A Partial Family Picture

I apologize for blurriness in this picture, and the lacking of half our family! The other half didn't have everyone looking and I thought I could zoom in to see how cute the kids were...and how sick Louie was! Meredith loved walking down the aisle with Charlie and Gracie, and Charlie was a trooper, for normally not enjoying being the center of attention. I didn't get to see Benny and Louie walk Grandma down the aisle, but heard they did a great job. I hoping that soon someone shares some more pictures of this special day!

Introducing: Uncle Billy & Aunt Lisa!

 

Congratulations, Billy + Lisa! They were married on a brisk, but sunny December Saturday and a good time was had by all :)

 I'm embarrassed with the lack of pictures I took over my brother's wedding weekend. I'm posting what I have, even though only one includes any of the kids! The first is of us on Friday after we got mani/pedis, taking a break before the rehearsal and dinner.

 


Doesn't Lisa look gorgeous? I've never been to a winter wedding before and I love all the beautiful details they were able to include in connection with the season. Their colors were apple green and gold.

We got ready in her hotel room downtown at the Hilton, which is connected to the salon where we got our hair and makeup done. Here we are getting ready to have pictures taken. (Back of the dress shot; not entirely random.)

The reception was at the Glendale Lyceum, a beautiful and historic venue. I love that there was a library with a fire place, couches, and a 15-foot Christmas tree complete with ornaments as big as your head. You'd think I would have taken pictures of that as opposed to my husband trying to duck out of the shot.

Uncle Josh, Aunt Joanie, Aunt Erin, and Uncle Joe were all part of the wedding party, too. The wedding wasn't until 6:30pm, so all the pictures were taken beforehand and a bus was there to shuttle us around.

We get to the church and...the entrance for the bride and her maids was locked. It was about 30-degrees at that time, so these ladies are a bit chilled!

The church ladies let us in and we wait patiently for the ceremony to begin.

 It is difficult to take good pictures in a church, but Maria graciously took this one of us with my dad's family. Most of us look like a bunch of raccoons with those eyes...ha ha.

And poor Louie. Not long after this shot he was walking down off the alter and threw up in his hands. It was so sweet that he had the thought to catch it all! It was then that I noticed how white his face was and unfortunately the wedding was not the night he had hoped for. Louie loves to dance and all he did was sleep on the couch in the library by the Christmas tree until he went home with Aunt Cassie. I feel awful for him, but we do have two family weddings coming up in the new year so he'll have other chances to show off his moves.

 

To end, I'll post these two pictures taken from the newlyweds' room at the Hilton. It was neat to see the city from this angle, one I've never seen before. It was a beautiful, clear day, a perfect one to have for a wedding. Welcome to the family, Aunt Lisa!

Lake Barkley II

This trip was no different than any other in that if there was beautiful scenery we took 79 pictures of it and afterward, the camera didn't capture the little nuances that made each shot special. I wasn't able to post the other 78 of this same perspective, so hopefully I chose the best one.

One night, the house's owner and caretaker took us out on the boat, showing us the animals and features of the lake that make it unique. Another day we took the boat out on our own and did a little swimming.

Each of the kids got their turn to drive the boat with Mr.Rogers, the owner. They took their job very seriously!

I chose the wrong shot of the four kids together, but am not going to change it out. Sorry that they're not looking this way!

My favorite story of what happened on the boat happened to Uncle Nate (sitting in the foreground on the right, in the red hat). We had heard that Lake Barkley has tremendous fishing, often hosting some big fishing tournaments. We soon learned why when Nate was sitting at the front end of the boat--a gigantic fish practically was begging to enter our boat when it leaped out of the water and smack Nate square in the head. You'll have to trust me, it was hysterical.

Lake Barkley

As is tradition, we get a kids meal before leaving so that the youngins are entertained while we drive. Fortunately, this trip was only going to take five hours.

We went with Kev's family to Lake Barkley, Kentucky, further west in the state than I thought was possible. We stayed in a quaint house with quite a history!

The house sat on the lake and we took the boat out a couple of times.

The original owner made his money in pantyhose (yes, pantyhose) and traveled the South selling them. He wanted this house to be modeled after the Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, North Carolina.

The house was great in that there were plenty of spaces for all of us to go and do our own thing, but there were places for the entire family to gather as well.

Hocking Hills Part 1

It's been a long time since my family and another we grew up with all got together--parents, kids and, now, grandkids. We met up at Hocking Hills with two neighboring cabins. The first day we went up early to hike Conkle's Hallow with Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Joanie and Uncle Josh.



