Jazzie and Tahlia

Water fun

It was a warm day today; perfect for getting on bathing suits and squirting each other with the hose :-)

Spring is in the air

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. Perfect for hiking in the woods. Alex and Winnie are still here, so we've been having tons of fun hanging out with them.

Jazzie doing some trail running. I think this girl is a natural runner. She's got great form!

Getting ready to walk up the tall, steep steps:

We were all EXHAUSTED. I did the steps twice, just to get some cross training in ;-)

Matt pretended to fall and hurt his ankle so that Alex would have to carry him up the steps:

(They didn't get too far!)

Nature Center

We are fortunate to live just a couple of miles from a large Nature Center. We've been going on hikes there for many years, so when it turned out to be such a beautiful day on Saturday we loaded up the entire family (including Lily) to go hiking in the woods.

We always have to stop at the creek so the girls can climb the rocks and practice their rock skipping skills.

Lily loves the woods as much as we do!

Getting ready to climb 207 steps (we counted):

We made it!

Family Portraits

About a week and half ago, we had our family portraits taken by the very wonderful Erin Dial of Leppert Photography. Erin put some of her favorite photo's from that session on her blog. Here are just a few of mine...

Pumpkin farm - full circle

We went to the pumpkin farm this past Saturday. The same farm we've been going to ever since Jazzie came home. I have taken a picture of Jazzie (and later with Tahlia) with Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann each year. Here is Jazzie; her first October home:

You may remember that Tahlia's first year home was difficult. We were not able to get a picture of the girls with Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann together that year, because this is the way it was like most of the time:

Aaaah.... memories.

Luckily, things have gotten better over the years ;-)

So there we were again this past Saturday and of course we made a beeline for Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann. But this year, we had another addition to the picture:

Our grandson was there as well!

More fun with Alex and Winnie

Did I mention what a good time we had last week with Alex and Winnie?

There was lots of cooking:

Lots of playing:

Lots of good family time!

I give you some seriously talented musicians

Yesterday Alex took a bit of time to give the girls some music lessons in preparation for a concert they were going to put on a bit later...

And now I present to you the concert:

Family fun

Yesterday we had Matt's family over at our house for a belated birthday party for Jazzie and Tahlia and my mother-in-law...

"YEAH! 10 DOLLARS!"

Birthday girls:

Grateful

Meet uncle Ed and aunt Maria:

These two wonderful people hosted our family reunion this year. Typically, our family reunion is hosted by a family member who rents a shelter in a park. Very seldom do we have a reunion at someone's home. Not only that, the reunion typically lasts for several hours, not several days.

However, since uncle Ed and aunt Maria live in Maryland and run a Bed and Breakfast, they invited the entire family to come to their beautiful home. They own an amazing property and having 50 people stay in their home for several days was no small feat, I know.

When it came to leave, I went to thank uncle Ed and aunt Maria and I was overcome with emotion (didn't see that coming!). I just wanted them to know how grateful I was for everything they did while our family was there. They went above and beyond with the food, the activities and their hospitality. We truly had an amazing time and I am so grateful for the memories we were able to make for not only Jazzie and Tahlia, but for all of us. With my family living so far away, I am extremely grateful to have married into such a loving and fun family.

If you are looking for a place to get away on Kent Island along the Chesapeake Bay, I highly recommend Maria's Love Point Bed & Breakfast. Not just because they are family, but because their place is amazingly beautiful, because you will be showered with kindness, because aunt Maria will cook you a gourmet breakfast and because you can visit Washington D.C., Annapolis and Baltimore, all within an hour. Check out their website here.

Uncle Ed and aunt Maria, thank you for your kindness, for making all of us feel so welcome and for ALL the memories. I appreciate each and every single thing you did to make this the fabulous experience that it was for the entire family.

Much, much love....

Chesapeake Bay - Day 5

Uncle Ed showing the family how to eat crabs:

The older generation is going through pictures to figure out names of people in past reunions:

In order to save Matt's grandmother's strength, she got a ride back to the house from Matt and his cousin:

Games for the kids:

Annual water balloon toss:

Matt and I didn't do too well, Winnie and Alex came in third...

