My Vacation in Massachusetts.. photo essay..

Some of you may know that I went on vacation up to West Springfield, Mass.. where I'm from...to visit some of my family and spend the week of the 4th with my BFF, Lisa and her family.   Lisa and I have been best friends since.. ummm.,.pretty much forever.. and hopefully always will be!   Even though I've been in Florida for 14 years, we keep in touch by phone, and internet, and I go up to visit every chance I get.   When I go home, it's like I never left.. I guess that's why, after 14 years, I still refer to Mass as "home".. because it's where your heart is.   I spent 6 days up there, and I had a complete blast..even though we had rain a couple days.  We had the tents in the yard, so the rain didn't matter.   It's always so much fun to go up there, because there's always something going on. It's like a soap opera, and always some kind of drama.  I love my quiet life that is completely drama free here in Florida.. but every so often, it's fun to go and get all the dirt.  LOL   That's why I had such a good time.. not only did we celebrate Anthony's birthday and the 4th, but I also got to spend a lot of time with my brothers and my niece, Amanda.. .they came to hang out 3 or 4 of the days I was there..I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a really long time..and  I also got to hear all the latest town gossip, and hear all about what's going on with everyone I know up there.  Lisa knows everyone and everyone's business.. and she always has...I don't know how, but she does.  If you want to know something about what's going on ..just ask Lisa.  She also knows some of the strangest people.. she's like a "freak magnet" ...which kind of makes me wonder about me!!  LMAO.. but, I think I'm okay, because she does know a lof of "normal people" too, and I met her long before she became a freak magnet.. so I'd like to think I'm one of the "normal ones".. You wouldn't believe some of the stories and some of the people we've known over the years.

 I took tons and tons of pictures, and I have a whole bunch that I will probably upload at some point.  I really wish Gather would get a bulk uploader!!!  ..but I'm really PO'd, because I had an SD card that I had a ton of pics on.. one got full and I changed it.. and somewhere between here and Mass it got lost!!   It had pics of my family, Lisa, her boyfriend John, and Kim, and some other people ...I had pics of all the kids together, and me, Lisa, Kim, Nick and Kristy together..and some stuff I shot around town.. and more pics of the kids ..and pics from Saturday and Sunday..  ..like pics of the pizzas we ordered on Sunday.  That is one thing that I soooo miss about Mass.. the food!  and pizza, in particular..  all we have here is Dominos and Pizza Hut, for the most part.. it doesn't compare to Canta Napoli's and Liquori's.  Canta's is owned by Lisa's cousin, Peppo.. yes, that's his name.. don't ask.. LOL  ... and when we were teenagers, we worked there doing dishes and cleaning up for free food and free soda.. and occasionally we'd waitress for tips.   We had so much fun!  But,  all the pics I had on that card are now gone forever...and I'm so bummed about it.. There was some great stuff on there!    Oh well.. I still have a ton of pics..and here's some of them..

I"ll do Lisa's 6 kids first....

This is Lisa's oldest daughter.(the one standing)  the only girl  without a twin.. Stephanie.  She just turned 20....she's also my god daughter.. I was in the delivery room when she was born, and I even held her before her mom did.. I love them all to death..but she's my baby..  LOL 



This is Cassandra..       



and this is her twin, Courtney.. they are 18 and just graduated this year.... Cassandra is the cute and funny one..she has the cutest personality.. and Courtney is the girly one who's into clothes and makeup ...and boys..



This is Holly and Brittany.. they're twins, too.. obviously, they're not identical.. LOL.. we're not even sure they're really sisters sometimes.. night and day.. Holly is the social butterfly who has to wear names on her ass.. like her favorite Abercrombie & Fitch, and is more concerned with her texting and talking to her friends than  doing her school work..which is why she won't be graduating next year with her sister..unless she can pull off a miracle  Brittany is very smart and practical.. has lots of friends and likes to have fun.. she's got more of a dry humor..and is the most sarcastic in the family  LOL.. but she stays to herself a lot too, and is very independent ...she's the one most like me.. she's so similar to me in the way she does things, it's just weird, considering we're not blood related.. but her mom says "Guess what your child did this time?"  LOL 

   


This is my nephew, Lisa' s only son.. Sean.. he's 15    He's so funny.. he loves video games, and sports..and that's pretty much all .. he's on the WS football team...










This is Lisa's brother, NIck.. ..and his wife, Kristy....they live in Vermont and came to visit for the 4th.....

