Birthday(s) visit in Los Angeles

In celebration of two January birthdays, Julie and Dan took a little hop to Los Angeles for a visit with Christine and Jamie. The visit was two weeks after Christine's birthday and coincided with Julie's. J&D flew in from New Jersey on Saturday and spent the afternoon and evening with C&J at their West LA apartment, relaxing, playing board games and talking.

One of the conversation topics was how well Jamie is enjoying her new job. After two years at Riot Games, she started about three months ago as a system designer at Skybound Entertainment, working on a new project that has yet to be announced. The company is based in Los Angeles, although Jamie works almost entirely from home.

It was rainy on-and-off all weekend in "Sunny California," so museums were on the agenda. On Sunday, the four visited UCLA's Hammer Museum, which featured an exhibit of intaglio prints (made via engraving and related methods) from the 1500s to the present. They then took a window-shopping walk around downtown Westwood (photo above).

While Jamie worked on Monday, Julie, Dan and Christine visited the Getty Villa, one of two campuses of the J. Paul Getty Museum. It's a recreation of a Roman villa built in Herculaneum, near Pompeii. The original villa was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in the 1st Century and excavated in the 18th Century. It houses the museum's collections of Greek, Roman and Etruscan sculptures and antiquities. Our trio also saw a temporary exbibit on the ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead," consisting of papyrus scrolls and linens bearing heiroglyphic "spells" intended to enable a deceased person to navigate the afterlife.

Jamie rejoined the group for dinner, and the four then went to a night club in Hollywood to see an LA indie-rock band, Night Talks, perform. "I've been playing their music on Birch Street Radio for years," says Dan, "and because of that, we were on 'the list' to attend the show as guests of the band." Jamie and Christine enjoyed the show, and Night Talks now has two more LA fans.

Christmas 2023: The celebrations continue

The annual family Christmas party in Yonkers took place on Saturday, hosted by Kevin and Kathy. 

It was great to have so many of us celebrating together. The gathering included the hosts' children, Kevin and Shanna, along with Shanna's husband, Rick, and daughter Lucy. Vivien, CJ, Charlie and Austin were in from London. Genevieve, John, Bea, Jack and Liam, who missed the 2022 party due to illness, were all on hand this time. Dan and Julie drove over from New Jersey while Andy and Wren came down from upstate. Kathy and Robert were there along with Brien, cousin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. Patrick joined the crowd although Kelsey was absent, not feeling well. Christine, at home in California with Jamie, popped in via Zoom to greet the crowd. 

Fabulous food, convivial conversation and cheerful children made for a wonderful time to wrap up the year.

Earlier in the week, Kathy enjoyed a visit at her home from all her grandchildren: Jack, Charlie, Austin, Bea and Liam.  

At midweek, Julie and Dan paid a Christmas visit to Julie's parents, brother and sister-in-law in Maryland. Here the group relaxes in Hugh and Dolores' apartment after dining at one of the restaurants in their community. 

Meanwhile, on Facebook, we find this photo of Nanette visiting daughter Courtney in Florida.

We invite everyone in the family to send along your own Christmas celebration photos! Email birchstreetweb@gmail.com (or text to Dan if that's easier).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas! How we're celebrating in December 2023

Merry Christmas to all our extended family from here at Birch Street Headquarters in New Jersey. Please share glimpses of your own celebrations!

The season began early for Christine and Jamie, who traveled in mid-December to Cape Cod for the annual family gathering at the home of Jamie's mom and step-dad, Bonnie and Jay (pictured at far right).

Christmas arrived just a bit early for Dan and Julie, as they were joined by Andy and Wren on the 23rd and 24th. They had a Christmas Eve-Eve feast and exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve morning. The newlyweds would spend Christmas Day with Wren's dad and family on Long Island before heading back to their farmstead upstate.

Thanksgiving up and down the East Coast

Family members gathered in various groups around various tables this Thanksgiving. Dan and Julie spent Turkey Day at Marie, Brian and Xander's home in Virginia, along with Brian's parents, Steve and Barbara. Marie served a fabulous dinner, after which the seven played an intense game of Settlers of Catan. As this group has now played that game at Thanksgiving more than once, it has officially become a tradition! 

Meanwhile in Maryland, Dolores and Hugh were joined for dinner at their Oak Crest residence by son Doug, daughter-in-law Lisa, daughter Cathy, grandddaughters Liz, Rebecca and Stephanie and grandson Christopher. 