My two nephews after their victory:

Five generations:

Chesapeake Bay - Day 4

The two lovely ladies who did most of the cooking. Aunt Maria and my mother-in-law

Tahlia and uncle Bill:

Tahlia and Cera:

Jazzie was SO nervous to go on the jet ski, but when she finally did she LOVED it!

Pappa and one of his great grandsons :-)

Looking at albums from past reunions...

Floating lanterns!

Chesapeake Bay - Day 3

More family arrived today, so there was even more fun!

Making red, white and blue jewelry:

We love Winnie!

Uncle Ed took out the jet ski's!

And Tahlia loved riding them!

My wonderful in-laws:

Swimming time! (I'll have you know that a year ago I would NEVER have posted a picture of myself in my bathing suit!)

Sassy girl on the dock:

Washington DC

We decided to take the metro into DC today. Here are the girls with their cousin Keely:

Below are some pictures of some of the sights we took in today.

SO tired after walking all day :-)

 

Chesapeake Bay - Day 1

We arrived at Matt's uncle Ed's GORGEOUS Bed and Breakfast yesterday. For now it's just us and Matt's sister and her family, but the rest of our family will be arriving today and tomorrow for the reunion. We will be heading into Washington DC today for some sight seeing. Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Playing soccer with Alex and Winnie in the backyard:

Walking on the dock:

Alex and Winnie:

I went running this morning while watching the sun rise over the Chesapeake Bay. What a GORGEOUS way to start the day!

A gorgeous day

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny, low humidity and temperatures in the low 70's. Perfect for this momma. So I decided I wanted to spend the day together as a family, visiting some of my favorite places here in Cincinnati. We started by visiting the Conservatory in Eden Park for the annual Butterfly Show.

After visiting the butterflies, we drove a bit further into the park, to the picnic area overlooking the Ohio River. Time for lunch:

I love this overlook!

To round out the day, we drove a short distance to Sawyer Point, which is a park along the riverbank. LOVE that place!

Christmas recap in pictures

Spreading some oatmeal for the reindeer:

A bedtime snack of milk and pumpkin pie:

And some for Santa, too:

Opening presents:

Trying to look pretty and showing off her new earrings:

But back to her normal goofy self really quickly:

Cera and John got Jazzie the complete collection of Roald Dahl books. She's in heaven ;-)

Excuse Alex' tired looking face. He drove all night from Chicago to get here for Christmas :-)

Cera made Tahlia a sling for her baby doll, so she could carry her just like Cera carries baby J.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family today. Such a great day...

We just love our grandbaby!

Family

Wow, it is so quiet in the house! After a long weekend filled with family, it is back to the daily grind again. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Matt's side of the family was here on Thanksgiving Day and the rest of the time we spent with Alex and Winnie who came down from Chicago and with Cera, John and baby J. 

It was awesome having ALL the kids here. It doesn't happen very often that our entire family is together, so Matt and I enjoyed having them all here. I just kept telling Matt how great it was to have everyone together. The fact that there was a grandbaby made it that much more special :-)

The kids:

I was thrilled to be able to take a group picture of all of us. However, that picture will remain a secret since it will be used for the Christmas card.

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.” - Richard Bach

Same chair - different emotions

You might remember when I blogged last year around Christmas time about Jazzie's reaction to finding out that Cera was pregnant. We were at Matt's parents' house at the time and Jazzie was not happy. In fact, she was heartbroken. She cried for a long time, because she was scared that Cera was not going to be there for her anymore. Cera had Jazzie on her lap in my mother-in-law's red comfy chair for a LONG time and tried to reassure her that things were going to be okay. She tried to explain to Jazzie that she was still going to be her big sister, that she would still have the girls over for sleep-overs and that nothing would change. You may remember these pictures:

It was so sad. However, this past Sunday we were at Matt's parents' house again and at one point I looked over and saw this scene:

Jazzie and Cera were sitting in the exact same chair, but this time baby J. was there as well:

And just like Cera had promised Jazzie back in December, everything turned out to be okay. As a matter of fact, everything turned out to be great :-)

Annual Pumpkin Farm Trip

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin farm today. I thought it was wrong that the temperature was in the mid 80's. When I go to the pumpkin farm, I want to wear a sweater and jeans, not shorts and a t-shirt! Anyway, some pictures...

Of course I had to take a picture of the girls with Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. It's a tradition, after all...

However, this year Cera, Dudas and baby J. went with us!

