The De Falco Family: Lovin' summer, had me a blast...

Summer 2025 was (quite possibly) the best!! Here it is in a (rather big) nutshell:

It started right when school ended with a drive to Charlottesville for Tony's and my 25th UVA reunion. We DID dig up our old IDs for fun...

Dinner with Bob, Jill (my former boss at Duke Law), and their son Jack was a major highlight of our weekend!

We had such a fantastic time exploring Charlottesville, showing the kids all of our old favorite spots, and introducing them to our old buddies!

We took a tour of the newly built dorms (behind) us and snapped this photo since where Tony's standing was the site of his dorm and behind me was mine. Oh, well!

Poke bowls on the corner. This place is our fav!

Stopped by Chi-O, of course!

Snuck in a pic with TJ...

And one at the architecture school...

Spotted friends from high school...

And Cav Man!!

The best was reconnecting with friends, like Gabe, his wife Robin, and their kids...

And Andy!

Kat!

And Paul!

Tom Deluca the hypnotist performed. He never ages and his show never gets old. The kids loved it!

On Saturday morning, Brie and I enjoyed a run around Grounds!

Before picking up Bodo's bagels...no surprise!

A major highlight of the weekend was sitting in on Larry Sabato's talk. I felt proud that one of my favorite professors is still teaching, so beloved, and such a university institution. Samuel, Brie and Bas thought he was interesting and, as always, very entertaining.

Here we are on the lawn at the Class of 2000 dinner!

All the Chi-Os!

Beth and I laughing...

And more time with the VB-UVA crowd!

We were off to Virginia Beach the next morning...

While we were there, Gammy survived knee surgery! We couldn't believe how they have you up and walking within hours. Crazy!!

One of Brie's newer talents is balloon creations. Here's the flower that Brie made for the best patient ever.

And more!

We watched Finding Nemo out on the lawn. It had been a bit. It's still stressful!

Cards with Granddaddy Rob and Auntie B!

And, of course, we had to take Blossom back to the ocean...check out how much fun she had!

Blossom LOVES the ocean...

But don't we all??

Then we returned home to officially kick off our busy, awesome summer. Here's a quick recap:

Sebastian turned 11...complete with conveyer belt sushi...

TNT Minecraft cake...

And a sleepover that went WAY too late. The boys had fun, but got zero rest. Ha!

And shortly thereafter, Brie and Bas went (back) to camp!

And then Tony and I drove down to Atlanta to drop off Samuel at Georgia Tech for their pre-college Architecture program! We got to connect with Alex from UVA and his wife Eunbee!

Practice for college drop-off??

In front of Samuel's dorm!

We returned to Cincy to enjoy some adult time! Like last summer, we had a blast on our own...even got all dolled up for the Upstanders Ball!

Drew and Lea Lachey were MCs for much of the event because once a good Cincinnatian, always a good Cincinnatian.

Jesse Eisenberg was the the big award recipient this year...he was so interesting. (That's our friend Jackie interviewing him.) If you haven't seen his movie A Real Pain, it is excellent.

We made the social media page--woohoo!

While empty-nesting, we cooked delicious things and went out for great meals, and fielded fun letters from camp, including a long one for the dog...

And bought a new car (my old one just could not anymore)!!

And it might have a super cool touchscreen for the radio--that shows every song's album cover, which I might just love.

Speaking of NKOTB, there might have been a trip in the making for many months...

Can you guess where??

Back in September, Beth and I heard that the New Kids were going to have their first ever Vegas residency this summer, and we might have waited 10 whole minutes before buying tickets. 😂

What we didn't realize was that the hotel we booked--right next door to the concert venue--was the fan headquarters for the show! It never gets old walking around and seeing people everywhere in New Kids shirts and hats. The lobby!

But first, a jog! We had planned to use the hotel gym, but it was packed to the gills. Wimps! Luckily, Beth and I like running in warm weather. It was beautiful out and jogging in one resort town (Vegas) is really not that different from any other (VB)! [Side note: That is NOT my left arm. Ha!]

Fancy...

and windblown! The wind was insane--like a convection oven!

We ate so many yummy meals there. Sushi and beverages for dinner? Yes, please!

Found Jon!

Arriving by subway (like this video)!

Because it was Vegas, they could pull out all the stops. Like platforms that rose up...

And glass phonebooths that the guys rode up into the upper sections of the arena!

Jon hovering about 20 feet from us!

And riding in the car (from this video)!

One of my favorite moments from the show...

Back at our swanky (but fridge-free and almost closet-free) hotel room, we admired our swag! Until the next show!!

Tony and I also got away for a weekend...in Chattanooga! It's a really cute little city (right on the way to Atlanta from Cincinnati) and the highlight (for your fellow Civil War buffs out there) was Chickamauga State Park.

