Easter in London: Kathy visits Vivien, CJ, Charlie, Austin

Vivien, CJ, Charlie and Austin spent their first Easter in their new hometown of London, and enjoyed a visit from Grandma Kathy.

CJ took these photos during a Saturday visit to Holland Park, blocks from their flat in the Kensington neighborhood. Kathy tells us it's one of the city's Royal Parks. "It includes the boys' favorite playground - and peacocks!"

Gold medal for Rebecca's team in national curling tournament

Winning a national championship in your own house is about as good as it gets in any sport. That's what the team from Rochester Curling Club accomplished Saturday in USA Curling's 2022 U.S. Mixed National Championship.

With Rebecca playing the role of Second, the team won the gold-medal game in thrilling fashion. The game was tied 6-6 going into the final end. Rochester's skip, Caitlin (at left in photo), sent her last stone toward the center of the rings. Rebecca and teammate Jason (at right) swept hard, joined by vice-skip Jeff (2nd from left), to bring it to rest right on the button (the bulls-eye of the scoring area).

Split-screen view of the finale: At left, Caitlin begins celebrating. At right, Rebecca lifts her broom after sweeping the stone to the button.

VIDEO: Watch the final shot!

Rebecca's parents, Lisa and Doug, attended the competition and joined in the celebration.

The victory earned the team the berth to represent the United States at the 2022 World Mixed Curling Championship - date and location yet to be determined.

The same Rochester team took the silver medal at the last pre-covid Mixed Nationals, held in Colorado in 2019.

MORE: Read USA Curling's press release here!

The spectacular cherry trees of Newark

As the city of Newark, N.J., is proud to point out, its Branch Brook Park has more flowering cherry trees than Washington, D.C. Dan and Julie visited the park on a sunny April day and found the trees to be close to their blossoming peak.

A weekday afternoon proved a perfect time to drive and stroll through the Frederick Law Olmstead-designed park, a gem of the Essex County park system. 

Alongside one section of the park stands the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there during his U.S. tour in 1995.

 

An April gathering in Virginia

Dan and Julie spent the second weekend of April in Virginia, visiting Marie, Brian and Xander, plus Brian's parents. 

Steve (pictured at right) and Barbara (behind the camera) moved about two years ago to a house not far from their son's family in Spotsylvania County, Va. They extensively renovated the house, including converting the garage into a studio for Steve's music, and spruced up the roughly one-acre property, where Barbara enjoys flower-gardening and raising vegetables. In the photo above, the group had just finished a board game in the dining room. 

Before visiting Barbara and Steve, D&J and M&B&X enjoyed a lovely dinner cooked by Marie and a walk around their suburban Fredericksburg neighborhood. The following day, Marie and Brian took Dan and Julie to lunch and a stroll in downtown Fredericksburg, which is full of antique shops and other stores and restaurants. Meanwhile that afternoon, Xander and his friends were competing against other teams in an online game called Valorant (which happens to be made by Riot Games, where Jamie now works).

Xander is a high school freshman who splits his days between his local high school and the Commonwealth Governor's School, part of Virginia's program of accelerated learning for advanced students.