A great ending to a not so great week

So after a difficult week of parenting in which I had a lot of moments I was not proud of, I was determined to have a great day with my girls on Friday. And indeed, we did...

We started out by going to the Aquarium where we saw divers feed the fish:

We touched star fish and petted sharks:

We found out that rainbow fish don't just exist in one of our favorite books:

We found Nemo ;-)

And saw some really cool jellyfish:

After the Aquarium the girls and I had lunch outside on the patio of one of the restaurants by the aquarium. It was such a gorgeous day, so we decided to cross the Purple People Bridge into Cincinnati.

 

At the end of the bridge is a great park. We strolled alongside the Ohio river to a wonderful playground where we played for several hours.

Then it was time to make our way back over the bridge:

We ended our outing with some ice cream, which we ate overlooking the river and the city.

It really was an amazing day with my girls and I was glad I was able to end the week on a good note. I felt much better...

Can I have a collective "aaaaaaaw"?

My sister-in-law and my cute nephew, S.:

I love this shot of Cera and Tahlia smiling at S.:

Matt and Lily, who is a COMPLETE daddy's girl:

Auntie Tahlia looking down on baby J.:

She got a bit alarmed when J. started to cry :-)

As Cera was nursing J, Jazzie had a lot of questions. My Jazzie is a very deep thinker and she is always full of questions. Cera has always been so good with the girls in answering all their questions honestly and this time was no different. I am so grateful that the girls have an older sister to look up to and learn from.

I have noticed before that when I (or Matt for that matter) hold a baby, Tahlia seems to get a bit withdrawn and uncertain. It's almost like she doubts my love for her when she sees me holding and cuddling someone other than her. The same thing has been happening now that Cera has had her baby. Tahlia wanted to be held like a baby, too :-)

I love this picture. So sweet...

The newest member of our family

I'd like to present to you the newest member of our family:

Cera had her baby boy on Sunday. Both mother and baby are doing well!

Proud daddy...

Proud opa and aunts :-)

Gotta love that pillow of silly bands...

Uncle Alex...

I can't believe I am a grandma ;-)

Home sweet home

We are home from our family vacation in Kentucky. We had a great time. I know it sounds corny, but there is nothing like being with family. Here are some more of my favorite pictures. The last ones, I promise ;-)

The girls eating s'mores:

Tahlia and Alex:

Jazzie and Keely playing Chinese checkers ;-)

My youngest nephew Skyler. How cute is he???

Going for his very first swim:

Matt and his dad:

Men's bocce ball:

Cracking up:

Tahlia enjoyed doing cannon balls with the boys. She has absolutely no fear ;-)

Can you handle more Kentucky Fun???

Jazzie and Keely have been playing many games of Horse-opoly. 

Cornhole in front of our country house:

Jazzie and cousin Jake:

Time for some b-ball!

Matt held his own with those young kids and Alex dressed for the occasion :-)

Glow sticks for the "Glow girls"!

More vacation pictures...

Cousins:

Some of the guys showing off their jumping skills:

 

Tahlia has been practicing her dive :-)
 

Jazzie and pappa:

 

 

Staying up late and swimming all day has been taking it's toll on Tahlia :-)

  
We are having such a great time! Two more days of family fun to go :-)

Day two - Family Vacation

Since it was Father's Day, there were presents for all the dads, including grandpa and Tahlia's favorite uncle, Larry...

The men in the family have been playing Risk:

Us girls have been swimming, playing games and chit chatting, which can make a girl pretty tired...

 

Swimming in the dark with cousin Jake:

Hello from Kentucky

We are currently in Kentucky with Matt's family for our annual Family Vacation. We are in a huge, beautiful country home with a pool and having a great time...

Puppy Love

I still can't believe at times that on the exact same day that we brought Lily home, a girl was born on the other side of the world who would eventually become our daughter...

    

Disney World - Last Day

Sunday was our last full day in Disney World. We had an awesome vacation. We came back to the Wilderness Lodge, because we had such a great time last year and once again, the Lodge did not disappoint us. I would highly recommend staying there. I love Disney World; it makes for a great family vacation, although it can be exhausting. We were on the go every day (although we did relax by the pool every afternoon to escape the worst of the heat) and the girls never went to bed before 11 PM. To say they are exhausted is an understatement, but hey, that is what vacation is all about!

