Happy 2014

We were fortunate in that we were able to bring the new year in with family this year and didn't have to fly out until later in the afternoon on January 1.  So the whole Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen clans gathered at the Balestracci household for one final celebration to end 2013 with a bang.

Callie and Reese were very excited to take part in all of the festivities.  They put the new year accessories to work right away and prepared for the evening's activities with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

It was such a festive occasion that we even convinced Mike to put on his party hat and hang out with us for a little while before he headed out the tackle the Guilford high school New Year's Eve scene.  We were happy to make the cut and believe that Mike thoroughly enjoyed his time with us.  But he did make sure to leave his hat at the house before he left.  Understandable.

The party spirit gripped everyone in the house, and flashbulbs popped as we prepared for great appetizers made by Suzy and scarfed down by everyone.  Katie worked hard to put together a great main course while Chris ensured that everyone had the fine wine they needed to complement it all.  It was a wonderful feast, and this restaurant didn't even have a minimum gratuity despite the size of our party.

We even made time for some post dinner entertainment.  John, Mike, Brian, Callie, and Brendan all played the new game the Balestracci boys received from Suzy, Brian, and Zoey for Christmas.  The name of the game eludes us at the moment, but there were villages, smithies, and other assorted action cards that made for a good time.  John was particularly fortunate that Brian not only explains the rules of these games well but also does not take advantage of the naiveté of his competitors.

This picture highlights the age of all three of the girls.  The youngest, Zoey, looks at the dessert longingly and with some hint of sadness is not sure if they are just for decoration or if she will actually get a taste.  Then you have Reese, who is a little older, and has the experience to know that if she smiles for the picture she is sure to get the goodies on display in front of her.  But you can tell from her forced smile that she is not completely secure in that conclusion.  Callie, on the other hand, exudes the cool confidence of a child who knows that on a night like this, the kids will not only get the dessert, but will probably get more than usual because the parents are caught up in the excitement of the evening.

Since Suzy and Katie took on the nutritional part of the menu, it was only fitting that Sarah provided ample amounts of sugar and a high degree of messiness.  With that being said, it was a sure thing when it came to family fun.  We first painted the cones with melted chocolate and put them outside to harden.  Then we got to sit around the table and decorate the cones with an array of fine candied goods.  And last but certainly not least, we put ice cream in those cones and ate them up.

It was fun to have activities like this that engaged all age groups and kept us all together having fun for hours on end.  Reese, as usual, needed a little extra adult attention since she has a habit of using the array of candied goods for personal use more than communal decoration.  In short, Reese is no dummy, and her cute smile is a good cover for the scheming mind behind it.

This year we added a great new tradition that we hope will stick.  We created time capsule informational sheets that included a variety of questions.  For example, one question asked for your favorite movie and another asked your height.  We spent some time answering these questions and the goal will be that next year, when we go to make new ones, we will get to look at the previous year's answers to see what has changed.  It should be fun, as long as we can remember where we put the sheets.  We are sure they are in a safe place.


All in all, we had a lot of great memories to reflect back on as a family as we brought an end to 2013.  We are very lucky to have each other.

And of course, we are lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family that surround us from near and far.  We can only hope that 2014 brings even more good times.

Nana Banana turns 70!

The next big event on the schedule was a birthday party for Nana Banana, who had turned 70 earlier in December.  Now was our chance to celebrate in style with her extended family gathered around her.

Such events would not count unless the Skonieczny's were involved in some manner.  It is highly possible that there is an official Skonieczny quota for Bowes events to count as official.  On the left we have two of the Skonieczny representatives in the persons of Melanie Loeber and her son Jack.  Jack may very well be one of the sweetest and well behaved gentle soul we have ever met.  We were scared what Reese might be able to teach him in such a short period of time.   We don't think she did any permanent damage fortunately.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Santa brought Callie exactly what she wanted, a rainbow loom.  And as a special treat, we let Callie bring her rainbow loom to CT.  She proceeded to take orders from all of her relatives so that she could make bracelets in each person's favorite colors.  Here she shows her Great Aunt Terry how she puts it all together.  It was so much fun to watch Callie give gifts to all the people who have been so incredibly generous to her over the years.

Another special treat that evening was Jay making his famous Cherry's Jubilee.  Of course, that is not the only reason he is getting such a big hug from Brendan.  However, Brendan wanted to be by his grandfather's side so that he could observe and learn about the dessert that specifically requires you to light things on fire.  Seriously though, this is such a sweet picture, and it really was wonderful to see the two of them working together to get the dessert ready.

All good parties have more than one dessert, and here we see the guest of honor blowing out the candles on her birthday cake with the assistance of Callie and Reese.  The girls are more than happy to be involved in anything that might lead to getting dessert.  And Nana Banana ensured they were first in line to get a taste.

Because of the scheduled events we got to spend an entire day with Tommy and Terry, which is a gift in and of itself.  They both work too hard, and we don't get to see them as often as we would like.  Hopefully one day we will be successful in getting them to come to Kentucky for a little horse racing or some college basketball.  We happen to be pretty good at both of those things down here.  Just saying.

The great times continued long into the evening, and another highlight was watching Callie and Reese spend time with the Skonieczny kids.  Here is Ella, Mike and Kristen's oldest, reading to the girls and Jack.  We would be quite happy if the girls simply followed in Ella's path.  She is a wonderful girl and has a joy for life that is fun to see.

One other event that is a must do each year is the sibling dinner.  This time we managed to fit it in the night after the birthday party and headed out to Branford all packed into one vehicle.  It is safe to say that John could not have asked for better brothers-in-law.  Chris and Brian are both easy going, fun to spend time with, and genuine to the core.