The next day saw the traditional Black Friday gathering at Doug and Lisa's home, with some of the same characters - minus Stephanie, busy with school work, and Rebecca, driving home to Rochester, but plus Dan and Julie, en route from Virginia to New Jersey.

Back in the Garden State on Saturday, Dan and Julie spent the evening with Andy and Wren, who had visited Wren's dad on Long Island Thursday and some of their New Jersey friends on Friday. (Here they hold engraved glasses that were a wedding gift from Liz.) The four had a fine meal at a local restaurant before Wren and Andy drove back to their upstate New York home.

On Facebook we see that Austin, Cindy and Rachel enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together in Florida...

...and Rick, Shanna and Lucy continued their Thanksgiving weekend tradition of driving up to Connecticut to choose their Christmas tree.

New photos! Andy & Wren's wedding

The digital album of professional photos from Wren and Andy's wedding is now available, and it's a fabulous collection capturing the special moments of the day.

Here is the link to the whole 1,000-photo album:

Wren and Andy Wedding Photos

In addition, we have a selection of "behind the scenes" pictures taken during the wedding weekend by Christine. Here, for example, the official photographer takes romantic shots on the porch of the house where the wedding party spent the weekend.

Here's the link to the album of Christine's pictures: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ckzM1SZihtvY4jhA7

In addition, more photos - and dancing videos! - have been added to the album of photos taken by Dan and Cathy: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/R28sSt2yVMLhbMjW6

Get-togethers in Maryland, Virginia complete Dan's birthday tour

Dan's traveling birthday celebration finished up finished up on the last weekend of October with visits to his in-laws in Maryland and his daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Virginia.

Dan and Julie set out southbound on Friday, his actual birthday, and arrived at Oak Crest Village for dinner with Hugh and Dolores, Doug, Cathy and Stephanie. Afterward, they enjoyed an overnight visit with Doug and Lisa at their home

The next day, Dan and Julie drove down to Fredericksburg to Marie, Brian and Xander's home, where they spent the afternoon talking and catching up. Xander is now a high school junior, preparing for college by taking AP courses. He is also an accomplished video-gamer, having been on a very successful team in a local e-sports league, and now focusing on a single game in hopes of moving up in competitive ranks.

That evening, the family enjoyed a wonderful meal at a Bonefish Grill restaurant and then a movie night back at the house. On Sunday, they met at the house again for lunch and more conversation before Dan and Julie hit the road back to New Jersey.

California get-together: Dan's birthday tour part 3

The Northern and Southern California branches of the family came together on the Central Coast last weekend as Dan and Julie continued their traveling celebration of Dan's "significant birthday."

The New Jersey residents flew to Los Angeles on Oct. 21 to visit with Christine and Jamie. The next day, they set out northward, while the younger Dan set out southward from his home in Santa Cruz. They met in Morro Bay, the Central Coast city known as the site of Morro Rock.

The 561-foot-tall rock, the remains of an ancient volcanic core, sits on the shore looking like it dropped out of the sky. 

On its north side is a wide ocean beach, and on its south side, the entrance to the bay.

The five family members spent the afternoon sightseeing around the rock, viewing sea lions and sea otters in the bay and swimmers and surfers along the beach. They then enjoyed an excellent meal at the Harbor Hut restaurant as the sun went down behind the rock. 

This was the first time in several years that Christine and Dan got to spend some time together, and the first time Dan met Jamie. Everyone had a great time catching up with one another while taking in the sights. 

After a night at one of the many hotels in town, they found a great local spot for breakfast (Frankie and Lola's Front Street Cafe) before parting. 

On the way back to LA, Jamie, Christine, Dan and Julie made a quick stop at El Matador State Beach, where they looked down from the cliffs at the rocky Pacific coast. (Jamie and Christine previously spent a summer day down on the beach with Jamie's mom.)

A Downstate NY get-together

Continuing Dan's traveling birthday celebration, he and Julie met his sister, Kathy, brother Brien, brother Kevin and sister-in-law Kathy for a fine dinner in Yonkers on Oct. 15. Although they'd all seen each other at Andy and Wren's wedding a few weeks earlier, it was a great chance to catch up in a smaller-group setting. And there was no better place for the occasion than Rory Dolan's, the neighborhood restaurant where the siblings' dad celebrated an equivalent birthday 25 years earlier.   

