Introducing Xander to the sights of Washington

Marie and Brian took Xander to Washington last week to visit the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Air & Space Museum. They also made a stop at the U.S. Botanical Garden, and here's Xander and his dad on the Capitol Steps.



"It was a very, very hot day but we had a good time," Marie writes. "Xander enjoyed getting a chance to see 'Daddy's Train Station,' too."

PotomacLocal.com photo

Brian's work as a conductor on the Virginia Railway Express regularly takes him into Washington's Union Station. He recently marked his first anniversary on the job.

... Think cool thoughts ...

Hope this helps you beat the heat!

See how the rest of the family is faring:

Check out our new and improved Weather Station page to see the current conditions in our various home towns.

(Right now I think those of us on the East Coast would rather be in California!

Cathy wins 8 ribbons at county fair

Cathy's skills at photography, scrapbook making and cross-stitching won her eight ribbons at the Franklin County Fair in Hilliard, Ohio last week. Two of her entries - a photo and a scrapbook page - won blue ribbons.

Here are photos of her award-winning entries.

Marie & Brian, July 15, 2002

Happy anniversary!

Lakeside for the Fourth of July (Updated)

Ok, another place to be for the Fourth of July was Hugh and Dolores' place at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland.

Cathy visited with her parents over the weekend, and being back in Maryland gave her a craving for steamed hard crabs. "We actually found a restaurant called the Crab Shack at Deep Creek Lake, and they provided us with a dozen still hot from the steamer," Hugh writes.

"Monday we had hamburgers and corn of the cob and then went to see the 'Fire on the Mountain' fireworks display at the Wisp Ski Resort."

Click here to see Cathy's videos of the fireworks

Photo by Hugh

Ohio update: Stephanie's concert, Christopher's award

Catching up on recent doings in Ohio...



Stephanie performed in her first school concert on May 15. The show included her 5th grade band from Hilliard Crossing Elementary School along with the Tharp 6th Grade School band. See two video clips here.

Christopher completed 8th grade at Hilliard Heritage Middle School, and received a certificate and medal for academic achievement, for having a grade point average over 3.75 for the year. Click on Chris' photo to see more.

A great Fourth of July weekend in Noyac

Kathy & Ted's summer house was the place to be over Fourth of July weekend.



Daughter Vivien and several of her sorority sisters were visiting, in between forays to conquer the Hamptons. Julie, Dan, Christine and Andy along with Brien spent the weekend at the cottage on Birch Street. On Sunday they and family friend Madelon joined Kathy, Ted, Patrick and Vivien for a barbecue. And the Fourth of July proved to be a fabulous day for a sail around Noyac Bay.

In between there was beaching, relaxing, and fireworks viewing - both an official display in Sag Harbor on Saturday night and an unofficial show from the "back beach."

Gerrit in the news on Cape Cod

Gerrit is featured in an article on the Cape Cod Register's "Wicked Local" web site about this weekend's opening of a new indoor recreation space at a park in Dennis, Mass.

Gerrit works as a beach and recreation program coordinator for the towns of Dennis and Harwich.

Vivien to become traveling trouble-shooter

Vivien on the campus of Cornell University following commencement, 
with her parents, Ted and Kathy; brother Patrick; 
sister Genevieve and brother-in-law John.

Newly graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, Vivien will soon be starting her new job as associate traveling director of dining services for Brookdale Senior Living.

In this position, Vivien will travel around the country visiting Brookdale-operated retirement homes and assisted living centers to troubleshoot and resolve any problems with their meal services. In some cases she'll be working to bring the dining services at recently acquired facilities up to Brookdale's standards.

Typically Vivien will spend nine days every two weeks traveling and working, with five-day respites in between trips. Her "home office" is in Chicago, but she will live in New York and travel to wherever she is needed. She will spend a few days next week in Chicago for training before formally beginning the job on July 11.

Christine graduates from SPF High School

Christine graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School on Wednesday evening, along with some 350 other members of the Class of 2011.

Her parents, Dan and Julie, and grandparents Hugh and Dolores watched from the grandstand as the ceremony was held on the school's football field. Andy was in the high school band, playing Pomp and Circumstance and the National Anthem.

