Sibling Visits

I was happy that on this trip to Philly I was able to see three of my siblings. They all wanted to come down and see our grandchildren too and especially little Violet. We all missed Rita who is in Florida undergoing some hard times with her health and her husband's Scott struggle with cancer but that is another story. These two occasions at Katie's house were filled with family joy. We certainly all missed Tom too.

On Thursday Betsy and Joe stopped by for about a couple of hours in the late afternoon before we went out for dinner in Chestnut Hill. They hung out with the kids and enjoyed themselves. Their grandchildren are all much older now and I think they loved being with the littles again. Dan came by and hung our for awhile too.

I had been on the phone with Cathy trying to arrange a time for her to come down and see us and the kids too. We settled on Saturday afternoon. She and Al are on some strict diets and she wanted to avoid meals so they came down after lunch and before dinner. Earlier in the day Marissa and Matt came by to see us and stayed for a couple of hours. Dan came by too and we all spent some wonderful time together. Katie made a nice lunch for everyone. A little later Cathy and Al came by and were happy to catch Marissa, Matt and Dan for a bit.

Then we had a very nice time hanging out with Cath and Al. I hadn't seen her for several years although we talk on the phone regularly. She's also had a lot of health issues and surgeries but she looks good now and seems to be recovering nicely. I almost didn't recognize Al because he looked so thin. Actually I was somewhat shocked and concerned when I first saw him because he looked so gaunt and unhealthy but Cathy said he was doing well and just lost a lot of weight because of their diet. I'm still a little worried about him but Cathy looked great.

Marissa and Violet really bonded.