These are their 3 boys. (left to right) Nathaniel, 21,  Brett 18, and Cody 16.(bottom)... Nathaniel and Brett both moved back to Mass.. but Cody still lives at home with mom and dad.  He'll be a senior this year at.. some Academy in Vt that I can't remember the name of   LOL  ..  but his mom and dad work there.. he's a chef, and she's a teacher's aide



This is Anthony... he's so freaking cute!  LOL   He is Nathaniel's son.. Nick and Kristy's grandson, and the first great grandchild in their family.   He turned 1 about a month ago, and we had his 1st birthday party on Thursday, while I was there.. they waited to have it until the whole family could be there.   He just leaned to walk about 2 weeks ago.. and he's really good at it already.. up and down stairs, running, jumping, climbing..  He's such a good baby.. doesn't whine or cry, even when he's really tired..  he's just really happy .. he should be happy, he's got a ton of cousins, aunts and uncles,  parents and grandparents that spoil him rotten..   LOL












I took lots and lots of pictures of Anthony.. LOL   and some of his birthday party I'll post separately later.. 


 This is Anthony with my nephew, Aaron.  He just loves Aaron and lights up wihen he sees him..


That's Aaron's girlfriend in the background.. her name is Faith, and she only has one arm.. she was born that way.  She 's a very nice girl.. but very quiet.  He cracks me up.. every time someone asked him how his girlfiriend lost her arm, he would make up some weird story...shark attack or freak garbage disposal accident or something..  LMAO.. I guess the question does get old after a while....





Aaron is Lisa's sister, Kim's,  son.. he's an April Fool's baby.. he just turned 20







This is my niece, Roxanne..(Roxy).. she's 14.  You wouldn't know she was 14 to look at her.. and she thinks'  she's 25..  but, she is just 14.. she's gonna be trubble!!  LOL    She's Lisa's younger sister, Jennifer's, daughter.  .
            




This is Roxy's little sister Lexy  (Alexandra).. she's 12, in the 7th grade, and she's such a good kid.. she stayed the week at Auntie Lisa's while everyone was visiting.. and spent most of her time in the pool.. night and day.. hot or cold.. 



Lexy without her glasses.. 


Lexy sitting on Ryan's lap.. they're very close .. Ryan is Aaron's older sister... she's 21, and she's another who is very special to me..


Of course, I had to take pictures of the kitties..  Lisa has 10 cats, but I only actually saw 3 or 4 of them the whole time I was there..  This is Anthony with Dora aka Pigpen..



Dora is soooo pretty and she's one of those kitties that is really small..like a dwarf kitty.. and she's very sweet and loveable and friendly.. I wanted to put her in my bag and take her home with me.. but Phil wouldn't have been at all happy with that.. and she's Courtney's baby.. so I had to leave her there..  Everyone wants to steal her, and every time she gets out into the street in front of the house, they have to eventually go rescue her from somebody walking down the street who tries to scoop her..


This is Lola  ..she's Dora's mom.. and the mom of the other 8 as well.  She's pretty much a baby-making machine.. yes, Lola is a slut..but, with a name like Lola, what did they expect.  HAHA..  she's a beautiful kitty, and very sweet, but Lisa can't seem to get her to keep her legs closed.  By the time she weans one litter, she's knocked up again, and she's on her 5th one.  which she probably delivered on Wednesday or Thursday.. I'll have to call and find out.  If I were Lisa, I would have brought her to the vet PG or not and said "fix her..please!!!!"..  LOL.. but Lisa says she doesn't have the heart to do that.  It's sad to keep letting her make babies, but at least she gets the babies fixed or gives them to people she knows will fix them..  maybe after this litter, she'll find a way to do it.   But..she does make some gorgeous babies...


These are just some random shots of some of the varoius people who came to dinner for the 4th..  we had about 30 people altogether for dinner..and then maybe another 20 who came in and out throughout the night of the 4th.... unfortunately, most of those pics were on the other card..grrrrrrrrr....




This is Sam...the kids call him Uncle Drunkle.. cuz he's usually drunk. (see also "freak magnet" above..LOL) he's Lisa's adopted brother...she and her ex-husband found him on Main Street one day in December about 26 years ago..He was passed out drunk in a shopping cart and they pushed him home..  don't ask!!   but he was 17 and had no family....in and out of foster care.. so he somehow eventually became part of the family.  He's a little messed up, but he's a good guy, and he is family.  The weird thing is that he and Lisa have the same birthday.. and so does Kristy.. all born the same day of the same year.. December 2nd. 






'I SAID stop taking pictures of my ASS!!! "    BAHAHAHAHA







Yummy.. these are really good..  LOL


Steph and her boyfriend, Kerry



Playing basketball with Anthony....




Well, folks.. that's in for this essay..  I've got more pics and stuff I might post later.. and I'll probably post Anthony's birthday pics ..and hopefully the video they took of him eating his cake.. when I have more time.   I really had a great time up there, and I'm always glad to be home...and my poor puppies lost their minds when I came home, and I hate putting them through the stress of my leaving.. but, I gotta say, I can't wait to go back next time!