The sky was threatening but produced only a brief sprinkle. After the ceremony, and picture-taking on the field, the family went out to a fine dinner at a nearby restaurant.

In the fall, Christine will attend Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, where she plans to study medical illustration.

Moving on: Graduation season concludes today

With tonight's commencement at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, this year's series of graduations in our extended family is complete.

Christine becomes the second family member to graduate from high school this year, heading for college in the fall. We have four new college graduates and one recipient of a master's degree.

Here's a recap of the Class of 2011:

Shanna - received masters in childhood education from Mercy College 
Dan - graduated from San Jose State University, B.A. in communication studies
Kevin - graduated from Manhattan College, B.S. in computer information systems.
Vivien - graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration
Liz - graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, bachelor's degree in civil engineering
Christine - graduates tonight from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, heading to Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall
Patrick - graduated from Fordham Prep, heading to Johns Hopkins University in the fall
Christopher - completed 8th grade at Hilliard Heritage Middle School and heads to high school
Stephanie - finished 5th grade at Hilliard Crossing Elementary School and moves up to Tharp 6th Grade School for one year before proceeding to Heritage Middle

Congratulations to all the grads!

Previous coverage: Click the "Education" label below to see our articles on the graduations and other school activities.

Feels like summer: A day at the beach

Dan got his Father's Day wish as Julie, Christine and Andy took him to the beach.


Comfortably warm air and comfortably cool water made for a great day at Sandy Hook, N.J.

More from concert season: Christine's swan song

On May 25, Christine took part in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School spring choral concert. For one song, all the seniors in the Concert Choir came to the front of the stage to sing "It Don't Have to Change." Here's a brief clip:



The entire concert was recorded by the student-run local cable service. Here's a link to Scotch Plains Television's video of the entire concert.

The performances really are very good. One girl did a show-stopping rendition of "Rolling in the Deep." It starts at about 52 minutes in. You won't be sorry you took the time to watch it.

Christine and friends attend senior prom

Looking elegant in their formal attire, Christine, her boyfriend Matt and four of their friends posed for photos before boarding a limo to the SPFHS senior prom on June 10. They had a fine time dining and dancing the night away.

A dance to spring, on the beach

Lizzie and other students of the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans, Mass., danced on the beach last week- end in a photo-shoot for the school.

Lizzie's mom, Tish, and her teacher at APA, Jackie, took the pictures. "Jackie wanted to have some publicity photos that would reflect Cape Cod," Tish said.

"The girls really had fun - it was a totally new experience to wear your pointe shoes on the beach. Thankfully, they had old ones to use!"

Happy Anniversary to Dolores and Hugh, June 12

Hugh and Dolores write:

"Sunday, June 12, we'll be married for 57 years, but who's counting?

"We are currently at Deep Creek Lake, enjoying the cool (80s) weather, and plan to relax after a hectic month of traveling."

Lizzie's high school makes 'dream' video

Lizzie was among the hundreds of Dennis-Yarmouth High School students who worked together to produce a music video set to the 1980 hit song "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates.

The video is called a "lipdub," in which people lip-synch the lyrics and the original song is later dubbed over the soundtrack.

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE

If you watch carefully you can spot Lizzie on the right next to the staircase at the 1:12 mark. (Frankly, the first 30 seconds are a waste, but once the lip-synching starts it's fun to watch.)

The video below explains the making of the lipdub. It's amazing that the kids were able to make it all come together so smoothly.

Christine 'bridges' to adult Girl Scouting

Fanwood-Scotch Plains Girl Scouts gathered May 31 to honor girls who had achieved the organization's highest awards, and to mark the passage of Girl Scouts in the class of 2011 from high school to adulthood.

Christine is among 20 girls in the two towns who remained active in Girl Scouts through high school. Fourteen of those were in her troop, of which her mom, Julie, is a co-leader. Twelve of the 20 were present to symbolically cross a bridge to adult Girl Scouting as they near graduation. Above, Christine poses with several of her Troop 441 friends.

Julie is nearing the end of a three-year term as Service Unit Manager for Fanwood-Scotch Plains. This year five girls from the service unit achieved the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting. This photo of the award recipients with Julie and a Union County government official appeared on the local Patch news web site.

Union County photo