The flying swan

While I was in FL we were looking at old slides and found some of my family in this same raft from 20 years ago

Heading out to Dan on the sandbar

Isn't the water beautiful. It was so warm that you could just walk right in

My 2 beach boys

I love this one

This was our elaborate set up on the beach. It was like home away from home.

Sword fighting with Daddy

Totem pole family

Danny was waving like the queen. He felt very royal being so tall

Relaxing on the beach

The current was really strong at Howard Park so Danny liked holding onto the fishing net to keep from floating way in his tube

Walking and jumping on the beach

The water was brackish which made it really red

Danny loved the wonderful shaded playground at Wallsprings park

Resting after feeding the fish

My little salt shaker boy

Mimi and Danny singing and dancing in the rain

Danny's Haircut

Danny loves getting his hair cut. As a special treat we took Danny for a trim in FL. Our coupon included a shampoo and he was really into it. The hairdresser was really nervous about washing a toddler's hair, but he did great.

He was so proud of the end result.

Could I love this happy boy anymore?

Perhaps I don't love him enough if I allow this to happen?

Big boy would "swim" on the step by himself

Aunt Tessie brought Danny some flan. He wasn't sure what to think about it.

Honeymoon Island - Dog beach

Honeymoon island is a wonderful beach near my parents. They allow dogs on one part of the beach, and we make a point to go there.

Danny wanted a picture with his friend

Danny and Pappi really enjoyed looking for seashells. He brought a bag home to give some away to his friends.

Looking at fish

Building sand castles

Sword fights in the gulf

Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs is the Greek village about 5 minutes from my parents house. We went to walk around one evening. Danny loved looking at all the boats. It was killing him not being able to go for a ride.

He loved the turtle

Mimi and Danny in a Greek fishing boat

We went in a really awesome store and met a 4th generation sponge diver from Greece. He gave Danny a necklace, and this is a sponge that he found.

Howard Park

Pappy blowing up the gator to take to the beach

Burying Danny in the sand up to his waist

Three generations of the gator raft

Old Random Picture - Grandma Emr

Grandma Emr came in from Washington state to stay with us for a couple of days. Here she is with all of her PA grandchildren.

Fighting cats

While Doug and Michelle were away, we watched their cats. They have stayed with us before, and were wonderful, but this time we had Tommy. They didn't get along so great, but at least there wasn't any bloodshed. This cat is aptly named Chubbs.

This is Gray Cat. She seems to have a bit of a tude in this picture.

I LOVE this picture of Danny. He loved having three cats, and didn't seem to notice the tension between them. Trying to get all of them on the couch for a picture was challenging.

Danny was sad to seem them go. Maybe someday we'll get a friend for Thomas.

Hudson Paul

While I was in FL. I wanted a project for Mom and I to work on at night while Dad was at work. We made a blanket for new baby Hudson. It had been a long time since either of us did much sewing, but it went pretty well.

There he is! Super cutie!

As you can tell, Hudson is thrilled by the blanket. Of course Lori looks amazing already!

Nobles

Danny loves having Ben and Paige over. He asks for them often. Aren't they cute?

They love playing hide and seek with Dan. They run around the house screaming, then this happens.

Dan's Triathlon

It was a cold a very rainy morning. While taking this picture I was standing in mud over my shoes.

And they're off. Dan said the swim was really rough this year. Too many people all on top of each other.

Danny was very proud of his Daddy.

A victory kiss

Always a fun day

Eating Daddy's cookie

Dolce Seaview Photo Shoot

Don't' let these pictures confuse you, we didn't get re-married. Our good friend Doug Burns is an amazing wedding photographer, and he was asked to make a wedding book for the Seaview Hotel in Atlantic City. He knew that I had been itching to get my wedding dress back on since I wasn't' thrilled with our actual wedding photos, so he was kind enough to ask Dan and I to be his models. It was a very fun and very long day, but I love the pictures. I wish Doug had photographed our real wedding 4 years ago.

We picked out a brown tux for Dan just to try something different.

It was really exciting for me to get my hair and makeup done in A.C. I just told them to do whatever they wanted, and I think the results were great.

I feel you can get a good look at my hair here. I really liked it.

Don't' let the laughter fool you, laying on the ground in a tight wedding dress with 100 poky bobby pins in your hair isn't fun.

The golf course

The next set of pictures we took on one of the golf course greens. This is a really famous course on the Atlantic Ocean where different presidents and celebrities have played. It was so beautiful by the water, but this is when the onslaught of bugs started. Between every shot we were flailing our arms and screaming.

Isn't my hubby strong?