It's great that all of us get along so well and want to make the effort to be with each other.  And it always helps that Nana Banana, Sport, and the older cousins are willing to take on the little ones for the night so that we can all go out.  And in case you missed the theme of the CT posts so far, we will say that the good times were not over by far.  There was still a big night to come!

Christmas on the East Coast

Once Christmas was wrapped up in Kentucky, we woke up the next morning before the sun rose and jumped on a plane to kept the party going in Connecticut.  Within hours we were at Nana Banana and Sport's house with all of the cousins enjoying a second Christmas dinner.

And of course, it was not just a second round of good food.  It was a second round of presents.  So as you can imagine, the girls had no problem adjusting to the travel fatigue since it meant more packages to open.

Aunt Suzy and Aunt Katie seem to always spoil Callie and Reese at Christmastime, and we have no problem with that.  Especially when Aunt Suzy showcases her sewing talents by making the girls their own superhero capes with initials and everything.  We'll be honest, we were a little sad that there wasn't a package with adult-sized capes with a J and an S.  Maybe next year.

Suzy wasn't the only one to showcase her talent.  Nana Banana presented Reese with her edition of the Christmas family heirloom.  If you can't tell what it is from the picture, it is a felt ornament of Reese in her mouse costume from Halloween 2012.  Nana Banana made one for Callie several years ago, and of course there are the original three of Katie, Suzy, and John that annually vie for top of the tree at the Bowes household.  We hope the girls keep up the tradition as well.  As you can see here, Reese made sure to inspect the ornament closely to ensure it had the quality to last for years to come.

 Everyone says that you should spend your holidays with friends and family.  We certainly believe that both groups of people are critically important.  So even as we made time for family we made sure to spend time with great friends as well.  In fact, truth be told, in the seven nights we were in CT we went out for three adult only dinners.  We were impressed with how much time we generously gave our family alone with our girls.  In any case, pictured here are John and his childhood friend Jason, who we see far too infrequently.  It was great to catch up with Jason and his wife Michelle.  However, as we always say, it is never enough time.

Meanwhile, as John and Jason were sampling some good bourbon, the girls had a fun night at Nana Banana and Sport's house with Aunt Suzy, Uncle Brian, and Zoey.  It is very sweet how much they enjoy hanging out with Zoey.  It's funny, they take a lot of pride in being the older cousins.  Of course, as the years go by these three girls are going to have loads of fun together.  We can't wait!

Some of the best times, though, are when everyone is just hanging out at the house.  Suzy and Brian made sure to come over bright and early many mornings and we made sure to stay in our pajamas extra late.  Katie and Chris were wonderful hosts as they did everything they could to make us feel right at home.  And we had no problem helping ourselves to everything and anything in the house.

Fortunately the weather cooperated to the extent that we were able to make some trips to the beach to get some fresh ocean air and a little exercise on the playground.  We do have to remind our children that it is not normal for a kid to see both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean on a yearly basis.  And even more unusual is the fact that we have often found swing sets right on the beaches we visit on both coasts.


It was definitely a little windy down at the Surf Club, but it was sunny and we had a lot of fun.

It never gets old taking the girls to places that were such big parts of our childhood.  John is just thankful that the Surf Club has long since replaced the playground that he and his co-workers installed back in the summers of 1993 and 1994.  That was not exactly "safe" or "inspected by experts".

The next order of business in the Christmas schedule of events was the always highly anticipated family meal with Uncle Tommy and Aunt Terry.  It is amazing to think how big the table has gotten over the years we have been doing this.  In fact, if memory serves correctly, these holiday gatherings began before the thirteen-year-old boy to the left was even born.  Therefore, the table seating has gone from nine to fifteen.  It's gotten a bit louder and even more fun.

And then there is the kid to the right, who is now sixteen and looking at colleges.  And while he still looks like he could pass for sixteen, we are not talking about Chris.  Instead we are talking about Mike, who remains an incredible cousin to the three young girls who demand his attention whenever he walks in the room.  It's pretty impressive to watch him be so cool yet so engaged and playful with his cousins.  We are very fortunate.

Since our family has grown so much, holidays have gotten a bit trickier.  Not only do we alternate west and east coast holidays, but when we come east we alternate the family we stay with during the visit.  So while at Christmas we get a ton of time with the Balestracci clan, we don't get as much casual time over at Green Hill Road with Nana Banana and Sport.  So we try and pack as much in as possible in the moments we do have together.  And at the family meal we also get to play musical chairs to move around and chat with as many people as possible.

Sarah loves to take pictures and every once and a while gets a great shot.  We think you all would agree that this shot of Suzy and Zoey is pretty darn good. Many times Zoey is so overwhelmed and potentially in a state of shock when the whole family is together that her beautiful smile is held in reserve.  No problem here, that's for sure.  She is a very cute little girl.

And then we have Sport with his three granddaughters.  It would be difficult to find a happier person than him in that moment in time.  These are the grandkids that live farther away, so to have all three of them on his lap at once is special to say the least.  And you can see from their faces that the feeling is mutual.  We especially enjoy Zoey's casual look and demeanor.  When people say, act like you have been there before, this is exactly what they mean.


And we cap it all off with a momentous picture.  It is momentous not because we have the whole family in it or that it happened.  It is momentous because the person taking the picture had the good sense to stand back and not make people crouch.  Nor do we have anyone standing closer to the camera than anyone else and looking disproportionately large.  You think we are joking.  Take a few moments and look back at the posts from previous Christmas meals with Tommy and Terry.  Christmas 2011 is particularly special with what we like to call Giant Tommy.

Believe it or not, this was only the first three days of the trip.  We still had a couple of big events to go.