The Pokeyournose...

It dawned on me about 5 minutes ago that I never posted any photos from our extraordinary vacation in the Poconos. Since it may be our last vacation there (the place we go is in bankruptcy so the condos will still be there, but the amenities may not...) it's important to document this stay. (Although I have to add that I fully doubt the place will go anywhere...) This is the first of two posts, with pictures in sort of random order...

The thing I love about this vacation is that cousins get to really play with each other. We get condos next to each other and kids run from one to the other playing to their hearts' contents for a solid week. Hannah and Brenna developed a special bond:

But really all the kids have a great time. There was a lot of bike-riding and scooters and playground time this year:

Aunt Anonymous and Bean show where the older kids spent most of our time -- in chairs outside the condo, reading and talking to each other. Somewhere there is a picture of Uncle Anonymous which I will try to post in the next blog:

Hannah thought it was a little nippy out by Lake Harmony -- Lizzie was all set for summer:

A picture of my beautiful Little Bit and a random Split Rock tree:

 Rob and the girls and our annual picture at the Walter Francis Dam. This time the water level was low, so they could walk all the way to the end of the roadway which they did (and I did NOT):

Hannah amongst the flowers at the Walter Francis dam:

Dinner is an annual event, too. This time 3/4 of the Bentleys (with 100 percent open eyes!) joined us. Casey was there earlier in the day to play golf with Grandpa, but he left before dinner:

Hannah and Lizzie pose outside the Sunset Green just before dinner:

Here are Casey, Aunt Terry and the family patriarch Grandpa, just before they all left to play golf:

The waterpark is a HUGE adventure for the kids (and I actually like the slides, too, even though they very nearly cripple me each time I go down...) Here's Hannah displaying some of her basketball expertise. I was watching as she smoked the boys at the free throws...

Here's another shot... she LOVED tossing the ball in, but when the kids all started to play real basketball, she wasn't as interested as that required following RULES:

Tommy and Lizzie coming down the slide together:

 Lizzie just before going down the slide by herself (for the millionth time ... she was up, down, up down all day!)

And finally, Aunt Tina made a rare appearance in the waterpark. Her she is with Brenna. Maybe one of these days we'll get Beanie to go IN the water or down a slide ... but I kind of doubt it... A great time was had by all!

Way Back Weekly

It's BACK! I have completely resisted the urge to rename this feature Way Back Whenever and will start posting weekly (or as close as I can get to weekly) Way Back photos.

I'm starting with this one because I have NO idea what it is, and am hoping that Aunt Brenda and Uncle Al may chime in.

Basically it was a newspaper clipping with no caption.

My mom looks to be about 14 years old. And she is armed. The top photo is the full picture that I found in the files (which I believe would make this newsprint about 65 years old!) and the bottom photo is one that I tried to zoom in on Mom, who I think looks very much like Terry (or rather Terry looks like her) in this photo.

I'm pretty sure this is not the Massachusetts militia and I am am hoping this is not a real gun. :) Was Grandma Jo a secret re-enactor? Is this how she got her start in girl scouts? I have NO idea!

Anyway, that pretty lady is Joanne Garrity and the rest of the photo is a mystery.

The Tale of the Tumor

This has not been my favorite summer. We managed to eke out some fun because -- well -- I'm all about fun, but hanging over us all summer long was this aggressively growing lump on Lizzie's back.
Let me tell you first, though, that this story has a happy ending. The tumor is a BENIGN lipoblastoma.

Let me also tell you that the photos at the bottom of the blog may not be suitable for the SQUEAMISH (and I'm lookin' at you, Robert Rasmussen!!!) so proceed with caution.

Here's how we got to the happy ending.

This is Lizzie just before and then on the way home from the State Modeling Contest in which she participated over Memorial Day weekend (all pictures are posted with Lizzie's permission. by the way). I helped her change clothes about a dozen times throughout the competition and didn't notice anything untoward growing out of her shoulder. However, if you look at the top of her right arm of the car photo you can see what looks to be some sort of swelling. But basically, at the end of May, it wasn't even there.

And this is Lizzie at the shore. One day she was getting her bathing suit on and I was helping to adjust the straps and I noticed a small lump. I asked her if it itched or hurt, because it looked like a spider bite or some sort of reaction to a mosquito bite. There was something about it that concerned me,so I took her to the urgent care at the shore to see if they could offer treatment. They were closed. I wasn't so concerned that I did anything else about it though. The next day I called her pediatrician and made an appointment for the following Monday when we got home.