Atlantic city in the background

Into the reeds

Because the bugs weren't bad enough out in the open, we decided to step into the swampy reeds. Despite the feeding frenzy, the pictures in the bull rushes turned out to be my favorite of the whole day. It was totally worth it.

If I had to pick my one favorite picture from the day it would be this one.

Doesn't he look handsome? I think this is one of my favorites of Dan.

I couldn't decide if I liked it better in color or black and white

The setting sun made for great color

I think this one looks a lot like a picture we have from our actual wedding 4 years prior

A nice one with the hotel name in the picture

Taking a break in the Adirondack chairs

Throwing the roses

It took more shots than it should have for me to figure out how to throw the rose petals in the air and not look up at them at the same time.

Dan did a great job of throwing the roses and then quickly kissing me. I like this one a lot, I think the hotel looks beautiful too.

Super cool picture. I think the petals looks so bright. They are a great contrast between the grass and my dress.

Indoor pictures

So when it just got too dark outside, and we had no blood left for the bugs to drink, we headed inside for some pictures. There is something I really like about this picture in the billiards room. I think it is because it looks a little retro.

This was just a random hallway in the hotel, but it was so pretty

A wet end to our evening

There was a beautiful pool at the hotel. It was originally an outdoor pool, but as the Seaview expanded they built around the pool and now it is indoors.

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I consented to jumping into the pool. It was a really fun end to our long evening of shooting.

So I hate my face in these pictures, but I'm sure they are enjoyable for other to look at and laugh

Dan can walk on water!

Soaking wet but still having fun

I was worried what would happen to my dress when I jumped in, but nothing drastic (like it disintegrating) seemed to occur

Dan thinks this picture is really silly, but it has been a popular one among our friends.

Chuck E Cheese

Starting on Monday, Danny asked around the clock to take Elie to see Chuck E Cheese. On Friday Dave and Lori had a date night and we took the kids out for pizza. It was a great time.

The merry go round.

So, there is this pony ride, that all of the kids just sit on, but you are supposed to actually control the horse and try to win the race. All night Dan was waiting for the 3 year old girls to get off so that he could show them how it is done. He finally got his chance with the kids looking on longingly. He didn't' do much better than the preschoolers.

in an effort to get the most bang for our buck, we crammed all of the kids onto each of the rides. They didn't seem to mind, except that Chucky was taking up Elie's seat in the car

Elie going for a sky ride on the balloon bike

Micah watching Elie longingly as she rides the bike

A simulator ride that they all really liked.

Sesame Place

On Tuesday Doug and Michelle took us to Sesame Place with them. We all had a wonderful time. Danny went on a lot of fast rides and was a very brave boy.

I think this is my new favorite picture.

Happy boys

sticking out his tongue for the camera

Having a great time playing in the fountains with Daddy

I love this picture. Thank you Burns' for a wonderful time!

Camping at Deer Wood Campground

Last weekend we had a wonderful time camping with the Schmidts, Mangins, and the Nobles. Here is Eric checking in on the child labor team. They don't even clothe their workers!

Eric instructing his work force how to saw faster

Danny was sawing so fast that he was just a blur

I stepped in to help

I have nothing to say about this

Half of the camping gang

Danny loves Jeeps

The Schmidts brought their jeep, and Danny was in heaven pretending to drive.

Aspen joined us in the morning

Danny was pounding the watermelon. Notice the juice that has run down his belly and onto his pants.
After everyone packed up, the three of us headed to the river and had tons of fun swimming, floating, and jumping. I'm ready to go back and do it again.

Dinner with Friends

My good friend Val and her husband Tim moved to Texas. Recently they were up visiting and we got together for dinner. Danny joined us and of course had tons of fun.

We tried to take a group picture with the camera balanced on the TV. It of course was very difficult.

Laughing at the many ridiculous attempts at taking a picture

Finally a decent photo

I LOVE California

I had the awesome opportunity of going to California for 6 days with my college roommates. Mary was getting married in Santa Rosa, and I wasn't going to miss it for anything. After arriving very very late on Tues. night, we were up bright and early Wed. morning to venture into the redwoods for a ropes course. Here is Becky with the "lobster claws" that we needed for the course.

hiking up the mt. with our gear. Mary's parents and her sisters joined us

Our first adventure of the morning was the big scary swing. Mary knew how to run all of the obstacles, so she climbed up the tree first to get everything ready

Nita was the brave soul to go first on the giant swing. Mary helped get the super uncomfortable harness on

Going off the edge

Can you see the bright pink dot out there? That's Nita

Becky was next. She admitted later that she was "slightly nervous" right before pushing off the ledge

Becky held Lila so Erin could have a turn on the swing of terror

feeling a little nervous, but she was in Mary's capable hands

Getting ready for the rope course. It was so awesome that Mary's camp let us do all of this for free. Mary was an excellent instructor too.