An Upstate NY get-together

Dan and Julie headed North for the weekend of Oct. 7-9 and paid a visit to the newly married couple, Andy and Wren, at their home in the northern Catskills.

The trip was the first of several D+J will be making this month, to visit various relatives as a way of celebrating a significant birthday that's coming up for Dan. The four had a fine meal Saturday night at the Bulls Head Inn in Cobleskill (which dates to 1802).

The next day they spent some time hob-nobbing with A&W's Nigerian dwarf goats (currently two males, two females and three kids).

Sunday afternoon they met up with cousin Mary, whose new home on the shore of Sacandaga Lake is only about an hour from Andy and Wren's. They took the short walk past a few neighbors' houses to Mary's slice of the lakeshore, where she keeps her kayaks, and later headed to a nearby brewpub to taste some local beers.

Congratulations newlyweds Andy and Wren!

Andy and Wren were married in a lovely ceremony on Sept. 23 at the Mountainville Manor in New York's Hudson Valley. 

The couple designed their own ceremony. They sealed their vows with a handfasting, in place of an exchange of rings. One of their attendants wrapped their hands together with a cord - an ancient Celtic tradition symbolizing the joining of lives, and the origin of the expression "tying the knot."

The wedding date coincided with the Autumnal Equinox, and came some 13 years after the two got to know each other as members of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Marching Band. 

The bridal party included Christine and Jamie, who flew in from California and visited with Dan and Julie for a few days beforehand. (Afterwards, C&J visited Jamie's mother and other relatives in New England.)

The ceremony was followed by a reception featuring excellent food and plenty of energetic dancing, with some of the youngest guests showing themselves to be stars on the dancefloor.

We're collecting photos and videos of the celebration in this Google Photos album. If you took pictures or video, please add them to the album or email them to birchstreetweb@gmail.com!

Cathy, Dan and Julie meet up for an outdoor concert

An outdoor concert not far from Cathy's home in Pennsylvania, featuring one of Dan and Julie's favorite singer-songwriters, provided an occasion for the three to get together and enjoy a beautiful late-summer evening.

The three grabbed take-out food set up their chairs in front of the Bryn Mawr Gazebo, where Carsie Blanton and her band performed. After stopping at the merchandise table to say hello to Carsie (and buy a book of her songs), Dan, Julie and Cathy finished the evening over ice cream at a local shop.

In memory of Owen

Our family is saddened by the passing on July 16 of Owen, beloved husband to Ellen and to the late Tish; loving father of son Gerrit (and fiancee Erin), daughter Elizabeth, stepdaughters Lindsey (and husband Adam) and Jessica (and husband Scott); proud and loving grandfather of Gerrit's children, Nolan and Josie, and of Lindsey's daughter, Audrey; and brother of Austin.

A large gathering of family and friends attended a funeral mass July 28 at Our Lady of the Cape Church in Brewster, followed by a luncheon where they shared their memories of Owen. 

Donations in Owen's memory may be made to the American Heart Association.

Owen was born in New York City on January 6, 1952 to the late Dr. Austin S. and Mary. After graduating from Fordham University, he began his career in insurance and sales. He went on to start Printex, a successful business on Cape Cod, where he raised his family.

Owen was a caring and loving son, husband and father, and family was everything to him. He loved his life on the Cape, long walks on the beach, spending time with family and friends and sitting by the fire on a cold winter's night. He was a great storyteller and a big Three Stooges fan, and was often found at Buncey's in Dennis on a Friday night. He spent his past few years traveling, and always looked forward to his yearly Maine vacation with his wife and long-time friends. He will be greatly missed and will continue to live on in all of his relatives and friends.

A hot time at Disney for Dan and Julie

Julie traveled to Florida to attend the Girl Scouts National Convention, held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort on July 20-22. Although not an official delegate, she enjoyed the activities and events and took notes to report back to the Heart of New Jersey council.

Dan flew down to join her as the convention was wrapping up, and the couple spent the next three days visiting three of the Disney parks - Hollywood Studios, Animal Kindom and EPCOT.

Pacing themselves in the midsummer heat, and avoiding the thrill rides that had the longest lines, they had a great time exploring the parks. Neither had been to Disney Florida in decades. Only Dan had seen EPCOT before (on a long-ago trip with young Marie and Danny), and neither had seen the Hollywood and Animal parks. They finished up by watching the EPCOT fireworks, then flew home on the 26th.