This is Dr. Williamson at Coventry Pediatrics. He's a really really good doctor and new with one look at the bump -- which by this time was probably the size of a flat ping pong ball -- that it wasn't something he wanted to be dealing with locally. So he sent us the the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania -- and let me tell you how grateful I am to live so close to CHOP. They are just extraordinary there, both in skill and their ability to work with kids (and their hypochondriac parents...). He also sent my blood pressure through the roof because I was trying to convince myself that this tumor was just a cyst. But the look on his face told me that it wasn't anything simple. Luckily Lizzie was in no pain and barely even noticed that there was a lump there at all. And, since she swims with a shirt on, no one else ever noticed the bump,either.

Shortly after the visit to the local doctor we had an ultrasound at CHOP. That test was inconclusive so about a week later Lizzie was sent for an MRI. I also took this opportunity to scare the heck out of myself by googling terms like "soft tissue tumors in childhood" and "childhood tumors." Let me tell you before you google it yourself == NOTHING GOOD comes from those searches.

(This is Lizzie in the outfit she had to wear -- at first she wasn't happy with how big it was and then she got used to it once the drugs started to kick in...)

The ultrasound was really nothing and it was the first time I heard the word lipoblastoma. But since the doctor couldn't be sure, he needed an MRI, so off we went. The MRI was a blast for Lizzie who got to be sedated -- and have an Icee when they woke her up. The sedation was so strong though, that I basically spent the rest of the afternoon with a sorority girl who had too much to drink at a frat party. She was alternately laughing, singing, snuggling and crying. She informed me during this time that I had two heads and that she knew how to use the toilet, but needed me to hold her on it. :)

The MRI showed some sort of lipotomous (fatty) mass of indeterminate quality (in other words it was a fatty tumor, but they weren't sure what kind.) In general benign fatty tumors are very slow growing, and Lizzie's was growing fast. It was shortly after this that we met Dr. Peter Mattei, Lizzie's surgeon. He said he wouldn't be able to accurately diagnose it until it came out, but really the only treatment available for any sort of fatty tumor is to cut it out. I was all for that, as the thing was getting quite large and was starting to annoy Lizzie when she sat in the car or watched television.

We took off for the Poconos for our annual visit with the Garritys, but left the Poconos for the afternoon of pre-op testing, which went smoothly, until I asked the doc if he was still going with benign and he said that the way it was growing so quickly was concerning. Luckily the surgery was the following week (Aug. 28) so we didn't have long to wait and I didn't have long to worry about it.

(Lizzie at the Poconos, oblivious to the drama...)

Grandma Connie stayed over Monday night so we could be at the hospital by 8 a.m. on Aug. 28 (which meant leaving by 6:15 in anticipation of Philly traffic) and we also weren't sure if she'd be able to come home that day or not.

We took some pictures of  "Gary" the tumor (named for SpongeBob's snail) to remember him when he was gone for good:

They took Lizzie in for surgery at around 10 a.m. and they were done by 11 a.m. and the doctor said it really couldn't have gone better. It presented some challenges because it was near things like muscles and nerves and skin, but all's well that ends well and Lizzie came home with us. Oh, and Dr. Mattei said the tumor didn't look evil at all, which really put my mind at ease. Lizzie was tired and cranky -- especially after I yelled at her for doing CARTWHEELS -- and slept very well that night. The next day she felt some pain, but was basically on the mend.
The worst part of the day for her (at least until the painkillers started to wear off) was the hat they wanted her to wear:

But she got used to it (thanks again to the amazing drugs at CHOP!!) and was ready for the surgery:

And then it was GONE:

They used dermabond, so Lizzie didn't need stitches, or even a bandage. She took tylenol and codeine for a few days, then switched to Advil and then by Labor Day, said she didn't need any pain medication. She did go to the nurse on the first day of school for some Advil but that was probably caused by carrying those backpacks that weigh about a million pounds with school supplies. Everyone was all smiles on the first day of school! Hannah was great through it all, too, and tried her best to not be jealous of the attention that Lizzie was getting. AND she got to spend the day with Grandma, so she got a bit of attention herself. We had a very peaceful house for a good 48 hours!!!

