So after a busy work week (I barely made it home on time one or two nights – one I came home at 8:30pm), we were going upstate to my in-laws house in Pound Ridge, NY for a barbecue. The Kings were invited – this is the family that they have been friends with for so long they are more like family than friends. The boys were already up there with their cousin, Kailey. My in-laws picked them up on Thursday for the third straight weekend in a row (thank you, by the way. Love my kids but its nice just being adults on occasion!).

Danny and I were also making a trip to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, on our way up, for some Italian goodies. Last weekend Danny worked and his company catered lunch with all sorts of delicacies from this ‘Little Italy” in the Bronx. So while Danny and his mom were trying to decide where certain stores were on Friday night, I hopped on the ‘net and looked them up. They were all right there – subjects of several blogs dedicated to food. So I made a list and on Saturday morning we plugged the first address into the navigation system (we took my X5 for the drive) and off we went.

This area of the Bronx is right off Fordham Road. We passed Fordham University and made the left onto Arthur Avenue. A couple of blocks in you start to get the flavor of the area and there are several cafes with old men sitting enjoying their cappuccino. We were looking for 187th street and Casa Della Mozzarella, 604 East 187th St, – the famous cheese store. It is such a small, cozy store with delicious aromas throughout. On the Internet, everyone recommended the scamorza, a cousin of mozzarella, so I kept my eye out for this much hyped cheese. Danny ordered fresh mozzarella, sopressata, hot and regular dried sausage, olives stuffed with Gorgonzola and other delicious antipasto. We got the scamorza – the table variety and the gentlemen sliced everything else for us. On the way upstate, Danny and I kept snacking on the scamorza – it was delicious! All I needed was a nice glass of pino grigio and I would have been complete. Next on our list was Addeos Bakery, 2372 Hughes Avenue, where we picked up heavily seeded semolina bread and nice warm prosciutto bread. Last but not least, we stopped at Egidio’s Pastry Shop, 622 East 187th St, for their famous pignoli cookies, cannoli and tri-color dot cookies.

We got to my in-laws a little after noon and decided to have an Italian feast for lunch. Everyone tried the scormoza and loved it – especially Ryan! He couldn’t get enough! Matty came in from mowing and was loving it also. We made a lunch of the fresh mozzarella, sopressata and roasted red peppers on the semolina bread. It was heavenly! After lunch, we headed up to the pool to beat the heat and humidity. Soon enough, the Kings started showing up – Aunt Diane and Uncle Jack being the first with Nikole and David. Chris and Lizz showed up next and the fun started. Chris and David were busy playing in the pool with Matty and Ryan. Boys will be boys! The men got their exercise throwing the boys around in the pool. Danny jumped in and we made the decision it was time for Ryan to shed the floating suit and swim. He was like a little fish! He isn’t a strong swimmer yet but he knows what to do and it was great. Not that I didn’t have my heart in my throat and kept my eye on him at all times! Uncle Jack got into the fun and they named the game “Midget Tossing” – throwing Ryan in the air in the pool. Ryan, of course, could not get enough!

Donna came up with Nicky who was so excited to see everyone. It is amazing to see him walking around – so not used to that yet. Its a tough age though – once they are that mobile until they are about three because you have to be so on top of them. Danny took Nicky in the pool and he was splashing and thoroughly enjoying himself. After everyone was totally waterlogged, dinner was made and everyone headed down to the house. At this point, the air became still and heavy with the humidity. It was difficult to breathe it was so heavy. Danny jumped back in the pool to cool off with the boys. David soon followed and they again started tossing the boys in the pool. At this point, I became lazy and we decided to just stay over. Around 8pm, the Kings left and we chilled out and watched TV. When it was time for bed, we were all exhausted and no one fought it. Everyone had a great time and sleep was the best thing!