A Reunion and a Birthday

In between choosing backsplash tiles and hardwood flooring, we've made time for some weekend fun as well.  Two of my favourite outings have included a reunion and a birthday.

REUNION

We recently got together one sunny Saturday afternoon with our long time friends, the Thiessens.  Irene and I have been BFFs since we were 14 year old students in junior high school.  Over the decades, our two families have spent lots of time together; both pre- and post-children.  Dinners, athletic events (where we were the athletes), sleepovers, camping trips, vacations, holiday gatherings.

All of our kids are now grown and living their adult lives in Vancouver.  Irene and Randy reside in the eastern reaches of the Fraser Valley in Harrison Mills and we're up here at the tip of Howe Sound in Squamish.  Our families' paths don't cross very often anymore.

So we planned a reunion.  We met at Molly and Paige's apartment for an afternoon and evening of fun, food, and laughter.  Always the laughter.  My God, the laughter.

     Joe, Irene, Jamie, Chad, Paige, Randy, Molly, Will, and Nancy together again.

Even though it has been forever since all 9 of us were together in the same room, I absolutely LOVED how those intervening years instantly melted away.  It was as if we had seen each other just the day before.  Over a delicious turkey dinner, we reminisced about days gone by.  We laughed so hard we cried.  Afterward we played a bawdy game of 'Things'.  We laughed so hard we cried.

At evening's end, with hugs and kisses all around, we promised to meet up again this coming summer.  I can hardly wait.


BIRTHDAY

Joe and I took Paige out for her birthday last weekend.  Our first order of business was to eat, of course.  Molly suggested we have dinner at 'Campagnolo ROMA' which recently opened in their Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood.

Campagnolo ROMA at 2297 Hastings Street, Vancouver

I highly recommend this restaurant!  Honestly, the food was as good as I have had in Rome.  I ordered the  'spaghetti carbonara' and when I closed my eyes I was instantly transported back to Italy.

Baby Girl and Big Mama.

A platter of made-in-house Italian sausages.

"Here, let me taste that!"  Joe helps himself to my bowl of carbonara.  "You're right.  It tastes exactly the same as the food in Rome."

Get the spaghetti carbonara when you go.  You won't be disappointed.