By Tricia Berwick
It doesn’t matter if they are bike riding in the park, lacing up their skates for a few whirls around the ice or strolling on the boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach. What’s most important to the Lopez family of Toms River is spending time together. Jack, a firefighter and Rhonda, a stay-at-home mom, are busy raising their three children in this suburban, family-oriented community.
The couple met while working together on Wall Street in New York City years ago. Rhonda, who was born and raised in Ireland, ironically met Jack on St. Patrick’s Day here in America.
“Jack started working at my job on St. Patrick’s Day,” says Rhonda. “That was definitely a sign that we were meant to be together.”
After they dated for awhile, the couple decided to marry in a civil ceremony in the United States. Years later, the couple traveled to Ireland with their two children who were three and four years-old at the time and were married in Rhonda’s family church.
“We were married in the same church where I received my sacraments and my parents and grandparents were married,” says Rhonda. “It was very important to me to have a religious ceremony in the church where I grew up and that meant so much to my family. My daughter was the flower girl and my son was the ring bearer for the ceremony. My youngest daughter wasn’t born yet, but we hope to make another trip back in the future so she can experience Ireland, too.”
For now, the family-of-five is busy with work, school, and extra-curricular activities. With two teenage children, Rhonda spends a lot of time behind the wheel.
“I am basically the family chauffer now!” says Rhonda.
Even though the Lopez family has a pretty hectic schedule, they still make spending time together a priority. One of their favorite family activities is to vacation in Disney World.
“We all absolutely love Disney,” says Rhonda. “Disney is our vacation of choice every year. The two older kids still love it and would go there two or three times per year if we let them.”
Your Child Today recently had the pleasure of getting to know the Lopez family a little more personally. This is what Rhonda, mom of three children had to say:
YCT: Please tell us a little about your children.
Rhonda: My husband Jack and I have three children. Caitlin is 14 and a freshman at High School South in Toms River. She loves
to dance and takes three different dance classes at Shore Ballet, and assists with her little sister’s dance class, also. She also loves birds! She has a pet parakeet named “Kiwi” who thinks he’s a monkey! He climbs upside down around the cage and jumps from perch to perch! Caitlin is also very artistic and loves to draw and create, and has always said she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. Of course, that may change though as she has shown a great aptitude for science and math as well. Our son Alex is 13 and is in seventh grade at Intermediate South. He really is a typical boy. Alex loves the game of football and enjoys rooting for The New York Giants. He also spends a lot of time playing with his friends in the neighborhood. He is a first class Boy Scout with Beachwood Troop 114 and aspires to become an Eagle Scout in a few years. He also loves watching the Military Channel and is a Petty Officer 2nd class (NWS Earle Unit) with the US Naval Sea Cadet program. He participates in this program one weekend every month with my husband, who is also involved. Our youngest daughter, Isabella is five-years-old and is in kindergarten at Washington Street Elementary School. She is enrolled in the afternoon session, so that gives the two of us the mornings to relax and spend a little time together before school. I enjoy spending this time with her while the older two are in school. They grow up so fast! She also loves to dance, especially after watching her big sister for so many years. This year, she decided to start classes at Shore Ballet. She absolutely loves ballet and tap. She recently started taking ice skating lessons and loves that, too. She’s a friendly, outgoing little girl who likes nothing better than to play with other kids her age. Thankfully, she has a bunch of cousins born within a year of her and they really enjoy spending time together. Isabella also likes to play dress up in her princess costumes. She is quite the girly girl! She absolutely loves clothes and enjoys wearing dresses to school every day. She changes outfits at least a few times per day!
YCT: What is a typical day like in your home?
Rhonda: A typical day involves a lot of driving! Three kids on three different schedules both for school and extra-curricular activities can make for quite a full day! Once they get home from school they have a quick snack. Then homework gets done while everything is still fresh in their minds, then either dinner or activities, depending on what time classes start that day. We sit down together as a family for dinner a few times a week, but since my husband is a firefighter, that depends on his schedule. After a little down time, the kids head to bed and then, finally it’s mom and dad’s turn to watch television and relax.
YCT: What activities do your children participate in after school?
