The Fordham Prep track team won the Catholic High School Athletic Association championship Saturday (May 23) on Randall's Island.
Patrick cleared 11 feet in the pole vault competition -- as he did in the varsity sectionals on May 16 and in the Freshman-Sophomore competition on May 13. The photo at right is from the varsity sectionals, held at Mt. St. Michaels in the Bronx.
Gerrit and his band, Twenty-Eight, has a busy lineup of shows scheduled this summer on Cape Cod. They include club dates, private parties, the Fourth of July celebration in Hyannis and an August fireworks celebration in Dennis.
The band is also hard at work on a second full-length album. Check out their first album, and their summer performance schedule, on their web site. You can also follow the band on Facebook or Twitter.
Cathy writes: Chris received an award at his school on May 18.
Chris, who is nearing the end of sixth grade, was selected to receive the Grace Tharp Award, recognizing strong character and good morals. Grace Tharp was the first woman elected to the Hilliard, Ohio, Board of Education, and the school is named for her.
Each teacher may select only one student per class to receive this award. Here is Chris with his Social Studies and Language Arts teachers.
A few minutes of clips of Christine in action at soccer games this spring. Her team finished the regular season with a 4-1 record (I think). Playoffs to come in June.
Cathy spent a fine Mother's Day with Christopher and Stephanie visiting the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and taking photos. Click on the fish to see many more pictures!
Barbara and Steve with grandson Xander at their home on Sunday, plus a couple more photos of Xander and his parents, Brian and Marie.
Do you have Mother's Day photos or stories to share? Please send them along!
In Yonkers, all four children dropped in on Lorraine and Dan -- and shockingly, no one took pictures! "I blame myself," says Webmaster Dan, who was there along with Kathy, Brien and Kevin plus Kevin's family (Kathy, Shanna and Kevin).
The four-day trip of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School music department to Disney World was a big success, and Christine returned on Sunday night exhausted but happy.
Christine on flute (center)
Close to 300 members of the high school's various bands and choruses made the trip to Florida to take part in "Festival Disney," which included competitions in various categories, and won numerous awards. The competitions took place Saturday in the Disney Hollywood Studios park.
Christine sang in the Concert Choir and played flute in the Symphonic Band during the competition. She also played with the SPFHS marching band in the parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom on Thursday afternoon.
After flying down Wednesday night, the Spiffy crowd spent Thursday at the Magic Kingdom. Christine and her friends enjoyed rides like the Pirates of the Caribbean and Buzz Lightyear before and after the parade.
Christine and Matt at the Magic Kingdom, with friend Peter at left.
Friday was a free day in Epcot Center, where they roamed through the various nation-themed areas, went on some rides and did some shopping. And a LOT of walking. That day wound up with the spectacular "IllumiNations" fireworks and laser show.
Christine and friends posing with Pluto
Christine and her group managed to squeeze in some rides between performances at the Hollywood Studios park on Saturday, including the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which she said was very scary, and the Rock-n-Roller Coaster.
On Sunday they visited Disney Animal Kingdom, where they took the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and roamed through other wildlife exhibits before boarding the buses to the airport for the flight home. Weather-related delays at Newark kept their flight grounded in Orlando for about an hour and a half, but other than that delay the trip went smoothly.
While Christine was in Florida, Julie, Dan and Andy drove down to Maryland where Julie attended Alumni Weekend at Friends School of Baltimore.
Julie outside the Upper School
The three visited the campus for an afternoon picnic and tour of the Pre-K-to-12 school - which recently opened a new building for its middle grades.
Julie poses by her old high school locker
Dan and Julie returned in the late afternoon for a cocktail party, where class photos were taken of each of the five-year-anniversary classes. That was, followed by a dinner party at the home of one of her classmates.
Julie and some of her classmates at the dinner party
Julie and Dan thank Doug and Lisa for putting them up overnight. Andy enjoyed playing board games with his aunt, uncle and cousin Rebecca while his parents spent the evening in a 35-year time warp.
Christine and nearly 300 other student musicians from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School flew to Orlando on Wednesday evening to take part in a music festival and competition at Disney World.
As part of Festival Disney, the SPFHS concert choir, concert band, marching band and three smaller ensembles will perform at various venues in the complex.
Christine plays flute in the marching band, which takes part in the Magic Kingdom parade on Thursday, and in the concert band, and she sings in the concert choir.
Daniel writes: We had a couple of interesting visitors in our back yard in Yonkers: a rose-chested grosbeak, and a Baltimore oriole. I'd never seen either kind of bird before. The grosbeak has a black back with white stripes; a white belly; and a bright red bib under its throat. Its wings are lined in bright red. A very pretty bird.
Dolores writes: This weekend we’ll be traipsing back to Western Maryland, since I have:
A group show opening reception in a gallery in Westminster, Md. (We'll stop there en route to Deep Creek Lake on Friday.)