We decided to spend our last day at Epcot in the morning, we went swimming in the afternoon and then headed back to the Magic Kingdom one last time...

Epcot:

Time to re-hydrate:

Magic Kingdom:

The pictures are not in focus, but it was hard to shoot over my shoulder as the ride was going ;-)  

Time for a smoothie before watching the parade and fireworks:

More Disney and a meeting

On Saturday we headed to Hollywood Studio's where we had lunch with our neighbors at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. That was an experience! It was quite hot, so we headed back to the hotel so that we could cool off in the pool. In the evening we had a very special meeting planned with Debby and her two girls. I met Debby online several years ago. We shared a connection right away because her oldest daughter Lindsi has a cochlear implant like Jazzie. We always thought our girls would hit it off and since Debby lives in Florida, she offered to meet us for dinner. We took the girls to a special Cinderalla Dinner at the Grand Floridian. Not only was dinner great, the meeting with Debby and her girls could not have gone better! I instantly liked Debby and her girls are gorgeous! We had dinner and afterwards came back to our hotel so the girls could swim and Debby and I could chit chat :-)

After swimming the girls did crafts in our hotel room until after 11 PM. We all really hit it off and the time went by way too soon. If only we lived closer...

Some pictures:

 

Evil stepmother:

 
And the evil stepsisters, who were actually very funny!

 

Jazzie and Lindsi:
 
 

Tahlia and Jamie:

 

Jazzie got picked to dance with Prince Charming! She later mentioned it was embarrassing to dance in front of everyone, especially since she didn't know the steps ;-)

Then all the kids got to dance with the stepsisters:

Debby, thank you for taking the time to come and meet us. The girls had a great time and so did I! I truly hope that we can meet again some day soon.

Disney World - Epcot

We spent the entire day at Blizzard Beach today. What an awesome day we had! The girls went on just about every water slide they were tall enough for and simply had a blast. Matt and I did, too :-)

I did not take my camera to Blizzard Beach, so no pictures from today, but here are some from yesterday when we went to Epcot...

 

We went on Test Track (the girls loved it), we went on Soarin' twice (my favorite attraction in all of Disney!), and visited a bunch of other attractions and walked around the World Show Case.

We found Belle in the France pavilion....

 

Snow White in the Germany Pavilion...

 

And Mulan in the China pavilion...

 

We had lunch in the Japan pavilion where our chef cooked our meal right at our table. The girls really enjoyed that.

While in the Germany pavilion, we bought some chocolate and a treat for the girls:

Jazzie was thrilled to find out it was black licorice ;-)

 

And Tahlia enjoyed her gummy bears...  

Here is a picture of "Aloha Joe", who gave the girls a BUNCH of stickers...

We weren't expecting to stay at Epcot for as long as we did, but we stayed until it closed. It was great day, but tiring. I guess it's true when they say what Epcot stands for: Every Person Comes Out Tired. I know we did, but we are having an awesome vacation. It is going by way too fast!

12

Twelve years ago on this day, Matt and I got married. It was a beautiful day then (sunny, but kind of cool) and we are having the same kind of weather today. 

 

I have posted this picture before, but I am too busy to find or take another one right now. Matt and the girls are in the basement setting up the Wii which he got me and the girls for our anniversary (you may not think it's a romantic gift, but I LOVE it!). Soon Jazzie and I are going on a shopping spree and later today Cera and John are coming over so that Matt and I can go out tonight. Sushi!!!!

Happy anniversary to my love...
 

Easter 2010

After the girls searched for their Easter baskets (which the Easter Bunny hid in their bath tub!),  Alex who was in town for Easter, whipped up some yummy crepes:

After that we headed to Matt's parents' house to celebrate Easter with the entire family. Some pictures:

Jazzie and her great-grandmother:

 

Looking at old pictures:

 

Jazzie and Alex:

 

Tahlia popping bubbles on Alex' girlfriend Winnie's i-phone:

 

Tahlia and cousin Jake:

 

Eating Jell-O eggs:

 

Jazzie and her youngest cousin, Skyler:

 

After the big Easter egg hunt:

 

Tahlia feeding Skyler (so cute!!!)

