Thanksgiving gathering at Riderwood

Doug and Lisa returned from Las Vegas to host a Thanksgiving weekend gathering at the homestead in Maryland. They had a good turnout from both sides of their family, as Lisa's three siblings, Doug's two siblings and parents were there along with spouses and children. There was much feasting, conversation and game-playing, along with a clarinet performance by Stephanie and an appearance by Nappy the pet rat. Good times.

For a brief time, all of Hugh and Dolores' grandchildren were in the house. Liz was home from RPI, Becky from RIT, Andy and Christine were down from New Jersey and Stephanie and Christopher were in from Ohio.

Hugh and Dolores share some time with their three children, Julie, Doug and Cathy

Just one of the games played over the weekend. Joining Andy, Christine, Liz and Becky are their friends Ashley and Nathan.

Nappy the pet rat got to come out of her cage and join the party for a while.

Doug and Lisa expect to be moving back to Maryland during December, as Doug finishes his work on a Nevada highway project. His next assignment may involve frequent flying to Florida.

Thanksgiving gathering in Yonkers

The holiday season is under way! Please share your stories and photos of Thanksgiving and other family gatherings.

Click the image for a larger view

On Thanksgiving evening Daniel and Lorraine hosted a crowd of 15 children, grandchildren and spouses for coffee and dessert at the Yonkers homestead.

Kathy and Ted were there with Patrick, Vivien (home from Cornell) and Genevieve and John (in from California). They were joined by Brien, Kevin and Kathy, Shanna, Kevin, Dan and Julie, Christine and Andy.

There was lots of great conversation and catching-up - and lots of cookies and pie.

We look forward to getting more photos from this and all the other holiday gatherings this weekend. Remember you can e-mail to birchstreetweb@gmail.com -- or upload photos directly to our Picasa site. Let's all keep in touch!

Best wishes to all for Thanksgiving

Here's hoping everyone in our extended family has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

May there be bounteous food, joyful reunions, cheerful conversation... and pie!







Please let us know how your holiday goes! Send a few words, photos, links to photos or anything you care to share to the Birch Street Web. Thanks for keeping in touch!

Xander and the Big Boy Bicycle

Now that he's four years old, Xander's ready to ride.

Here he shows off his new bicycle, and gets some lessons from Dad.

How long 'til the training wheels come off? Here's betting it won't be very long.

Fordham Prep's great season comes to an end

Congratulations to Pat and his Fordham Prep soccer teammates on their excellent season.

The Rams, with Pat as starting goalkeeper, finished with a 14-2-3 record and the NY Archdiocesan Class A title.

In 15 regular season games, the Rams won 11 and lost just one with three ties. Pat and the Fordham defense allowed only 5 goals while notching 10 shutouts.

In the post-season, Fordham Prep played both Iona and Molloy to draws and then won those games on penalty kicks. Under the peculiar CHSAA playoff system, despite defeating Iona for the Archdiocesan title, the Rams ended up facing the Gaels again in the intersectional final. In that game, Nov. 7 at St. John's University, Iona turned the tables by scoring one goal in the first half and then holding off Fordham to win 1-0.

As the Journal-News web site LoHud.com reported, Iona's goal came "after a defensive lapse in the box. But the senior keeper from Scarsdale had a terrific second half to keep the Rams in the neighborhood."

“I tried to do my part,” Pat was quoted as saying. “We played strong at the end. We put a lot of chances there. The ball didn’t roll our way. … It’s tough. We played well. They played a great game.”

READ THE PRESS CLIPPINGS

We've collected some of the coverage of the season from the New York Post and the Journal-News/LoHud.com. Check it out!

Brennan is engaged! Proposed before entering USMC

Brennan has taken two big steps recently: He has enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps - and is engaged to be married.

Brennan on the basketball court earlier this year.
He graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in June.

His grandmother, Pat, writes: "Brennan was supposed to leave for boot camp on Halloween. They called him up a week earlier so he left on Sunday the 24th of October. Luckily we had a farewell Halloween - Thanksgiving - Birthday - Christmas - New Year's Party for him a week earlier.

"His last night home he proposed to his longtime (since 7th grade)
girlfriend Shauna Rae -- and she said YES!"

A wedding is being planned for late January.

Patrick is NYPost's "Athlete of the Week"

As Fordham Prep advanced to the final in the New York Catholic high school soccer playoffs, the New York Post selected Pat as its high school "Athlete of the Week."

"In two tension-filled shootouts in less than a week, the Fordham Prep goalkeeper has come up huge, helping lift the Rams to their first CHSAA Archdiocesan title since 2007 and into the Class A intersectional final for the fourth time in five years," the Post's Dylan Butler wrote.

In its semi-final game on Tuesday night, Fordham Prep played Archbishop Molloy to a 1-1 draw, then came out ahead 4-3 on penalty kicks.

Fordham Prep will face Iona Prep in the final on Sunday at St. John’s University. Iona upset St. Francis Prep in their semi-final - which was also decided on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw.

NY Post coverage of Pat and his team:
Oct. 28: League championship game
Nov. 3: Fordham Prep wins tournament semifinal
Nov. 3: Pat is Athlete of the Week

Share your Halloween stories and photos (Updated 11/1)

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Here's Christopher the hippie and Stephanie the fire wizard.

Below is Batman Xander.

Here, courtesy of Hugh, is a Halloween weekend view from Garrett County, Maryland - where the trees are already bare. "Autumn's glory has departed, but the glory of a sunset remains," Hugh writes.

Marching band competition season comes to a close

Christine and Andy spent Halloween with their marching band friends, as the Scotch Plains-Fanwood marching band took part in the USSBA Northern States competition in Allentown, Pa.

