tales from a far-land

On Friday, March 30th, Aiden finished his spring flag football season with the CCV Stars youth sports program.  What a great season!  The kids may not have won their age bracket, but they played well as a team and had fun doing it.  Aiden particularly loved this season as his teammates were mostly all friends from school or preschool.  They had chemistry and comradery.  Plus, they had a great coach (Coach Adam Cox).  It was a very fun season to watch. Aiden, Age 9 Lumberjacks - CCV Stars Videos of Aiden Playing 

Unlike last year, we were able to spend this year's Easter with family and friends.  We spent the morning with Josh's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew at their new home in Mesa.  The kids did an egg hunt and we all enjoyed brunch on their back patio.  Melinda and Michael joined in the festivities this year, too.  It was a very nice family get-together.   Our evening was spent with my dad, as Mom, was visiting Mina and Lynsey in Philadelphia.  We had hoped to eat dinner at Valle Luna, but as they were closed for holiday, we ended up at Cucina Tagliani.  Dad introduced Madilyn to dipping her bread in oil and vinegar.  She thought that was the best combination ever.  What a nice way to catch up on his life's happenings!   The kids' Easter baskets Kids Easter Photo The kids with Melinda Family Easter Photo Kids with Papa

With Passover falling on a Saturday, we decided to drive to California to spend the holiday weekend with family this year.  The Vorobiofs are amazing hosts and we really loved that we were able to spend the holiday weekend with them and the rest of the family.  Just a year ago, we had to celebrate Passover virtually with everyone via Zoom.  But this year, were were able to hug, converse and laugh all under one roof.  This made this year's Passover very special, especially as we were able to visit with Selma in-person for the first time in over a year.  We were also blessed to spend time with Dione and Becky whom were visiting from Israel.  What a wonderful family reunion! We left for California on Thursday afternoon after the kids were out of school.  This enabled us to not only spend Passover with everyone, but also Shabbat.  We spent Friday at the beach and at the Santa Monica Pier before heading over to the Vorobiofs for Shabbat.  On Saturday, we spent the day enjoying the sprin