Saturday, August 15, 2009

It has been an interesting week. My brother and sister-in-law arrived here in Strongsville with my nephew, Philip, to help him move into his new apartment. He is relocating from California (via Washington, D.C.) to go to law school here at Case (where Peter went). They stayed here at the "Lalliday Inn" while they outfitted the apartment and got him a car (with all wheel drive, of course). On Wednesday afternoon Jess arrived from Florida for a short visit. We had a great dinner all together on Wednesday evening. Philip left for his new apartment, my family left the next morning to go back to California, and Jess stays until early next week.

It has been wonderful to see everyone. My family met Jess two years ago in London when Philip and his brother, Robert, moved there for a year. She was able to meet up with the boys when all three were living in London for a while. Peter and Christy took Jess and Philip out last evening to the Italian festival in Little Italy and they had a great time. Jess and I have been enjoying our time together shopping and touring around all the various spots where I do my errands, etc. She especially enjoyed going to the Red Wagon Farm (yes, a real working farm) to buy vegetables. Being a "city girl" like me, it was quite fun.

Mark has been doing well in Tampa on his own. Yesterday, he had his first chance to ride his new bike in the park. It came while he was recovering from surgery and he hadn't been able to try it out. It's actually a trike with hand "pedals". He told us he had a blast. Today they have a mall outing and tomorrow lunch out at one of his favorite restaurants. He spoke with his Army command when they were down at the hospital a few days ago, and it looks like his promotion packet is finished and that it will finally go through.

That's it on the Lalli front for now. We will continue to keep everyone up to date as much as possible.