Eva, Liz, Nana, Papa, Juniper, Michael, and Nikita

So, Here is my lovely family on a recent trip to Ann Arbor. We went to Zingermans Deli, which was a blast, and then went shopping for Nana's Reunion party which she is going to at the end of June. She looked so beautiful in everything. We had a great day. I miss you all so much!!!

Love Eva

Meet the TWINKIES

ANd these are my twinkies, Mia and Sophia, five yrs. old going on 25. Went to Disney, had a blast, the twinkies are just precious. They even pulled me out of retirement to play "school" and they designated me as the teacher who "makes all the decisions" - I like their thinking!
I promise not to inundate the blog with family pix - but I wanted you to meet my family as I have met most of you too.  

Roma Roma!!!

This is me, Dolores DelRio in Rome feeding my face as usual. Hi all! If I haven't met you yet, I hope to soon. I am Carol's "cousin" from the country...Had a great time in Rome and will be going back again in Sept. again with Bill, my wonderful boyfriend...(more on him later) 

THis is Allison Paige's big brother who had a total meltdown while I was there! Evan is a cutie but what a terror when he hasn't had enough sleep.  

Proud Nana! DelRio and Allison

Allison Paige Mercer was two weeks old when I came to visit. This is Nana putting the baby to sleep ALL DAY so she could be awake ALL NIGHT. Wotta grandma! 

Hi All!
Thanks to Leslie, Carol and the rest of you, I am now an official "cousin" of this clan! Hope to be blogging shortly with news and photos. (as soon as I can figure it out!)
LOved Eva's pix from New Delhi - What a fab trip!
Just wanted to check in here to let you know I'm here and will start entering things soon! Thanks Leslie!
love
Dolores

Flat Stanley takes a trip to India!!!

Some pictures from my trip to New Delhi

So, I just got back from India, I was in New Delhi, which was about 110 degrees in the shade. It was incredibly hot, but also a blast. I took a ton of pictures, but I dont want to overwhelm the blog with all of them at once, so here is the first installment.
The first pic above is of a little girl, maybe 3 years old, who was walking around the market dressed as shiva, and she was so adorable. You cant tell from this picture, but she had a long ponytail down her back, and it was one of the cutest things Ive ever seen.

Next is a picture of the outside seck at one of the restaurants in our hotel. It was a beautiful place, chelsea clinton was there on the last couple of days that I was there. I spent a lot of time at the pool drinking fresh mango daquiris(sp?), and mojitos. There were hardly any americans, in the hotel, and in India in general.

This is a picture of the produce section of the outdoor market that we shopped at every day. This is where you can buy clothing, shoes, bags, silk, saris, ANYTHING. It was incredible. There were fresh ripe mangos piled on wheelbarrow type carts, papayas, lichees (SP? They were SOOOO delicious- Id never had a lichee) bananas, and all sorts of other fruits. There was also a spice market, where they were laying out all kinds of spices, burning nag champa incense, and weighing beautiful bulbs of shiny fresh garlic. I have never seen garlic look so beautiful. Huge bales of raw cotton fluff, and tea, and the most beautiful furniture, lanterns, and textiles I have ever seen.

This is the market early in the morning. It doesnt get going until about 11:00 am, and it goes until about 10:00 pm. As you can see, its very dirty and poor. There are beggars everywhere, and they grab you, and its extremely overwhelming. The people were very fascinated, they were curious, following us around, asking me questions, where Im from, do I like India, Namaste..... It was very sweet, they were very good people. I am very intrigued now by the Hindu culture, and I plan to read more about it.

This is me negotiating a silk deal in an attic in the middle of the market in about 115 degree heat. As you can see, Im sweating profusely, and surrounded by beautiful silk fabric. The clothing was SO beautiful, and Im really proud of what I picked out. I cant wait to see how it looks it the store.

I loved my trip, and I had a blast, there is so much to tell, and I will keep everyone updated on the next installation. I love you all, I need to go lay down, I am EXHAUSTED from my travels!!

Lois, Hannah, and Mom, excited about Polish veal loaf!!

As you can see Lois attacked the Veal Loaf with a vengance!! ha, and Hannah was calling Eli to tell him the news!!

 

Flordia to Maine on the "Orient Express" (trip from hell)

Happy BIRTHDAY little kids!! Anyway, Eli and Mom are the next June Birthdays!!

This is Mom and me on the train from Florida, in our little peanut shell cabin! It looked good from the beginning, but after the bed came down, you had to be Olive Oil to get around the joint! The bathroom, was also the shower and was smaller than one on an airline.

Mom was in my clothes in this picture as I spilled red wine on her about 3minutes into the trip, and she did not bring an extra set with her.

I banged my foot getting up the ladder to my bed, and the ceiling was so low up there I could not lift my head, I felt like a hot dog in a bun the whole night, pass the mustard!

THE train rocked and rolled all night long and the whistle blew the whole way, they were going so fast at one point I thought we would derail for sure, so we did not sleep a lot. Mom did not sleep at all.


The food was good,I have to say that, white table cloths, real wine glasses and a nice menu, we had beef madallions that were tender and nice fresh veggies and a salad, and a choice of delicious desserts, Ihad key lime pie!

It was an experience not to be repeated, and Phyllis June, we don't know how you do it!!

We are in Maine now, thank goodness!!
Oh, the guy with Mom is the maker of our beloved Polish Veal loaf that the Grocki family worships!! We fry it, slice it, and eat it until it comes out of our ears! We made a special side trip to Pawtucket to buy three loafs, one for me, one for Mom and one for Lois. He is the oly living person that makes that special recepie in the world! His name is Paul. We found out a lady in New Mexico sends for it to sell in her little restaurant, andits a big hit! I am taking orders, any takers? 