The band put on a fine performance and took the awards for best music and color guard, while placing third overall in its category.

Christine is concluding her four years in the SPFHS marching band, which won the state championship in her freshman and senior years. Andy's looking forward to three more years of playing and competing.

Pat's saves are key to Fordham Prep's league title

NY Post photo

Patrick made two great saves as Fordham Prep won the N.Y. Archdiocese soccer championship in a dramatic penalty kick shoot-out at Rose Hill on Wednesday.

As the New York Post reported, Patrick "had never been in a penalty kick shootout in high school" but he "came up huge."

“It was great, it felt awesome,” Patrick told the Post. “I was so excited. It was good we got the championship back to Fordham. We made a mission at the beginning of the year to get it and so far, so good.”

“It was fantastic,” said Rams coach Pete McNamara. “I was very impressed with how he saved those two.”

The post-season continues Sunday when Fordham Prep takes on Xavier in the Class A intersectional quarterfinals.

Read the full story

SPFHS Marching Band wins state championship in its category (UPDATED 10/29 with more video)

At the US Scholastic Band Association New Jersey state finals on Sunday, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Marching Band took first place in its category, edging out three other bands from around the state. SPFHS also took the awards for best music and best percussion in the "Group VI-A" competition.

Christine, in her fourth year as a member of the band, is captain of the flute section. Freshman Andy plays drums and percussion in "the pit," which also includes marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, bells, an electric piano and a guitar.

Click the image below to see a short video clip of two portions of the show. The first features percussion - including the marching drum line and the pit. That's followed by the finale, with the camera following Christine's fancy footwork.



UPDATE: Here's a longer video showing most of the program, which features music from the Disney Epcot fireworks show.

Memory Walk 2010: Our team wins again!

For the third consecutive year, Shanna organized a fund-raising and walking team to participate in the annual Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk in Manhattan's Riverside Park.

Shanna and her parents, Kevin and Kathy, were joined by Kevin's brother Dan for this year's stroll, representing other family members who contributed to the team's donation to the fight against Alzheimer's.

Again this year, the weather was mild and thousands of walkers strolled the tree-lined path along the Hudson River.

Kevin has jokingly proclaimed that our team slogan is "We walk to win!" Of course it's not a race, but we can be proud of the outcome: $860 raised by the start of the walk. Each year Shanna has set a higher team goal and each year we've exceeded it.

UPDATE 10/25: Shanna reports the team's donation has reached $875, for a three-year total of $1,865.  Thanks to every member of our extended family who contributed to this success.

It's not too late to add to the total by donating through Shanna's team page before Nov. 30.

Gerrit and Angela are engaged!

Tish and Owen could not be happier to share the news of Gerrit and Angela's engagement!

"The pumpkin photo spells out Gerrit's unique proposal," Tish writes, and the photo above "was taken during our celebration dinner with them."

Congratulations Gerrit and Angela!

We hope to get more details soon.

Fordham Prep is division champion

Patrick and his Rams soccer team had already clinched the Archdiocesan Varsity A Division championship when they played their last game of the regular season Tuesday at Rose Hill. Fordham Prep defeated Xavier 4-1 to finish the season with a record of 11 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties.

Patrick, the starting goalkeeper, and the FP defense allowed a mere 5 goals against them over the 15-game season. They held their opponents scoreless in 10 games and never gave up more than 1 goal in a game.

The Rams' single loss was Sept. 29 against St. Francis Prep, which went on to take the Brooklyn-Queens Varsity A title. They may well meet again for the intersectional championship next month. First come the Archdiocesan playoffs.

Chuck throws a birthday party for Xander

Xander celebrated his 4th birthday earlier this month with a party at Chuck E Cheese, thanks to his brave parents.

"Xander had a really great time," Marie said. "He did a lot of dancing! They had a big birthday sing-along that he was particularly fond of."

Here Xander, wearing an inflatable birthday crown, poses with the owner of the dining establishment.

Chris gets a taste of marching band madness

Cathy writes:
The high school Chris will be attending next year invited the 8th grade band members to play with them during a recent football game. Here's a photo of Chris amongst the band.

Chris is 3rd sax from the front in the middle row, in a blue sweatshirt.

They played 3 songs together at half time: "Land of 1000 Dances," "Apache" and "Hang on Sloopy." (The last one is mandatory if you live in Ohio since it's the official state rock song. Go figure!)

Click here to watch Cathy's videos

Chris said it was AWESOME and he can't wait to be in marching band next year. Thus, this was undoubtedly the first of MANY football games (and competitions) I'll be attending over the next 5-7 years, since Stephanie will surely follow suit.

Boy Scout Andy receives more merit badges

At a Court of Awards ceremony Oct. 4, Andy received the Camping and Swimming merit badges he earned over the summer at Sabattis Adventure Camp in the Adirondacks. He also received a certificate for completing the COPE (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) program.

As described on the camp's web site, "C.O.P.E. consists of group initiative games, a low course (12 feet and under), and high activities (up to 40 feet high). Some of the activities involve a group challenge while others test individual skills and agility. Participants climb, jump, balance, swing, and find many solutions to a variety of activities."

Memory Walk just days away

The Memory Walk fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association is coming up soon, on Sunday Oct. 24. Our family team, led by Shanna, is participating for the third year in a row.

Join our team!

Shanna reports: "We have raised $315 so far this year for the Alzheimer's Association. Thanks for all the support and keep it coming. Can't wait for the walk!"

Our team goal is $750. For information on participating and donating, check out the family's team page. You can also learn more on Shanna's team blog.