Rope course

After the big swing we hiked further up the mountain to the ropes course. This was a lot of fun because we were all able to be up in the trees at the same time. Beck was the first up showing us how it is done.

Show off! Right about here is where my knees started to shake, and this girl's doing a jig

Across the rope ladder

Beck and I on the platforms together

Mary getting Becky ready to do the zip line

Getting ready to jump between the platforms. Don't let my big smile fool you, I was nervous.

zip line

For Nita's birthday I got her a tote bag with Grace and Danny's picture on it. She brought it along, and it helped Erin and I not miss our babies so much

Leap of Faith

Our last challenge of the day was the leap of faith. You climb up these tiny pegs on a huge tree to a little platform that is 65 feet off the ground. Then you jump to a swinging trapeze bar. Becky and Nita were the only 2 crazy enough to do it. Becky was like a monkey going up that tree.

Becky making the leap

she looked like a dead fish being lowered down

Nita clinging to the tree for dear life

Can you see Nita standing up there on that little platform?

Nita made the leap of faith

getting lowered to the ground

Becky was a huge help carrying Lila. They turned out to be good buddies.

Armstrong National Park

Mary took us on a guided tour of the redwood trees at Armstrong park. She knew everything about everything, and it was awesome. They look so much larger in person. No picture can do these amazing trees justice.

One of the 2 names trees in the park

They labeled this fallen tree with different events that happened in history as the tree was growing. It was very close to the outside of the tree when Columbus finally came in America. It was an eye opener for me just realizing how young our country is.

The trees were very dense.

The root system of a fallen tree. I love this picture.

Enjoying some sorrel

It tasted like the skin off of a green apple

This tree was really neat because at the bottom it was one huge trunk, but at the top it split into three separate trees

It was really great having Mary give us a personal tour of the forest. She was full of great info, like..."wind is the biggest enemy of the redwood trees, because their root systems are only about 12 feet deep"

In a tree that was hallowed out by a forest fire

It was fairly large inside, I think we all could have camped in there if need be

A tree that had fallen down, and was starting to decompose. Seeing it on the ground gave a new perspective of how tall the trees really are. Amazing!

The parks namesake, the colonel Armstrong tree. It was pretty impressive.

A bunch of tree huggers

Lila wasn't happy to be leaving the park

Of course Nita had a very elaborate and thoughtful gift for Mary. The presentation was just spectacular.

The view from the house Mary's parents were renting.

Most of the wall overlooking the mountains was glass.

I kinda missed the sunset, but it was still beautiful

Kayaking on the Russian River

Lila in her life vest, safety first. Don't worry, she didn't have to wear it the whole time, the water was very smooth

Becky and I shared a tandem kayak. We made a great team

I didn't take me camera with us, so these are the only pictures I have of the day, but we had a wonderful time. We packed our lunch and ate along the river, the boys did some cliff jumping, and we got a glimpse of where Bohemian Grove is.

Erin and Lila did awesome in the kayak with Mary and Nita.

Grapes Everywhere

Since we were very near, or perhaps in the Napa and Sonoma Valley, there were vineyards everywhere. It felt very appropriate for Mary's wedding since she grew up on a vineyard.

Lila getting a diaper change in the trunk of the cruiser

Bachelorette Party

Thursday night we went to a very cool wine and pizza restaurant for Mary's bachelorette party. Nita planned tons of fun activities for us. Here is Becky signing Mary's sash

Queen of the evening

"team college"

Mary's sisters, Erica and Becky.

The waiter got a hold of my camera and went a little crazy.

We had tons of fun thanks to Nita's excellent planning skills, and her endless props. A little girl came up to Mary and said that she wanted to meet the princess.

Cute town

On Friday Nita was busy with bridesmaid obligations so Erin, Becky, and I went to this very awesome little town. Since I waited till weeks after we got home to blog I can't remember the name of it right now. We had so much fun, we shopped, we ate, and did some wine tasting.

Really really good gelato

vines

We had great weather, and Lila was such a good girl.

Seghesio

Becky, who actually knows something about wine, wanted to go to the Seghesio winery, because she and her family enjoy their wine all the way in Boston. It was a beautiful place and we had some fun surprises.

Ed Seghesio who is the 4th generation owner came out to meet us. He signed Becky's special bottle of wine, and his son took us down into the wine cellar. It was very beautiful, and the barrels smelled amazing. It was a great end to a great day.