Hocking Hills is in Bobcat territory and here's to hoping that we've got a lil' bobcat on her way to Harvard-on-the-Hocking!

The kids love hiking and exploring and the trails here are perfect for our adventurers. We could have spent all day in the woods, but we had more friends and family to meet at the cabins!

Hocking Hills Part 2

The second day we went to Old Man's Cave and these trails were a lot more crowded with visitors than the day before, but with good reason. It's a gorgeous area, difficult to believe it's in Ohio!

Joe and Erin were smart in bringing carriers for the girls. We ended up carrying Mere for a lot of the hike. There was some dangerous terrain for wee ones.

After hiking we went to get ice cream cones at a local general store before heading back to the cabin for a big party...

A Fun Fall Weekend

The pictures are a little out of order (we went to the game on Sunday), but I didn't have the patience to rework the post. My apologies.

We have a collection of photos like this and I love them.

Our seats were in the bleachers, but this worked out just fine.

Once again this fall we went to Lake Lorelei and it was such a nice weekend for hanging out by the water. Too cool to sit outside the first night, we made up for it on Saturday by fishing, boating, and having a bonfire. Lou and Ben had a soccer game so Kevin and I left with them, but rushed back to get as much out of the lake as possible.

On Sunday was the boys first PSR class, so we had to leave right after breakfast. And later that day we went to Fan Appreciation Day down at the ballpark. After the game we celebrated Katie and Matt's engagement with dinner at my parents. An absolutely great (but busy) weekend!

We must have been having a great time at the lake--this is the only picture there that I took!

Family Wedding

On June 18th, we had Kevin's cousin's wedding and we all were invited. The kids were mainly shy through the reception, even though there were more than enough kids their ages to run around with.

Meredith and Aunt Jill

The kids, being goofy as long as their parents were around

She is very possessive of her Mona, and would not share with the sweet little girl who wanted to play!

Although Benny and Charlie said that they would rather hang out in a chair, the music was too much for Louie and Meredith and they decided to bust a move.

Our Annual May Cleveland Trip

We try to make it up to Cleveland in May to visit Aunt Cassie and Uncle Paul before summer's craziness starts. We've been fortunate that both last year and this year we went up when the Reds were in town to play the Indians.

We thought it was only the weekend we were up there, but it turns out that every weekend they have "Kids Fest" where the lawn outside the stadium has great activities for all the kids. They had to sign a "contract" (waiver) first, then they could do speed pitch, hit in the batting cage and run the bases.

Charlie is our little Southpaw. He threw the lowest speeds that day, but he has great form and you better keep your eye on him--he's going places that only left-handed pitchers can.


I was surprised at how well the boys hit in the cage--all three of them. I don't think they've ever hit a ball pitched from a machine like that and they made contact with almost every pitch.

They had to of changed up the speeds depending on what age the kid was because the two boys that went in before them weren't hitting anything. And it cracked me up that the one right before was "waiting for the right pitch" even though it was a machine getting the ball across the plate each time. Louie, Benny, and Charlie get in there and start whacking the ball. You can see Uncle Paul and Grandpa looking on while Louie hits.

They even had little sets where the kids could get their picture taken. I thought Benny looked pretty believable here.

It was a hot, hot day and what brought out smiles in these sweaty babies? Well, besides shade and a cool breeze, Grandma bought waffle cones filled with soft-serve! Because the Reds certainly weren't bringing any smiles to their faces that day.

The Good Guys went home losers that day, but we enjoyed the rest of the weekend. After the game we went back to their house for a seafood dinner and once again Benny cleaned house with the beloved mussels. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that--Benny, Grandpa and Uncle Paul with a big bowl of empty shells.

We look forward to our next trip up North, and if I can get the pictures off my phone, I'll post some of the boys fishing at Lake Erie before we left to go home.

Second Cousin Mania!

Today our house has the pleasure of hosting my cousin's son, Thomas! Charlie and Meredith woke the great surprise of Thomas's happy face saying good morning. They both have been great helpers with their second cousin, and Meredith especially has been showing Baby Thomas the ropes!

However, when she saw that he had his paci in his mouth when he was getting ready for his nap, she went right in to get hers. So much for being a big kid!

Baby Thomas is eight months old today, and is getting in his first tooth. I love pictures when babies are sucking on their gums!