Chicago and the Flower Girl

We spent one night with Gramma Kris and Bill and Melissa in Palantine and had dinner with Great Grandma Shirley and Great Grampa Jack. It is always nice to see all of them. Melissa is off soon to Notre Dame for her Senior year and kris and Colleen went with Ya to a children's museum while I stayed behind to work on my resume. Then it was back to Grampy Jim's for the night and to pack!

Cousin Lindsey's Wedding!

Saturday was the big day for Cousin Lindsey and for Ambiana her little flower girl. We spent the morning with Uncle Dale and Auntie Kristy and then headed off to the church for the wedding.Ambiana was absolutely precious as she walked down the aisle with Natalie the other flower girl and it brought tears to Daddy's eyes. Imagine the bawlin' i'm a gonna do when she is married :) Ya then fell asleep and slept through the ceremony.


See why Daddy cried tears of joy.




The reception was at a fancy Westin Hotle and there were 4 other big wedding reception's going on as well. We had lots of fun with Dale and Kristy and Uncle Bruce and Grampy Jim even got out on the dance floor with Karen. Colleen had a big night (5 Long Beaches) Daddy was driving so he played it safe and kept watch over Ya when she went to sleep beneath a table. Lots of fun, home at 1am!

We were up at 8am because Ambiana got plenty of sleep and somehow we packed the car and canoe and were on the road, off to Toledo and my dad's house, by 2:30pm (3:30 EDT)!!

Toledo

We drove to Toledo from Columbus on Monday after waking up in the tent in Colleen Sharkey's backyard. Patti and Dad were home when we arrived. I made a Birthday Cake with yummy chocolate fudge frosting for Patti and we had it after joining her and 25 of her senior's water aerobics class for dinner at a very entertaining japanese steak house. Ambiana got nervous with the fire but she loved the goldfish pond and fountain. Colleen and I split the salmon.

Then it was home for cake and some Olympics for me while Colleen searches online for jobs and a house. We are being called to Plainfield. We have not been there ironically in all are miles we put in visitng places but we have heard about it, met good people from there and it is just outside of Montpelier where Colleen already has a part time job she can take Ambiana with as a Lunch Composter in the East Montpelier school system. Colleen has also found a house on craigslist which sounds and looks perfect in Plainfield and we are going to go look at it Tuesday!

Meanwhile in Toledo we visited with Dad who has lost 30 pounds and is just stick and bones with no energy. He told us in Boston he expects to die in 2-5 years and we hope it is not true and that he can regain some strength. We floated the idea of him coming to live with us but Independance is such a misguided virtue sometimes that breeds such industries as healthcare, retirement and nursing homes. We would love to nurse him back to health (once we find a place.) but would he ever come???

We picked the canoe off the lawn for the first time in almost a year and strapped it to our roof and then were off to West beach and the dunes and lake Michigan to meet Ann Clancy and her girls at the beach. It was super fun, big waves and warm sun and drippy sand unfortunately the camera malfunctioned no no shot of yaya's cute sandy bum nor ours for that matter. After the pizza party and visitng with Ann and Bob we camped in Grampy Jim's backyard as his house is toxic with all the clutter and dust and mold of 20 years of negelect and began the task of selecting what we bring back to us to Vermont for the Settle Down Process before going over to Grammy Kris' in Palatine for the night.