It is inevitable that whenever I get to the task of writing this yearly update, it invariably starts to snow! Almost 2 feet of snow later and I am homebound and determined to finish this!
The kids had two weeks off for Christmas and New Years which was lovely, but we jumped right back into the swing of things in January with a trip up to Bear Mountain in the frigid cold for a winter camping and Gold Award workshop with the Girl Scouts. At the cabin, the girls freaked out after finding live field mice trapped in the garbage can, but felt happy to be able to feed and release them.
At the end of February my mom had a shower for my sister-in-law Diana who was expecting in March. My sister Veronica knit some amazing things for the baby, and her talent continues to astound me! Sam participated in the Girls Sports Night competition at the end of the month and her team won the Women’s Calisthenics event.
Samantha was privileged to be asked with her choir to the Tilles Center at CW Post University to sing the Mozart Requiem with gifted choirs from all over Long Island. It was a very moving! My birthday weekend was quite eventful with Christina playing the Baby Kangaroo in her school production of Suessical. I also got a little present the day after when my brother Matthew and his wife Diana welcomed the latest Karas baby Evelyn Jane into the world! Samantha went to the Junior Prom with Nick the following weekend and we also celebrated the 65th birthday of our dear friend Marge Dorfmann with a lovely party in New York City. We ended the month with a great trip to the Coney Island Aquarium where the scouts were sea lion trainers for a day and we got a kiss from a sea lion which was very wet and smelly!
April sent us to Massachusetts to see baby Evie for the first time! What a joy! We had plans to go to opening day for the Red Sox as we won a raffle for roof deck seats. It poured with rain so we had a day’s delay, but they won the game, so that made up for it! Easter was spent with my parents who had quite a spring, taking a cruise around the tip of South America! My dad also celebrated his 80th birthday with a lovely party at Centerport Yacht Club. My brother Stephen was able to join us, so all the kids were together!
The Girl Scouts painted faces at the Huntington Tulip Festival in early May. Samantha was inducted into the Walt Whitman Art Honor Society and the Theater Honor Society at the end of the month and we had a lovely Memorial Day Barbeque at my parent’s house as well.
We saw our first Blue Oyster Cult concert of the year at BBKings Blues Club at the beginning of June. It was great to see Don and Sandy Roeser, Steve LaCerra and Diane again along with all the usual crew! Celebrated Jackie Fusco’s Bat Mitzvah with Jen and Richard in the pouring rain mid June, but everyone had a blast! School ended in a swirl of grad parties and sweet 16’s for Sami at the end of the month. Had a great dinner with Kathy Johnson and Gail Esbin, who has made a career change to Real Estate.
David Karas came up for a visit in July and we had a great pool party at my Mom’s house on the Fourth. We also went to the Bronx Zoo with Sydney and AJ Andree and then Sam had a party with all her friends in honor of her cousins. We had a lovely visit with Greg, Heather and Chelsea Andrews at their spectacular new home in Jersey the following weekend.
Then, after a whirlwind of packing, checking and double checking we departed on our long awaited European Tour with the Girl Scouts. We had 33 girls and various family members on the trip, including my fun loving parents, the Kileys, Smiths and Busers. I was so happy to be doing this trip with my dear friend Noreen Revuelta, as we had dreamed of it with the girls for years and finally made the dream come true! We had ten days split between London, Paris, Adelboden and Lucerne Switzerland, with a great EF Tours guide. We saw the highlights of these amazing cities which only whet our appetites for more in the future! I still smile every time I think about it!
I got to spend some time with my friend Alma Heffling road-tripping with BOC in Ohio after we got home, which kept me from too much anti-climax! Pete’s sister Leslie and her kids came for a visit mid month and we had a blast sightseeing in Manhattan and spending the day at the beach on Fire Island. The waves were HUGE as a hurricane was coming up the coast so we had to keep a watchful eye on the kids. The next weekend was our annual Clark Family Summer Reunion and we had a lovely time seeing Chris and Susan, Jeanne and Doug, Allison, Pete’s mom Mariann, Uncle Dave Clark, Jenny and Blair, and all the kids. What a lovely surprise to see David and Carey visiting from Colorado! An even bigger surprise that they didn’t tell their mom about it! The following weekend we were up in Boston at a Red Sox game with AJ Andree in honor of his high school graduation! We had a terrific dinner and visit with Terry Watts and finally got to meet his lovely Ellen!
School began again in September with Samantha proud to make the select choirs for both Women’s Choir and Chorale. Christina made Showstoppers select choir as well. My senior scouts began the long process of working on their Gold Award which is the highest level in scouting. They received project approval in September and should be completed by March 2010. The girls painted more faces at the Greenlawn Historical Society Pickle Festival at the end of the month.
In early October we went to see BOC in Lakewood NJ at a minor league ball park, which was very cool. We then celebrated Pete’s birthday, Christina’s 13th birthday, Samantha’s sweet 16th and our 22nd wedding anniversary. We had the added blessing of Christina’s Confirmation at the end of the month, with Diana standing as her sponsor. We had an extra special Halloween with BOC playing at the Patchogue Theater and Jack and Alma Heffling and Bob and Karen Cowley coming for a visit! We all dressed up like characters from BOC songs and had a great time! Sadie Fijalkowski, and Chuck and Lynn Saden also made the trek!
Thanksgiving was spent at my parent’s house with the Veronica’s and Matt’s families. Little Evie is now Big Evie and starting to say a few words and is almost walking! The following weekend Samantha was the lead in the Whitman play called You Could Die Laughing, where she was a murderous airline hostess! We then ran our last Girl Scout event for the year, which was a holiday crafts workshop for little girls. Right before the snowstorm, we got to see Danny, Richie, Jules and Ann Marie play a special rock show in Staten Island, and now we are getting ready for the season with Christmas Eve at my mom and dad’s, Christmas day at Veronica and Mark’s and Clark Family Christmas at the New Year. We are all so blessed to have you in our lives and we wish everyone their heart’s greatest desires in 2010!
Love, Peter, Alex, Samantha and Christina Clark!
1 comment:
love the new look as well :) thank you visiting see you soon
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