We've been busy......

July went by fast for us. We went on lots of little trips and big trips - trying to squeeze in all the summer vacation we could before Nate's school started. He's been working since mid June but the kids started school last week. So far, so good! He's loving it.

Here's a little taste of our recent trip to the midwest....

Ya know, in hindsight, the red-eye flight wasn't as grand an idea as I thought. Our adventurous family of four hopped on a plane to Columbus OH and mustered through a sleepless night. Upon landing, Nate and I each took a separate rental car (me with the kids) and promptly drove in opposite directions for 3+ hours. Nate went to Pittsburgh for the wedding of his good friend "Cookies" , and I visited my big sis Jennifer, hubbie and 4 kids in Louisville KY for a fun week of water parks and late night sister-catch-up.

Hey look at that! I got all the kids in one shot.....and look how thrilled they are!



Cousin share a hug...


cousins share puppets...


cousins share a stroller...


cousins share a bedroom...


cousins share the cooking...


cousins share a rhinoceros (and the same affinity for making funny faces for a photo op)...


Cousins share a kiss...


Little Grace and Selah were so cute together. Grace is only about 6 months older, so it was fun to see the next step of development in her. Both these girls were the loudest kids of the house with their booming little baby yells.






Finn followed Michael, Aidan and Luke around everywhere. He had a couple of break-through moments in becoming more adventurous too. He jumped on Luke's bike with training wheels like it was no big deal, and rode it very well, and pretty fast. I got some great falls on video.


After watching Selah attack the water park with a vengeance, Finn finally fell in love with water, at least the water park section of the Louisville Zoo. Once he discovered that it was actually fun, especially in 100 degree weather, he decided to horde one of the squirty things.




And then the kids and I headed back to Columbus OH for the wedding of Nate's brother Dominic and the beautiful and charming Sarah. What a fun time! We had the Nuptial Classic Tennis Tournament the morning of the wedding.....I think it was the 5th 1st Annual. It's also a tradition that some of the guys dress dorky for the tourney. Papa Tom and Uncle Pat were good sports.


Nate and I won! I really faked my way through tennis this time! Pay extra attention to Nate's outfit. That's my man!


The wedding was beautiful and went so smoothly. We were pretty involved.....Nate was a groomsman, I was a reader and Finn was the ring-bearer. He did such a good job! I had my hands pretty full during the wedding, so I never stopped to take a good photo of Finn decked out in his cute tuxedo. Finn walked down the aisle with an adorable little flower girl. They were so precious. Selah was loud during the wedding. She's just in that stage. She yells and squirms- there was no getting around it. Sorry Dominic and Sarah. Hopefully you were so entranced in your love that you didn't notice.

Here's great grandma Alice with the kiddos - Selah trying her darndest to....do something.





Congratulations Dominic and Sarah!