popular guy around here.