Three paintings to deliver to another show in Uniontown, Pa., an “outer” suburb of Pittsburgh, but only an hour from Arrowhead (the lake condo). It’s a juried show, and I was fortunate to have all three accepted.
Another painting to deliver for the spring show at Garrett Arts Council.
This is the season for shows to begin. It looks like we’ll spend the weekend in the Prius!
Vivien had a visit from her sister and brother over the gorgeous summer-like weekend.
"Genevieve and Patrick came up Saturday morning at 10. We went to breakfast and then toured campus, showed Patrick the libraries, and I gave them a tour of the hotel school.
"We went and visited Buttermilk Falls and Truman State Park to see the gorges. It was so nice to get off campus and enjoy the sunshine."
"I was really happy they came. It was a great break before the last of classes this week."
Vivien, who is finishing her second year at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, wrote this note Sunday evening while sitting in a lawn chair outdoors, still enjoying the nice weather.
Sunny skies, temperatures in the upper 80s... Summer arrived Saturday in the Northeast, and it was a great weekend for those of us with outdoor activities planned.
For Julie and Christine, it was the annual Encampment weekend when all the Girl Scout troops from Fanwood and Scotch Plains take over Camp Hoover in northwestern New Jersey. After a cool Friday night, they had perfect weather for boating on Swartswood Lake on Saturday morning and other activities throughout the day. By the time they left at midday Sunday it was really getting hot.
Christine and friends at Camp Hoover
For Andy, it was the annual Boy Scout weekend at Six Flags Great Adventure. Hundreds of Boy Scouts from around New Jersey camped out Friday and Saturday nights on vacant land Six Flags owns adjacent to the amusement park. They spent all day Saturday in the park and on the rides. The El Toro roller coaster and Batman: The Ride were among the highlights, Andy said. He fulfilled the cooking requirements for a First Class Scout and is getting close to earning that rank.
Left on his own, Dan headed for - can you guess? - yes, the beach. He enjoyed an afternoon of solitary communing with the sea, sand and sky, and of course took some photos.
Sea gulls on the beach at the north end of Sandy Hook, with the New York skyline in the distance.
The sun sets over Sandy Hook Bay.
How did you spend the taste-of-summer weekend?
Please let us know. Keep in touch!
Three games into the seven-game regular season, Christine's soccer team has a 3-0 record and has yet to give up a goal.
So far they've defeated the other Scotch Plains-Fanwood team 2-0, Westfield 6-0 and New Providence 3-0.
In Sunday's game against New Providence, Christine switched from her usual forward position to serve as goalkeeper in the second half. It turned out to be a lonely post, as her team's defense was so strong that the ball never came close to the goal.
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Patrick cleared 11 feet in the pole vault competition -- as he did in the varsity sectionals on May 16 and in the Freshman-Sophomore competition on May 13. The photo at right is from the varsity sectionals, held at Mt. St. Michaels in the Bronx.
Gerrit and his band, Twenty-Eight, has a busy lineup of shows scheduled this summer on Cape Cod. They include club dates, private parties, the Fourth of July celebration in Hyannis and an August fireworks celebration in Dennis.
Genevieve was awarded her Master's Degree in Art History and Museum Studies in ceremonies Sunday at Tufts University near Boston.
...and her grandparents, Ted and Celestine.
In Yonkers, all four children dropped in on Lorraine and Dan -- and shockingly, no one took pictures! "I blame myself," says Webmaster Dan, who was there along with Kathy, Brien and Kevin plus Kevin's family (Kathy, Shanna and Kevin).
Close to 300 members of the high school's various bands and choruses made the trip to Florida to take part in "Festival Disney," which included competitions in various categories, and won numerous awards. The competitions took place Saturday in the Disney Hollywood Studios park.
Friday was a free day in Epcot Center, where they roamed through the various nation-themed areas, went on some rides and did some shopping. And a LOT of walking.
On Sunday they visited Disney Animal Kingdom, where they took the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and roamed through other wildlife exhibits before boarding the buses to the airport for the flight home. Weather-related delays at Newark kept their flight grounded in Orlando for about an hour and a half, but other than that delay the trip went smoothly.
The grosbeak has a black back with white stripes; a white belly; and a bright red bib under its throat. Its wings are lined in bright red. A very pretty bird.
"I was really happy they came. It was a great break before the last of classes this week."
Sunny skies, temperatures in the upper 80s... Summer arrived Saturday in the Northeast, and it was a great weekend for those of us with outdoor activities planned.
So far they've defeated the other Scotch Plains-Fanwood team 2-0, Westfield 6-0 and New Providence 3-0.
Do you know any members (or close friends) of our extended family who are not aware of the Birch Street Web and all its fabulous features? Please clue them in so they can join in the communal experience. Help us all keep in touch!
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Send in your news, comments, photos, videos, links - anything you'd like to share with the family.