 

Our gang:

A perfect day

Since it is Spring Break, I am trying to make a conscious effort to do some fun things with the girls. Today was a picture perfect day. After breakfast we headed out and did one of our favorite things: we painted some pottery:

So many colors, so little time :-)

As the girls painted, I simply enjoyed watching them. Here is my view:

And of course I had to have a little something from my very favorite coffee shop. I used to work at Coffee Please and it remains special a place which holds some very special memories (more on that tomorrow):

 

After the girls were done painting, I took them out to lunch at the mall where they were able to meet the Easter Bunny. After lunch we were off to the park, because it was a gorgeous spring day...

 

Our reflection in the slide:

 

I had a great day with my girls. I love them :-)

Memory Monday

Before we had Tahlia, Jazzie was a major daddy's girl. Even while we were in China, Jazzie preferred Matt over me. She was okay with me holding her and feeding her a bottle, but the first couple of days, she would only eat noodles of chopsticks and only if Matt would feed them to her:

She would only go to sleep if Matt was holding her: 

She continued to prefer Matt over me when she needed to be comforted, when she wanted to be carried, when she wanted to play, when she wanted to be read to, etc.

As a matter of fact, her first sign was "daddy". Here she is signing it:

She wanted only Matt after her cochlear implant surgery:

She even liked to dress like him :-)

 

It wasn't until after Tahlia came home and Jazzie was jealous of all the attention Tahlia got from me, that she pulled away from Matt a bit and wanted to be a mommy's girl, because she saw that Tahlia was. Things have not changed much since then. Jazzie now prefers me over Matt for most things, although she prefers him to play games with her, especially when they are math related games. They are my two math wizards :-)

Even though I am sure Matt feels like chopped liver at times, I still see something very special when I see Jazzie and Matt together.

 

Matt and his girls

Collages

We had a wonderful Christmas. Instead of posting a ton of pictures, I decided to go for collages instead.

First off, the girls doing some Christmas baking:

Next, opening their gifts:

And finally, some pictures of the girls putting out their reindeer food, the snack they left for Santa and with Cera, Alex and John:

 

Family Christmas and a big surprise :-)

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family yesterday. We had a great time and it was so nice to have the entire family together. It's what Christmas is really about, after all. Some pictures:

Tahlia and her uncle Tim (I am not sure, but it looks like they are giving me the "loser" sign):

Jazzie and her cousin C.J.:

Jazzie and uncle Mike:

Matt with his parents and siblings:

The kids with Matt's parents:

Alex and cousin Keely:

After all the presents were unwrapped, Cera and John gave Matt, myself, Alex and the girls one more present. She told us all to open it at the same time. I thought it was strange that she would give us all a present now since we are going to see each other again on Christmas day, but didn't really think much else of it. When I opened the box, I saw a t-shirt with the word "oma". For those of you who don't know, Oma is the Dutch word for grandmother. I looked down at Jazzie and saw she had a shirt with "aunt Jazzie" on it and I realized: OMG! Cera is pregnant :-) What a great way of telling us and have the entire family be a part of it...

After the announcement, John unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the t-shirt he had been wearing underneath ;-) Very sneaky!

 

Congratulations, Cera and John!!!!!

Alex is leaving :-(

Alex has been going to culinary school here in town, but has been wanting to transfer to the culinary program at the Art Institute in Chicago. We recently learned that he has been accepted there and that he will start after the holidays.

And even though Chicago is not that far (about a five hour drive from here), we will miss him. We are very happy that he is going to be where he wants to be and we are proud of him for following his dreams, but I will miss having him around. (Alex, who will play Wizard with us now and make me crème brûlée?!?)

But I think what I am most sad about is that the girls won't see their brother as much...

 

 

The good part is that I LOVE Chicago and that we have several friends who live there or who live close enough for us to meet up with them. Karen, Gretchen, Sharie: let's try to plan something this spring/summer!

Baking

You probably know by now that I love to bake with the girls, so when I saw these cute little aprons I simply had to get them!

 Let's bake!

 

We did not make cupcakes but ended up with two pumpkin breads and one pumpkin pie.

After spending some quality in the kitchen with the girls last night, I felt like I had redeemed myself a bit since the night before was not a good night. It was far from the kind of bed time routine I like to have and I hated that I wasn't a better mother that night. However, last night was great and I have let go of what happened the night before. And so have the girls...