Rhonda: Caitlin takes dance classes at Shore Ballet three nights a week and she participates in ice-skating on the weekends. Alex has Boy Scouts once a week and Sea Cadets for one weekend out of each month. Isabella takes a ballet/tap combo class at Shore Ballet and also ice-skates on weekends. In the spring we’ll add sports and swimming classes to that. For now though, it’s manageable having one activity per day between the three kids and still having one night during the week to be activity free.
YCT: What is your favorite thing to do locally with your family?
Rhonda: We like to take the bikes to Allaire State Park. They have a great bike trail and we try to do it as often as possible. Isabella’s “bike” attaches to my husband’s so she’s never tired out like the rest of us!
YCT: Do you have any favorite local vacation spots?
Rhonda: Our favorite spot is Point Pleasant. The kids love to walk on the boardwalk and then go on all of the rides. We always make it a priority to get the “2 for 1 Ticket Sale” prices on Easter weekend every year. Also, we love to go to the Cape May Zoo and Ortley Beach in the evenings when the crowds are gone.
YCT: Have you ever gone on any vacations without
the kids and where?
Rhonda: Not really, we’ve probably gone away for three weekends over the last 10 years without the kids. We really enjoy our family vacations and actually feel sort of guilty if we think about doing something without them. We are Disney Vacation Club members and like to take full advantage of that. We go to Disney World almost every year and we never get tired of going. We decided a long time ago that since our kids would only be young for a relatively short time, we want to make as many fun memories as possible while they still enjoy vacationing with us. We hope to travel more together after they have all gone to college!
YCT: What is your favorite date night location and how often do you get to go out alone with your husband?
Rhonda: While we don’t have date night as often as we’d like, when we do get out we like to go out with friends and have a nice dinner. We also like to splurge every once in a while on a really good restaurant in Atlantic City. It is closer than New York City and has some of the most fabulous restaurants in the world!
YCT: What is your favorite non-mommy thing to do and how often do you get to do it?
Rhonda: Although they are not regularly scheduled, I think nothing beats a good old-fashioned girls’ night out. Whether it’s getting dressed up and meeting my sister, my sisters-in-law or friends or even just attending a home sales party where I get to shop and socialize at the same time, I really enjoy getting together with friends and family and leaving the kids home for a few hours! It’s important to have that time once in awhile.
YCT: What is your husband’s favorite non-Daddy thing to do?
Rhonda: My husband likes to get together with his friends to watch a football game, or just hang out. He also really enjoys interacting with the kids in the Sea Cadet Program. He loves to set up training drills and seeing how much they enjoy learning about things like search and rescue, firefighting and first aid. He’s organized some pretty fun drills for the kids and they love it!
YCT: Do you frequent any advertisers from our magazine?
Rhonda: Shore Ballet is the best! My oldest daughter went to two other dance schools when she was very young and one was not good at all. We were not happy with this particular school. The second school placed too much emphasis on competitions and since my daughter didn’t compete, she was left out of a lot of the routines and just sort of stuck on the end of the line for recitals. Thankfully, Shore Ballet has been a wonderful fit for us. The teachers are all professionally trained dancers and my daughter has received a great education in ballet there. Now she takes tap, jazz and lyrical as well and loves it even more. We get comments all the time on how great her posture is and how she holds herself so well. When I hear those comments, I say everything is courtesy of ballet!
YCT: Do you have any parenting advice that you would like to offer our readers?
Rhonda: I think the best advice I have is to be organized and prepared for anything! My husband says I missed my calling as a Logistics Officer in the military! Also, invest in a slow cooker. It’s a lifesaver on busy winter evenings! Being born and raised in Ireland, for me nothing tastes better on a cold winter evening than a yummy stew, and one that has been simmering in my slow cooker while I’m acting as the family’s chauffeur all day tastes even better!
YCT: What is your favorite part of Your Child Today magazine?
Rhonda: I love the Calendar of Events page and the Party Directory page. I always check out the party websites for new ideas for my kids’ birthday parties and the calendar is a great way to find things to do locally on days when my husband is off from work and we want to do something as a family.
hectic. Dan gets their lunchboxes ready and gets them off to school.
