Counsin Fest Spring '08

Cousin Fest (Spring '08 edition) landed in Burlington this weekend. Matt Tedeschi, Jerry, and all three Donadio girls, along with my brother, Kelly, and Buddy were on-site (The Hazeltons were missed). My horoscope from yesterday in the Burlington Free Press summed the sediment of the weekend up nice:
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Sometimes you look at a family member and wonder, If we weren't related, would we be friends? Today, the answer is, absolutely, yes. You're not only getting along, you're having fun.

Highlights of the weekend include Isabel and Buddy getting long great and having a blast, great meals at Flatbread and Penny Cluse, and Karaoke at JPs. And for your viewing pleasure below are two Karaoke videos, one of Erica rocking out to Enter Sandman, and the other with all cousins (expect Matt who had to video it, plus random mustache guy) singing Sweet Caroline.

Isabel turns 3 months (or 13 weeks)

Isabel turned 3 months today. Here's a video of her being a puppy. If you are a stuffed bunny in our home - you're a marked man.

Easter at the Roesch's

After sunrise mass, we feasted. Thanks for Benjamin and Shannon for hosting.

Sunrise mass

It's officially a tradition, we did it last year and we plan on continuing - Sunrise mass at the top of Mt. Mansfield (Stowe). Wake up at 4am, drive down to Stowe, take the gondola up in the dark, and watch the sunrise during an Easter service. And then take a few runs. It was freezing, but beautiful.

More Isabel pics

I know, I'm getting a little out of hand with the Isabel pictures. Here's this weeks installment.

spring fling

according to the calendar tomorrow marks the first day of spring. it feels like kind of joke to me. spring is supposed to be about flowers blooming, leaves returning to trees, warmer weather, and baby birds chirping. the truth is, that kind of spring stuff doesn't really exist here for at least another month or two. right now, all we have is annoying mixes of rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow usually in same day. All the snow that is left on road sides is brown, dirty and depressing to look at. In between the rain and snow mixes we do get some warm temperatures, but just enough to make everything muddy for a few hours before it turns to ice again. jay is wiping off our muddy puppy as we speak. i think the most annoying part of "spring" in vermont this year is potholes. the roads are a complete disaster, with an almost constant threat of a flat tire. maybe thats just my commute starting to wear on me. i'm trying to be hopeful that soon enough, i'll be lounging on the deck while jay is firing up the grill (which we don't even own yet). at least we discovered that there really is a deck underneath the snow.

Isabel and friends

Here is a general Isabel update for the last week. She's doing great. She met some of her new family: cousin Stella, extended cousin Omar (Benjamin's brother Sean's Boston Terrier/French Bulldog was born two days before Isabel), and Lloyd. Pictures, pictures, pictures...

No Power and Guitar Solos

Lloyd and Kelly came up this weekend - which was rad. Saturday night Nelia and Marin came over for a big dinner and in the middle of cooking, we lost power for a couple of hours. It was actually kind of fun. We could still cook on the stove top, had plenty of candles, and music on the laptop. Then, we ventured downtown and saw Grippo at Red Sq. Check out the Benny guitar solo video.

Hard'ack

Thursday night, I went with about 20 co-workers and friends to Hard'ack Mt. in St. Albans. This place makes Mt. Sundown look like the alps. One run, one rope tow. On this particular night, it was a sheet of ice. Yes, we had a blast. Stay tuned for the video, Ross will probably edit it in the next few months.

"New Car"

I got an old mini-van last weekend. '93 Nissan Quest, oh yeah! (for those of you keeping score, I now own a house, drive a mini-van, and have a dog)










What I really want is the new VW hybrid golf. By the time it's available in the States, I'll probably be able to afford it.

Isabel meets Sophia

James and Jill brought Sophia (a two year old boxer) over to meet Isabel tonight. An intense play session went down and friendship was born. Sophia was very tolerant and nice to the puppy, but they did get a little rough. The video is not that great, but you get to see them in action.