Getting the Facts Straight

The Jerome family will be (hopefully) off on an adventure next week. I've been telling different people little bits and pieces, not sure of who has gotten the whole story. So I will begin at the beginning......

Darrell and I met at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy in 1996. He was in the Air Force and I worked for the Federal Government at the Youth Center, basically running before and after school programs as well as spring break and summer camps for school-aged children of active duty members. We were married in Italy in September 1997 and moved back the United States in November 1999. Darrell lived in Italy a total of 8 years (split between Naples in the south and Aviano in the north) and I lived exclusively in the Aviano area for 5 years. Darrell went back for a visit briefly in 2001 but I have not been back since. Last May, our mutual friend, Tanya (who was my maid of honor at our wedding) contacted us and let us know she and her family were back at Aviano and would love to have visitors. This information started a longing in both Darrell and I to take our family back to the area where we lived, met and married.

We were actually trying to plan this trip in the Fall of 2009, but to our delight, we had several family members from Iowa and Colorado arrange visits with us, so our calendar was booked. We started to look at the Spring of 2010 and the pieces began to fall into place. We are going to attempt to fly free as a benefit of Darrell being retired, but that will mean all five of us will have to have lots of patience and flexibility. There are military flights that go out of the Baltimore-Washington International airport regularly, so that is where we will be going. Our wonderful friends, the Shullenbarger family, have graciously invited us to stay with them in Maryland and keep our car if we can get out. So here's the catch.....no tickets, we fly space available and we are priority 6....which means there are five other types of passengers that will get called for seats before us.....and we need 5 seats! The trick might not be getting over to Italy, but getting 5 seats back! So if you've followed me so far, here's our plan.....we will be heading to Maryland either Sunday or Monday, hopefully getting on a flight to Italy on Tuesday, staying either one or two weeks (depending on what seat availability looks like for the flight home).

Plan B: we have a friend in Germany....maybe we can fly to Germany and get to Italy? Plan C: we have a friend in England, maybe we'll go enjoy England? Plan D: we don't get a flight out and spend some time in Washington D.C. doing a mini-vacation there. Plan E: try again in the Fall.

There you have it....the details as I know them as of this minute. Please pray for us.....that we have patience with whatever plan God has for us....that Darrell and I don't lose our minds and go with whatever happens....and whatever happens, that we grow closer as a family and create in our children a strong faith and a sense of adventure. I'll keep you updated......

Maple Syrup Festival Time!

Perfect weather for the Maple Syrup Festival this year! We stood in line for about an hour to get our hands on the Buttermilk pancakes, Buckwheat pancakes, sausages, and Pennsylvania Maple Syrup....most of which was tapped and made right here in (almost) our backyard.




The kids favored the buttermilk pancakes, while the adults went for more buckwheat. Final count, an average of 5 pancakes per Jerome family member over the age of 8; and an average of 3 pancakes for the smallest two Jeromes (and the pancakes were not small - more like plate-sized).
Festivals always bring an interesting mix of people, sights, sounds, smells.....a delight for all senses. I was impressed that the children were fascinated by the man making bobbins and the women making lace. The above wonderful man also let Alec shuffle through his assortment of handmade bobbins....Alec was trying to find two that matched, but was unable to. We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Easter Pictures

Easter morning brought the hunt for the Easter baskets....the older two kids helped Alec find his first......

then Evan and Ann-Marie enjoyed finding theirs.

Our annual Easter picture....always the kids and I. We attended first service at our church and our whole family helped in the preschool Sunday School during second service. I was really proud of how much Evan and Ann-Marie helped out....Evan even vacuumed two rooms at the end!

We hope you and your family had a precious Easter celebration!

Pap's Birthday Party Pictures

We had a glorious day for Pap's birthday celebration....here are some pictures....hard to believe Pap is 77...we are so thankful for him!
Pap and the granddaughters.....
Pap and the grandsons.....
Pap and his daughters.....
Pap and his sons....
Darrell and Ann-Marie enjoying some quality time....
and Evan hanging with the teenage cousins playing hockey.

Spring happenings and stuff

Here are some pictures from our life this past week.....Heinz History Museum Tour......
highlights were the George Washington display (Ann-Marie loved seeing his teeth!)....
Heinz facts.....
wanna be a pickle packer?.....
and a 1950s-style diner.
Then onto Aunt Karen's to help prepare for Pap's birthday party.....cookie decorating....
this was supposed to be Ann-Marie's special time, but who can say "no" when Alec wants to help?

Finally, we get around to decorating Easter eggs.....on the deck in the morning in our pjs because we are experiencing summer-like temperatures!


Ann-Marie looks like the Easter bunny with her new grown up teeth coming in....how cute!

The Jerome family wishes you a blessed Easter!

Catching Up.....

Well, March is marching right along, so I'll catch you up on what the Jerome family has been up to. Evan participated in a Skybacher's basketball camp.....here are pictures from the closing day. He really enjoyed himself, so we'll be looking into more camps through this ministry for him.
Ann-Marie has finished her first grade curriculum, so while we're waiting for her official first grade certificate of completion and the shipping of her second grade material, we're doing some fun unit studies. We just completed a unit study on St. Patrick, which also included learning about Ireland. So we celebrated St. Patrick's day by making Irish soda bread. Ann-Marie loved kneading the dough.
The weather has been beautiful this past week, so we've been outdoors for most of it. What a relief after the snowy February we had. Happy Spring!

How NOT to treat your fitness instructor.....

We love the cartoon strip "Baby Blues" here at our house.....here's my all time recent favorite:

Baby Blues

I hope this gives you a chuckle today! Have a great weekend.