August 11th: Visit with the Fuchs Family

Chris, Mary, Jillian, Bryan, Sean

I had originally planned to visit my niece's family, the Fuchs, toward the end of August. I wanted to spend some time with them and see their newly acquired beach house at Ocean City, N.J. I was leaving Canada 3-4 weeks earlier than anticipated. My niece, Mary said come whenever! So I left lake Temagami with the Petersons and stayed at their house in Utterson for a night. Then they prepared for a long stay in Harrisburg with Erica, Tom and Eve, beginning with a baby shower. I was invited to travel with them to Harrisburg and join them. Although it is a 2-day drive, it was definitely more enjoyable and easier as far as customs and flying. Plus, I don't get to spend a lot of time with Eve, and she was with us. She is delightful. Fortunately, my niece's family was only 45 minutes away from Tom and Erica's house.

It was very hot in Harrisburg when we arrived. My niece Mary picked me up, and we drove to their house outside of Philadelphia. This was a last minute surprise visit and there was a lot going on. Great niece Jillian had diving and gymnastics to attend. Jillian can't drive yet, so I was able to help out with delivering Jillian and sometimes friends, while Mary and Chris went to work. Bryan can drive, so he drove himself to football practice and work. My contribution was shopping and some cooking, both of which I enjoy. Sean is home from college and working for the summer.

Bottom line is, I enjoyed cooking some meals and spending evenings with everyone. After much consideration, we finally agreed on a dinner I could make that everyone would like. I had no idea how particular some of the Fuchs' food choices are! I came up with meatloaf and it was a big hit!

I learned that Chris's parents' birthdays were both occurring while I was there. We had a fabulous dinner. Steaks cooked perfectly by Chris plus all the fixings. Jillian made the cake and Sean assisted in the decoration. The cake was wonderful. Jillian made some kind of buttercream frosting that was to die for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jillian is quite the accomplished gymnast and diver. I got to attend a diving practice. It was hard to get good pictures, but here is one and a video.

 

 

 

 

Jillian was very good to me. I not only enjoyed her company. I told Mary that I was fine sleeping on the couch downstairs in the finished basement. Mary told me that Jillian said, "We're not putting uncle Steve on the couch. He can have my room." It was very nice! 

 

 

I liked this poster on their refrigerator. Good advice!

 

 

Then it was time for Mary and I to head to the beach house. Jillian had gymnastics and Bryan had football. Chris and Sean working and would come the next day. We ran into some significant rain on the way down as was forecast. Fortunately, it mostly stopped when we arrived. We went to the store for provisions and then walked to a nice place by the beach for an excellent lunch. I had an eggplant parmesan sandwich and Mary enjoyed her salad.

My niece's family, the Dozzi's, arrived late that evening. My engineer great niece Katie lives just outside NY city, where she works on sets for entertainment venues among other things. Her parents, Mike and Nora, drove to her place first, and then they all joined us at the beach house.

 

 

 

Katie told us about one of her projects in Time Square N.Y. There is a giant hand on top of very high Madame Tussaude's Wax Museum tower. Given that Katie is not tall, she was chosen to crawl inside the hand and inspect the structural integrity of the fingers. She determined work was needed before crawling all the way into the fingertips, which hang over the edge.

 

 

Here is another picture of her in full safety gear working on the top of a set. I think it was in Central Park

The Fuchs have a lot of bikes so the next day Chris, Katie, Mike, Mary and I rode to the boardwalk by the beach. It's a very bike friendly area, but we weren't allowed to ride on the boardwalk.  It was overcast, so it wasn't too hot. Sean and Nora drove down and met us on the boardwalk.

Ocean City boardwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chocolate Moonshine Fudge Shop

The highlight of the boardwalk was the Chocolate Mooneshine Fudge shop. Several POUNDS of fudge were purchased. I warned about a sugar overload, but that fell on deaf ears! I enjoyed the pecan bourbon fudge the most. We were told the fudge is made with minimal sugar and it was very delicious.

 

 

Following the bike ride, the sun came out. Chris needed to leave early afternoon to pick Jillian up from Gymnastics camp. Chris and I wanted to swim in the ocean before he left. Others were talking about it, but it was obvious there wouldn't be any movement soon. So the two of us went. It's a pleasant walk to the beach.

The water was chilly, but there were pretty strong waves which we were able to ride now and then. Chris left and the rest of our crew decided it was time to go to the beach. I should have had a picture. We were well equipped. Chris made a beach wagon to carry coolers, umbrellas and beach chairs. Katie had her bathing suit on to swim. After feeling the water, she made it up to her ankles! It was pretty chilly.

We were all looking forward to trying something new for dinner. Topsail Steamer sells a take home seafood steam pot. We chose snow crab, scallops, shrimp, clams, sweet corn and kielbasi. We put everything in the pot and steamed it per the directions. It was very good.

The following day I headed out to catch a flight from Philadelphia back to California. Chris was picking Jillian up from her gymnastics camp so he met Mary and I part way. Then Chris dropped me at the airport. All went well until my connecting flight from Phoenix to Santa Ana (John Wayne airport - my new airport) was delayed 5 hours. The Santa Ana airport has a no fly restriction after 11 pm. I was scheduled to arrive at 10:36PM. Cutting it pretty close.

As we were boarding the plane we heard thunder and lightning. Not good. The pilot said we were delayed, but it should move quickly, so we were going to try to make it. We landed at 10:58PM. I'm certain the pilot pulled out all the stops to get us in. I was very happy to be home!