Jazzie and Alex

So I've been trying to come up with a word to describe the relationship between Alex and Jazzie and I am having a hard time thinking of one. Whenever Alex comes over, Jazzie's attitude changes. I am not quite sure how to describe it. Sometimes she will totally ignore him and not answer his questions. Sometimes she has an attitude like she can't be bothered with him. Sometimes she squabbles with him, saying he is mean and not nice (which by no means is even close to being true!). But then there are times when she acts silly around him, wants to be chased by him, wants to play with him and she definitely likes showing him off to her friends.  Part of it all tells me that whatever she is doing is just part of her being the sassy little sister who likes to give her older brother a hard time, but part of me tells me that she is closing herself off for whatever reason.

I have noticed this kind of closed off behavior not only around Alex, but other members of the family as well. And the interesting part about this is that they are all men. She acts this way with Matt's dad and even with Matt to an extent. I notice her getting very protective of herself by not wanting to make eye contact and by giving backwards hugs. She is usually not like this and has no trouble looking people in the eye or showing affection by giving people hugs. However, when it comes to Alex, Matt's dad and even Matt, she will turn around and hug them. I have to wonder why she is doing this and what she is trying to protect herself from. Jazzie has gone through so much in her young life already and even though she is doing so amazingly well, I have to wonder what lies beneath those those brown eyes of hers...

Some more fun Alex/Jazzie pictures:

 

Pumpkin farm

Ever since we first brought Jazzie home we have gone to this local pumpkin farm where they set up themed area's with pumpkins. The girls love it and so do I. That is the reason why when the girls asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday today (I'm 39 today!), I told them I wanted to go the pumpkin farm :-)

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy: 

 

Aladdin: 

And Princess Jasmine:

Tahlia was thrilled when she discovered Tinkerbell:

Time to pick our pumpkins:

 

 

 

Jazzie had a good time checking out all the small, funny-looking gourds:  

We needed some small pumpkins that we will paint:

 

It was a sunny but cool day with a bright blue, clear sky. After picking our pumpkins, we visited the apple orchard down the street to get some more apple cider. I just LOVE fall. I could not think of anything better to do on my birthday :-)    

Uncle Mike

We are lucky that Matt's family lives close to us, especially since an ocean separates us from mine. We get together with Matt's family often and when we do, Tahlia always has a great time with her uncles. Matt's sister's husband is her absolute favorite, but a close second is Matt's brother Mike. I think Tahlia loves him because he is funny, goofy and strong enough to throw her in the air, lift her up high, etc. Here are Tahlia and uncle Mike at a family gathering this weekend:

 

 

 

Oh, the joy from trying to reach a tree branch ;-) 

 

 

 

Bangkok

Matt and I used to go to this Thai restaurant called Bangkok all the time. It was a little hole in the wall kind of place, but the food was excellent, the prices were low and the service was great. I remember going there before Matt and I were married, so we are talking at least 12 years ago.

I used to meet Matt there for lunch since his office was really close by and we used to take Cera, Alex and Laura there for dinner just about every Friday night. It was one of our very favorite restaurants. Several years ago the owner of the restaurant sold it and the food and service became not what it used to be, so we stopped going. Recently the restaurant changed owners again, so Matt and I decided to give the place another try and we met for lunch while the girls were with Cera.

I got there first. The interior of the place has not changed at all and as I was sitting there waiting for Matt, a lot of memories came to me. Who knew a restaurant could hold so many memories?

I remembered eating lunch with Matt and his co-worker and wife who were good friends of ours. We actually bought our previous home from them. They have since moved to California and we miss them.

I remembered meeting Matt and Bill (another one of his co-workers) for lunch and seeing Bill sweat like crazy from the spicy food ;-)

I remembered bringing my parents there while they were here and them loving it as much as we did.

I remembered the five of us (Matt, Cera, Alex, Laura and myself) sitting at the round table every Friday night eating our "long noodles" (pad thai). I then remembered going to the restaurant the Friday after Laura died. Laura passed away on a Wednesday and that following Friday Matt and I were in such a daze. I don't remember much, but I do remember Matt saying he wanted to go eat at Bangkok, because we would have gone there had Laura still been with us. We were desperate to try and have some sort of normalcy in the midst of our grief. So we went. I remember walking in and the waitress cheerfully asking us where the kids were. We told her what happened and I remember her grabbing our hands with tears in her eyes. She was shocked and didn't know what to say. We didn't either. We ordered pad thai (Laura's favorite), cried and ate in silence.

