Family Get Together--Grandma's 80th Birthday

This weekend was a great time for our family. We all descended or ascended depending on geographic location to Leola, PA to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday. It was a great time to get together with loved ones, and have a good time celebrating Grandma's 80th year of life.

We left Norwich on Friday morning and had a pretty smooth trip to Lancaster County. In light of today's gasoline prices, we all squeezed into Dad's minivan for the 290 mile trip. With DVD player's, Ipod's, the trip was fairly easy for the 6 and 8 year old in our midst.

We arrived, got checked in and enjoyed a nice meal with Grandma, Grandpa, and the Kentucky clan of our family. Jay was particularly happy to see Campbell. This was the first time since our wedding that Elaine was able to truly get to know many members of my family, so I was happy for that.

On Saturday morning, the DC area contigent of our family arrived and soon we left for the "Birthday" dinner Miller's Smorgasbord. It was perhaps the largest buffet I have seen in quite some time and the food quality was great. What was better was enjoying the time together with family and having some nice chats with my cousins, Aunts and Uncles. After filling up on top sirloin, ham, and of course, PA dutch chicken pot pie, among other things, we returned to the house for some wiffle ball and fellowship. Jay and Sam really fine tuned their wiffleball skills and enjoyed their time with Grandpa (my dad), and Uncle Steve, although Sam threw a bat accidentally and it hit Uncle Steve right on the lip..OUch! Jay was guilty as well as he line drived his grandpa who was pitching. His great grandmother watching from the porch was laughing at the action that she witnessed.

We shared some cake, and then Grandma opened her gift. The family bought her a digital photo frame. It was very enjoyable to see the pictures from the past and have the memories of past vacations and times with family come flooding back. It was a great time to share memories.

On Sunday we all went to the Lancaster Citadel for worship then to a great italian place for lunch. It was great to once again to sit and talk with the family. I really enjoyed this perhaps more than anything else over the weekend. The Chicken Parmigiana wasn't bad either! It was great that Grandpa was able to join us for lunch on Sunday as he has been having difficulties getting around. The family was truly complete and a great time was shared over Italian food. Perhaps it is no accident that our family last name is Sicillian and that is why we all love italian food!

We returned for pictures and said our goodbyes. It has been a long time since we have all been together. I hope we can do it again soon.

Happy Birthday Grandma!