Happy 100th Birthday, Aunt Faye

My great Aunt Faye turned 100 on Sept. 10. She is my grandma DeVillars sister (the only living sibling) and lives out in a nursing home in western PA where I grew up. We love Aunt Faye and her children and their children. It was certainly an honor to travel out to help her celebrate her birthday at a party on Sept. 14. My sister from Texas flew up to Philly and traveled with us to our dad's who then drove us out to western PA. We stayed overnight and spent some time with our sister who lives out there. Us sisters hadn't been all together in over 5 years. We saw so many relatives we hadn't seen in such a long time.

We also got to see our Aunt Jo from Ohio -- our deceased mother's only sibling. Four of her five children and their spouses came too for a picnic. My Texas sister hadn't seen Aunt Jo in about 25 years. It was a very full and jammed packed weekend in western PA. The trip back home that same day was difficult and long, but we enjoyed our time together talking. It was definitely a trip we will remember for a long time.

Is it really fall?

I can't move onto fall until I wrap up summer. In August, we spent a wonderful week in Stone Harbor, NJ. We had a perfect week of weather and fun. One person missing in this picture is my sister Donna who was taking the picture. She wasn't able to go last year and was sorely missed so we all loved having her again this year. She adds so much! We ate good thanks to the young cooks. We took the girls to the Cape May Zoo which was fun too. We enjoy the beach and pool equally and are glad to have both. Our one dinner out was in Somer's Point at the Crab Trap which was super and well worth the wait to get in. It is sad to see our relaxing summer come to an end but we cherish the memories and look forward to next year!

Summer's end

I am glad to have gotten to the beach three times this year -- Wildwood with my sister, Ocean City with Bethany and Phil, and then Stone Harbor with all the family. Ocean City was very relaxing. Bethany and I enjoyed sitting on the beach reading in the morning and then walking the boardwalk and shopping. We went back to the place we were staying in Somers Point for lunch and then relax some more playing games or more shopping while we waited for Phil to get off work. We went to a movie one night and saw Wall-E. The weather was nice. We found a new love -- Shriver's gelato. I think the coconut or pistachio were my favorite flavors. It definitely hit the spot and kept us coming back for more :)