We learned a lot with their virtual tour app!

And then went out for delicious southern cooking...

Right on the river!

The next morning, we drove the rest of the way to Atlanta to get Samuel. When we came back to pick him up, he presented all of his hard work!

He loved the program and learned a ton!

His cohort!

Also summery?? Dinners out with the gals!

Meanwhile, back at camp...

We could tell that Brie and Bas were having a fabulous time. Brie was part of the Adventures Unlimited (AU) group that camped, hiked, climbed, sailed, you name it all over Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia! And Bas settled right back into his group of buddies from last summer; they didn't miss a beat!

Back home, Samuel and the other marching band kids who were in town marched in our 4th of July parade (it was SO hot)...

and he suffered through the lameness that is summer health class.

When we picked up Brie and Bas, they were happy and very tired!

But the fun continued for me and Tony: our neighbor secured a reservation at Roji, a Japanese speakeasy in downtown Cincy!

We got drinks first...

And then headed to sushi heaven. This was our chef...

The sushi was perfect bite after perfect bite...

It was all amazing!

Lucky group!!

More good eats?? Brie and Paige took an international cooking class!

For five days, they brought home the yummiest recipes!

And then we headed to Rehoboth for cousin time! It was great catching up and hanging out, eating tasty things, swimming in the pool and ocean...

And celebrating Brie's 15th birthday...

With a very special Blossom cake!

Another summer activity? Visiting colleges! Samuel and I toured OSU...

O-H-I-O!

We had a fantastic tour and learned a lot!

And Tony and Bas went to Kings Island!

And Brie had a birthday party at home, too!

Out for Mexican...

And home for red velvet cake! 😋

Bas made Brie a Lego Blossom!

And then the real Blossom challenged Bas to a game of Scopa...ha!

And Brie got a fun new haircut!

You might remember that I LOVE summer concerts...especially 80's concerts. Christine and I got dressed up for...

Cyndi Lauper!

She started with She Bop, then played the Goonies song 💘, and then sang (my favorite of all time) Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night." I could have ended the show there and been HAPPY.

She's still got it! What a wonderful evening!

Then just a week later, we were back at it...Tony and I joined our fellow concert-loving buddies Jen and Larry at Men at Work, Christopher Cross, and Toto--an outstanding 80's trio!!

All three bands/artists were so good and you can't beat hearing songs like "Who Can It Be Now?", "Ride Like the Wind," and "Land Down Under" live!!

Summer milestones? Samuel got his driver's license! It was a very exciting day...

He inherited Nonno's old sedan, which is the perfect first car. He and Brie will be using it for school and band practices...watch out for the (Italian) Marching Band Mafia. Ha!

Off to Band Camp!

Off to Get Connected Day--go Purple Team!

Summer is the perfect time to reconnect with old friends and neighbors. We loved having Jimmy over for dinner...

Brie tie-dyed a shirt for him at camp since he went to the same camp as a kid. 💛

Posing altogether, including Blossom (who would not be left out)!

And from two neighborhoods back, Tom and Sue came to visit from North Carolina.

Always fun to reminisce and catch up!

And every good summer ends with...band time!

But don't forget to take a break from band to compete in the Paulmeadows Summer Olympics!

We chased balloons, built Legos, and bested neighbors in rock, paper, scissors...all in the name of victory for Japan!! We surprised ourselves and won the big trophy, now sitting on our fireplace mantle to admire for the year--woohoo!

Before we knew it, it was time for the new school year to begin. Sebastian's bus came early on Day 1, so this was the only pic I snapped of him!

Ready!

They always stagger the start, so on Day 2, Bas and I have a tradition of having Arby's for lunch!

Brie's buddy Gigi had a big good bye party and left to spend her entire 10th grade year in Sicily. It was a bittersweet sendoff!

Our neighbors got Millie the puppy!

More marching band! (Since, P.S., the football team is nothing to write home about.)

Also a sign of the end of summer? Sunday School kicks off again! Check out our crowd?? We're having a boom in enrollment this year. 👏

Flute Section dinner!

In uniform!

And Bas met Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery at one of the games! (He graduated from a rival high school many years back.)

More fun: Parents and guardians come for lunch day! Bas and I had sushi and boba in the sunshine!

And our good friend Elyse read Torah for the first time!

And it was Homecoming!

And for High Holidays, Rockdale once again delivered challah and other goodies to congregants. I paid a visit to our favorite seniors...99 years old!

And we had back-to-back Cookbook Club wins! Third place for our cold yellow beet soup...

And then first place with our ube flan cake (the recipe was not for the faint of heart)!

More recognition? Bas was Aviator of the Week💥, which we took note of since Brie won during COVID and only later saw their award in person later that year.