Even though that was a very sad memory, I also remembered a very happy thing that happened there. Bangkok was the place where Matt first got to see Jazzie's face. After we received our referral package, I met Matt for lunch so that he could see his daughter's pictures:

 

 

Looking at these pictures just now made me realize that I was sitting in the exact same booth as I was waiting for Matt the other day and I had all these memories come poring over me. That day the food was good, but still not as good as it used to be.

Bangkok the way we knew it may no longer exist, but the memories will be in my heart forever. 

Creek and pool

Let me start out by saying that I am not happy with my camera lately. I need to take it in and have it looked it, because something is not right. We took the girls to the Nature Center today and I took over 300 pictures. Only a handful turned out okay. I am not feeling it and I am not happy about it.

Some pictures:

 

As you can see it wasn't long before the clothes came off and the girls were in the creek completely :-)

 

Lily loves the creek, too:

What do I say about this?

 

 

 

After returning from the creek, we had lunch and Alex came over. Just in time to go swimming with the girls:

 

 

  

 

 

Family picture

We don't have nearly enough of them...

We are back

We returned from our annual family trip and we had a great time. We played lots of games, swam a lot, ate way too many cookies and had good old family fun. The girls are exhausted after five days of running around, having fun and staying up way too late ;-)

Tahlia loved pushing her little cousins around in this little turtle: 

 

Jazzie and cousin Isaiah: 

These two girls have gotten so close over the years. They spent many hours playing games and doing crafts: 

 

A camping trip is not complete without s'mores:

 

 

 

 

The go carts were a HUGE hit:

 

 

Not just the little ones - but the big ones, too :-)

 

 

 

We went down to the lake every day to swim, make sand castles and go down the two big water slides: 

 

 

Tahlia and her best buddy, uncle Larry: 

 

 

 

 

All that swimming made for a very tired little girl:

Tahlia and her pappa: 

 

Our cabins - I like this way of camping MUCH better than the whole tent thing. We had air conditioning, a bathroom, a kitchen and a coffee pot. All the essentials :-)

 

The gang:

 

And now it is Friday night, almost 8 PM. The girls are in bed (I wanted to make sure they were in bed early tonight), I have my fourth load of laundry in the dryer and I am getting ready to open a bottle of wine, because I have a date with my DVR ;-)

Father's Day and Family Reunion

Today was our annual Family Reunion. We had a great time, had some great food, caught up with family and played some fun games...

Matt and his 94 year old grandmother. She is a very feisty lady and when I grow up, I want to be just like her :-)

Four generations: 

 

Tahlia and cousin Jake:

 

The craft table:

An important message from my niece: 

 

 

Cera, John and their baby Kirk :-)

 

Poor Kirk had a hard time with that chicken bone staring him in the face ;-)

Sisters!

Jazzie and big bro, Alex: 

 

All American girl:

Water balloon toss: 

 

Cooling off with an ice cube: 

 

 

 

My sister-in-law with her oh-so demure cup:

Having fun with Alex' I-Phone: 

 

   

On the way home:

And finally, Matt with all his kids. Happy Father's Day, babe. I love you...

Disney World Part Deux - Our day at Epcot

We spent our third day at Epcot. Epcot is not half as exciting as the Magic Kingdom, but we still had a great time. We visited Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy before riding some of the rides. The Soaring ride at Epcot is simply amazing and we enjoyed watching the Chinese acrobats at the Chinese pavilion. The highlight of the day however was when we had dinner with the princesses. Princess Belle was there to welcome us as we walked in and during dinner the girls were extremely excited to have Cinderella, Princess Jasmine, Princess Aurora and Princess Ariel come to our table to chat. 

 

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

At the end of the day, the girls put their princess dresses on for our princess dinner! 

  

Half way through dinner, Jazzie noticed the princesses coming in, including princess Ariel as a human, which excited Jazzie to no end. After seeing Ariel as a mermaid at the Magic Kingdom, she couldn't wait to see her as a human ;-)

  

Still gazing as Ariel visits other tables: 

Tahlia was just as star struck:

 

The end of another busy day: