The Parrillo Family

We packed up the minivan and headed south for Spring Break this year.  Destination:  Florida.  By way of Birmingham Alabama.  We rented a lovely house in Blue Mountain Beach right along 30A where the gulf meets the white sand beaches.  And, we went with some family friends who made the vacation even better together.  All three families share kids with the same ages and we've spent countless hours together as the kids have grown up.   The road trip down was easy.  The trip back?  Much harder.  Traffic out of Florida up 65 on a Saturday during Spring Break season is tricky.  We made it, but not without a bunch of stress and some Waze-directed detours.   What did we do in Florida?  A lot of nothing. And it was grand.  We swam in the pool.  Played on the beach.  Eat ice cream every night.  Played Bingo.  And drove a golf cart.  What's not to love.  These kids sure are lucky.  T...

Look who made it down to the beach in La Jolla?  Great Grampy spent some time (in the shade) on the sand with five of his great grandchildren.  We were in town for Uncle Peter's wedding - that is taking place in a few days. 

This year, we were able to spend the Easter holiday down at one of our favorite places in the world on Sea Island.  We've been to Sea Island before back in late summer of 2012 when Sadie was just brand new and we took her to see the ocean for the first time with the entire Moran clan .  This was the first time that our family was away from OUR family back in Elmhurst.  While we certainly missed them and missed some of the traditions (Can you say 'lamb cake' and Uncle Marc's ham??), Sea Island treated us right and we were greeted with some mighty fine southern hospitality and pretty awesome weather.   The trip included plenty of pool time.  Frankie didn't mind that one bit.   And neither did Sadie.  While she wasn't big enough to go down the big slide, she did get a little hot tub action. And beach/playground time. As part of our trip, we spent a lot of time hanging out at the resort and they're very pretty grounds.   And we...

When we were out on Long Island earlier this month with the full Moran family , Natalie, her sister and Grammie 'surprised' Granddad Charlie with a 'photo shoot' for his 60th Birthday of the full family on a really lovely beach close to sunset. Nat lined up a great photographer who captured all of these great family shots.  We even coordinated outfits with white shirts and denim.  Two boys, two girl grandkids for Grammy and Grandad. The 'original six' with the new four grandkids. Here's our family of five.  SD is really hamming it up in front! The big girls holding the little boys. Grandad and Ellie walk towards the ocean.  Love this photo!   Look at this one for comparison .  Just less than four short years ago, but the same two of them spending time together.