A week later the pathology was back and the tumor was benign -- just a fatty tumor that could grow back, but probably won't. YAY!!!

THE END!!!

30 years!

This is the second of several posts that I'm catching up on. Make sure to scroll down to see how we spent the day with the Kevins a few weeks ago!

Somehow, impossibly, Terry and Ray have been married for 30 years. Now, Terry was something of a child bride, but since I am two years older than she is -- it's just hard to wrap my brain around.

Originally I  had planned to put a photo of Terry and Ray's wedding but I don't have one. I can't believe it, but I've looked through all my photos (including pix from weddings I wasn't even at!) and I can't find one. So, instead I'll have to tell you what I remember about Terry's wedding. It was the first time I'd ever been someone's Maid of Honor. I did manage to put together a surprise shower (my favorite kind) and it had a cooking theme. All of the attendees brought their favorite recipe and some sort of gift that went along with it. Since I was the maid of honor I got her a peignoir set, but I hid it in a set of cookie pans.

Her shower was also memorable because I was living in Boston and planned to drive back to New York with much of the stuff I'd baked in the back seat of my car. Then my car broke down. So instead I had to fly home with my suitcases filled with cookies and cream puff shells.

The wedding day itself was the usual craziness. My primary memory (other than the rolling bar) was Terry saying she could NOT get married because the flowers that were going to be on the tables at the reception were ALL wrong. And I also remember that when Ray knelt down at the alter his brothers had written OH NO in tape on the bottoms of his shoes! Funny stuff.

Well, she did get married and now, 30 years later we are celebrating that! Terry and Ray had a party to celebrate that milestone ... here are some of the pictures from that party:

Here's the happy couple. They are dancing in this picture, which I didn't take. Thankfully someone else picked  up my camera and shot some photos while I was yelling at the kids (all the kids!) down at the pool:

Terry and one of her best buds, Lisa:

The band was Nate and the Aces, but Ray sat in on the bass for a few songs, too:

The kids were there, too. Here's Casey (now a college sophomore) and a few of his friends trying to dance and light tiki torches simultaneously:

And here's Shelby (on the right) a college graduate with two of her friends:

My dad offered a toast:

Bob and Hannah danced with Uncle Ray:

Bob, the girls, Tommy and Brenna all played the very dangerous game of Jarts and lived to tell of it. Here's Lizzie winding up:

And Tommy letting one fly:

Here are two more lifeguards. There were a lot of kids at the pool so we needed lots of lifeguards. Luckily we had several adults at the pool. Unluckily not a one of us was prepared to jump in and save the kids. Luckily, that wasn't necessary:

As usual, T.A. spent his time wisely:

Here's to another 30 years and a CRUISE to celebrate it:

The Kevins!

I am waaaaaay behind in my blogging. I'm going to be making up for that in the next few days so stay tuned. Even though I haven't been POSTING about our summer, we have most certainly be ACTIVE this summer and, of course, I've go the pictures to prove it.

Let's begin with the Kevins! We had our semi-annual visit with the girls' birthfamily. We try to get together in the summer each year and then sometime around the girls' birthday. I honestly don't really think of it as getting together with their birthfamily -- more just like spending time with friends!
This year we decided to spend the afternoon at our pool and then have a BBQ back at our house.

Big Kevin brought the girls (and Little Kevin, who is not so little anymore as he approaches his 12th birthday!!) water guns and they had a great time. Here's Big Kevin attacking Hannah who was trying to sneak up on Lizzie:

Big Kevin took a more direct route to getting Little Kevin wet -- just tossed him in the pool!

Of course the kids got him right back:

Rob got in on the fun, too, but I stayed completely OUT of the water and mostly got up to date with Grandma Kevin and Girlfriend Kevin...

And speaking of Girlfriend Kevin, here is Tanja and Sunshine (the hamsters make an appearance during every event we host around here...) back at the house after the BBQ. The afternoon was filled with swimming and good food and lots of talking and talking and talking... 

And even a smooch or two... I love the girls' expressions in this one!

This is my new favorite picture of the three siblings. What's extra interesting about this photo is how tall Hannah is. Little Kevin is two years older than she is and she's nearly as tall:

It was dark by the time we'd wrapped up the food and conversation but it was (as always!) great to see them and we all had a wonderful time.