Happy Birthday Juniper and Tori!

Happy Birthday To the June Birthday Girls!
Juniper is getting so big but the year has really flown by. Here is a look back at her first year. Enjoy!

June Birthdays

First up-is the newest member of the family,
Juniper Margaret Mae Breese
who will be
one year old on June 5th.
Has a year really gone by? It just seems amazing to me. I was lucky enough to be with Liz, Dylan, and Michael in the days leading up to Juniper's birth last year, and then I was at the birth too. Markel and I will be making the trip to Michigan to be at Juniper's first birthday. We can't wait. I'll be taking photos of her birthday party.
Liz will be posting new photos of Juniper NOW, big girl that she is, and full of it from what I hear! Happy Birthday to Juniper.

Tori Jones, (Mary's oldest daughter)
will be 8 on June 6th!
.....another example of our linked birthdays (Juniper on the 5th, Tori on the 6th).

How amazing...these kids are going to be all grown up before we know it.
Mary has promised to put some photos of Tori on this blog soon and then hopefully pics from her slumber party and the cake she and her Mom are going to make together. For those of you who don't know, Mary happens to be a cake artist.

Tony Jones, Mary's husband, has a birthday on June 13th.
AND last, but most certainly not least,
Aunt June's birthday is on the 16th of June!

So, have I forgotten anyone?
If anyone has any photos or stories to share to celebrate our June birthdays, bring it on!
love you all.

Hello from India!!!!

Hello all my family!!!

I just arrived in Delhi this evening, after a 13 1/2 hour flight. My hotel is so beautiful, its where all the embassy people stay, and I will bring pictures of it back with me. It is 87 degrees right now, super hot, I think it will be about 110 tomorrow. i love hot weather, but I think this may be a little extreme. However, I am so excited to start my shopping tomorrow. I just wanted everyone to know that I got here safely, Im so happy, and I will keep you all updated. Im sorry I dont have pics now, but I can send you a link of where Im staying, the Imperial Hotel New Delhi.
www.theimperialindia.com/ It will show you pictures, etc. Im excited for the swimming pool!!!
I love you all, and I will post again soon!!!!

Love, Eva

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday to my darling brother....I hope you actually have a little time to relax and play. We all know how hard you work. Love to you and your lovely family. 

The Three Sisters

The three sisters in the spring of 2006, all dressed in pale lime green, which was unplanned when they dressed that day. Perfect for the photo, don't you think?. Dad took this photo and I love it.....talk to him and I'm sure he'll make a copy for you- mine is going straight into a frame...love you all- leslie

Riley Ellen and Dwight's grandaughter,and thier PUPS!

I took the liberty of publishing these photos that Ellen sent to me about a month ago, I hope its ok Ellen!! I couldn't help myslef!! Juat trying to get you started on the Blog!!! Love, Carol

"POGONIP"

This is a photo I took in Virginia City around Christmas
last year. Frost was covering everyting that

morning, and it was so surreal. Virginia City is an old gold rush town, that actually built San Franciso with all the gold that came out of there, and Mark Twain worked at the newspaper up there, called the Territorial Enterprise and lived there for a couple of years. Anyway, i am off tomorrow to West Palm. I am driving my Mom from Washington DC to Maine on the 24th, we are taking the Auto Train (I call it the Orient Express) from Orlando area and wqe will sleep overnight on the train in our own compartment and get to taste the gourmet food onboard...I will be sure and take lots of train photos!! Carol

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUG AND MICHAEL!!!!!

(Wherever you are).....Phyllis and I are passing the birthday crowns along to the two boys, the only boys of the nine children that June, Margie, and Phyllis had.
....and what boys they are- handsome, talented, intelligent, funny, sensitive. They love us, we love them. Simple. Even though they are years apart in age, they managed to be born a day apart birthday wise and became fast friends later in life and remain so today. We have a lot of doubling up of birthdays in our family as we will see in this coming year as we take turns celebrating one another.
My own little brother was so easy to love. The top photo shows me the first time that I got to hold him. I still remember climbing up on my parents bed to feed him a bottle- so sweet, so tiny. Amazing that now, he towers over even me and sometimes feels like a big brother to me.
I made the mistake of revealing to him a puzzling incident, that even I don't understand, where I pinched him (at 18 months or so) for no reason, and when Mom came to see why he was crying, I said I didn't know....I have always worried that Doug thought if I did it one I must have done it many times, but the truth is that I had never before and never since purposefully hurt him.

I learned an important lesson from my brother late in life that could have saved me a lot of trouble as I tried in vain to correct and over-rule the decisions my parents made about my actions or whereabouts.....it is this, don't fight- agree with them and then do whatever you want. Wise Doug- very wise....happy birthday little brother. I hope you have a wonderful day!
And then, there is Michael....My three cousins, Michael, Lois, and Phyllis comprised a whole world for me, growing up that kept me grounded and interested as I moved from state to state with my adventurous and ambitious parents. Ellen and
Carol were rare birds, older, sophisticated, not interested particularly in the younger kids at the time, in the way that children relate most closely to the kids who are closest in age. We're all past that now, age has made us all peers.....I just read somewhere that "after age 25, we're all the same age"! So true.
Michael, Lois, Phyllis and I were a pack with separate relationships with one another and as a group. Michael introduced me to my first awareness of masculine charm....not hard to imagine because as we know, Michael has always oozed masculine charm. We had a lot of adventures and fun together and we got into trouble together...(as I said, we had a lot of fun together). Happy Birthday Michael!!! love you- leslie
I declare this Michael and Doug week!!! Time for photos, memories, tributes.....come on everyone- bring it on fo Michael and Doug, and lets bring Michael and Doug into the BLOG!