The Mazzola's

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Summer Fun!

Dear Family and Friends,
I guess we are long overdue for a blog post and I apologize in advance if it's longer than usual.  We have been a busy family since May when Emilia got out of school. 
May got off to a very sad start.  Joe's Uncle Butch passed away suddenly, which was so sad and we are all still in shock that he is no longer with us.  We attending a beautiful memorial service for him in Tryon at the end of May.  It was amazing to hear so many incredible words about Uncle Butch and what a loving, talented and well-respected person he was to members of their community.  It makes you think about life and how important it is to be honest, caring and loving to all the people in your life. Joe and took a little excursion thru Charlotte on our way home from Tryon and stayed with Becca and Trent for the night.  We got to have an adult evening out with them, which was a blast!  We celebrated Joe's 36th birthday in May at the beach with his family.  He got to go on a fishing trip with his Dad and brother, even though they did not catch a ton of fish, they still had fun.
Emilia finished up 1st Grade at the beginning of June and was actually a little sad that school was over.  She loves school and super excited about 2nd grade starting in a few weeks.  She has had a summer full of fun camps, swimming, gymnastics and piano.  She also had her first sleepover in July at her best friends house.  It was her friends birthday party and there were 3 of their other friends there and she had a great time!  The Mom told me after they got home from Build a Bear that they spent 2 hours in the bathroom putting on kid make up, painting each other's nails while watching and listening to the Sound of Music, so cute!  She has lost a ton of teeth since April and they are all starting to grow back in. The poor girl is definitely going to need braces. This is no surprise to Joe and I since we both had terrible teeth as kids. 
June was another month full of fun summer activities, going to the beach and hanging out as much as we could as a family.  Joe spent  A LOT of the month studying for his PMP certification, so I held down fort with the kids while he would study at night.  He passed his exam in July, YAY!!!  He is now hoping to start looking for a more challenging job opportunity that will open some more doors for him.  While Joe was busy studying my little Chase had tubes put back in his ears and his adenoids removed.  He had been suffering from chronic sinusitis and ear infections since January so we decided to have the adenoids taken out and tubes put back in his ears.  He was such a trooper thru the surgery and recovery and is doing SO much better now.  Who knew that watching your child sleep with his mouth closed and not snoring could be such a great thing. 
We had a fun July 4th at home with our friends, Kara and Thad and their two boys.  We went to the pool with them and for the first time in 7 years stayed at the pool for 5 hours.  I was lucky enough to get free tickets to Cirque and went with my Mom and Sisters for a girls night out.  We celebrated my Dad's birthday on Jordan Lake and then went to their house for a cookout.  The kids had fun driving the boat with the guy who was driving us around on the lake.  Holden and Chase especially enjoyed driving the boat, it was pretty cute.  We ended this month with one more trip to the beach with Joe's family.  Uncle Matty taught Emilia how to fish.  You can see from the pictures, she was really enjoying herself and so was Matt.  It was a nice weekend together before Joe's parents head back to Cleveland to finish settling into their new home and Joe's dad into his new job at Cleveland State University.  In the midst of many fun weekend excursion and family get togethers, the kids have been taking swim lessons during the week and Emilia has continued her piano lessons.  Emilia loves to swim and Chase has finally started to get used to the idea of getting his face wet and will go into the big pool with us. 
We are looking forward to our last month of summer before school starts back up at the end of August.  We leave for or summer vacation in a week to spend the week at Ocean Isle with my family.  It will be nice to get away together for the week before school starts.  We hope you all are well and in good health.

https://plus.google.com/photos/100686975836685272573/albums/5906968672863566113

All our love,
Les, Joe, Emilia and Chase