Our family with Rich's parents, Jackie and Vince Messina in front of their Pelham,NH home. When we first pulled into their house, Lily asked her nana, "You live in a barn?"
Lily and Nano
Lily and Nana
Tammie Revallo hams it up for the camera with her boyfriend, Glenn, watching her.
We used to call them the three musketeers....Casey, Joe and Tim...cousins. Casey is 9 months older than Joe.
Isn't this incredible? This was just the sponsor features at the master sandbuilder's competition at Hampton Beach, MA.
Farewell to a great mediator, reporter, and devout Catholic brother...
An artist busy with her creation.
Lily gets to go ice skating! Daddy and Uncle Joe help her stay upright.
The next Kristin Yamaguchi?
Touring the U.S.S. Constitution...the oldest navy ship in the U.S.
Rich and Lily explore the U.S.S. Constitution.
Rich is in his element...Boston!
The Messina men pause to pose with the bronze statue of Red Auerbach...famous Celtics coach...on the day that would end up being the day the Celtics won the series.
Ah, 'nuff said....
Our nephews, Casey and Dante
A group of various and assundry great grandchildren over at Nana Mary and Nano Joe's house after Sunday dinner.
Joe, Tim and Lily with Nana Mary and Nano Joe Messina in their home in Methuen, MA.
The Messina family at the Coast Guard Station in Boston. Yes, we got yelled at after taking this picture because we were informed there were no pictures allowed on the base. Hmph.
Hmmm....did I mention the Celtics were playing the Lakers for the NBA title during our U.S. visit? Did I mention that Rich is a big Celts fan? Hmmm...did I mention they WON???? It was great watching all the games together in real time.
June 14th was Rich's grandparents' 66th wedding anniversary. She is 92 and he is 94 years old. They are relatively independent in their living (their son and daughter-in-law live in an apartment in the basement). Nano drives to get the groceries and to take Nana to appointments. I love going to their house and sitting down to talk with them about their childhood and early adulthood. I always learn something new about them. They are both "sharp as tacks" not "soft as grapes" as Nana would put it. We enjoy spending time with them.
We stayed with Rich's parents in Pelham, NH while we were there. They were busy at their acrylic shop most of the time but we spent everyday we were there with someone in the Messina family. We spent a good amount of time with Joe, Rich's brother and his wife, Ella and their foster daughters, who are teenagers. We also saw our nephews, Casey and Dante, and their mom, Tammie quite often.
We spent a lot of time in Boston. We went to the aquarium, the museum of science, the U.S.S. Constitution and other places. It was a lot of fun. The Celtic fever was running rampid in Boston during our visit and everyone was wearing green. It was fabulous to see such a diverse, huge town come together behind their team. (Boston has twice the population of all of Norway). We also got to go ice skating. It had been YEARS since we had gone. I am not sure Tim has ever gone ice skating before. Lily certainly hadn't. Lily screamed for two laps and then fell in love with the idea of "sliding on an ice cube". During our last days there, we drove to Hampton Beach, MA and watched the master sand builders do their magic in the sand. It was amazing to watch.
Before we knew it, it was time to leave to go back to Norway. We had shopped some more by now (we needed to buy school wardrobes and shoes for the boys for this entire next year) and actually bought more luggage to get it all home. We came with 3 bags and left with 9....one being a box with a big girl bike for Lily in it.
We had a great time seeing our family - both sides - and the visit was just too short. We don't know when we'll be back in the U.S. again to live or to visit. We took a lot of pictures to help remind Lily of who everyone is. This was only her second meeting with a great majority of her extended family. Now when she talks to them on the phone, perhaps she'll remember them.
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