St. Petersburg Family Reunion

....And for the final trip in July (yes, we traveled A LOT last month), we went down to St. Pete beach in Florida for a family reunion on Marsh's side to celebrate his Aunt Joanne and Aunt (Dodo) Dorothy's birthdays. Joanne turned 80 and Dodo turned 79 last month ....wow!!!

The brothers (Lashar, Al, and Marsh) with Aunt Dodo

It was a ton of fun (despite the wicked sunburn I got after being an idiot for too long on the beach without enough --or strong enough- sunscreen!). Marsh and I flew down on a Thursday and met the boys (Justin and Collin) later that evening at the airport. It was one family member after another flying in from all over the place .....it was a bit crazy!!

Marsh and I at the Inn on the Beach (a bunch of us stayed here, we practically took over the place ;)

Marsh's cousin John, his partner Lance, Me, and Marsh having way too good of a time!!

the Portland faction of our family: Elizabeth, Aria, and Myra!

our Oklahoma City niece and nephew, Margaux and James (cute :)

Justin, Me, and Collin at the beach (before the rain rolled in and the sunburn set in ...ooww!)

....so, these are just some highlights and I will post another slideshow (top right of blog) to view as there are many photos, per usual :) ....With the exception of the barely tolerable humidity levels known to present themselves during July in Florida (...ahh, ..duh!), we really enjoyed our time. Lots of storytelling surrounding events from the past, catching up, drinking (of course), eating (...again, of course!), live bluegrass music courtesy of family members Diane and Clay, and time with family which truly is priceless and never taken for granted (even if you have to sweat it out ...that's what sangria is for ;) ....Good stuff!!

My Kind of Town, Chicago!

While we were up in Wisconsin in July, Marsh, Justin, Collin and I took a train down to Chicago to visit David and spend a few days exploring the Windy City (since the boys have never been here) ....this photo was taken on top of the building where David lives downtown. It's our family "album cover"....ha! However, I am PETRIFIED of heights like this, but I think I managed pretty well all things considered. Justin and Collin, on the other hand, thought David's place was "the bomb" (or something like that, anyway ;) ....

..my triplet bro, David and I :)

hangin' out on David's balcony ...

....We also went to the Sears Tower, Shedd's Aquarium, checked out a show at Second City, and a few other cool things in the city. I'm going to throw the rest of the pics in a slideshow for you. Marsh and I wanted to go on an architectural tour of the city that you do while cruising on the river along downtown, but the boys vetoed that (boooo!! ...next time I guess). I did get some great architectural pics like the one below: ....I wish I could remember what building this was ...oops, my ignorant bad, but it is one of many beautiful buildings throughout the downtown Chicago area. I also took many pictures at the aquarium and will leave you with one of my favorites of the Moray eel (in honor of David, of course, who I nicknamed "Moray" many years ago!! Here you are, Davey ...this one's for you ;)

Summer Bliss and Family Fun in Wisconsin

We ventured to Port Washington with the boys beginning of July to see my side of the family and share in the celebration of Katja's baptism (our new niece, remember??). Andria and I are officially godmothers and I am honored and humbled ....thank you, Kierstin and Tim.....

Beautiful baby Katja.....

....Anyway, it was a great trip and the weather was absolutely FANTASTIC!!! I, quite frankly, did not want to leave and enjoyed the break from the insane Texas heat. I got to see every one of my nieces and nephews that I love so, so very much and had such a fun time playing with them. The problem is, it never seems to be enough time whenever we go home and the trips always go by way too fast.....sigh......We had a pizza party one night, among other things, the baptism, and time to just enjoy family. We also took Justin and Collin to see David and Chicago (for the first time) for a couple of nights (that's my next post....have patience....) So, I'm going to throw in a few "highlights" pictures below, but will have a slideshow up in the corner by the weekend for your viewing pleasure ....lots to see.....actually, putting this together tonight makes me miss Wisconsin more than ever :( .....On the plus side, I'm sure I won't miss it so much in January when they are shoveling snow and I'm enjoying hiking around Lake Travis (glass half full, glass half full ;) ....And now, for the highlights:

Connie and Frank (the pizza professionals!) with Mom and Dad ....this couple makes THE BEST pizzas ......they come to you, make the pizzas on-the-spot (custom order) AND do all the cleaning up ......what a deal :)

Dad ("the boat") and the grandkids "water-skiing" (Jonas, Roman, Lucia, and Benjamin) ...I love this picture!

My triplet bro, David, in his eternal five-year-old state ...oh, stinker boy --some things never change!!! haha......

Jonas and Art playing ring toss :)

Justin, Andria, and Collin ....in a cougar moment??!!

a blog-worthy image of Lisa and Marsh!!

The Byster!!!! (I captured a perfect Byster moment, I do believe.....)

Myself and Andria, the godmothers-to-be, at the baptism....

..the necessities for my and Andria's stilthouse sleepover (photo taken from inside the stilthouse in Mom and Dad's backyard).....yes, that is indeed liverwurst in the plastic bag.......nothing like a glass of Pinot and a slice of 'wurst.....you'll have to check out the slideshow for the rest of the classic pics from this particular evening!

my sweetie and me awaiting a fabulous homemade blueberry pancake breakfast (Mom and Dad, you're the best!!)

C'mon dad, where are the pancakes??....having some good laughs before sending Andria and Ash off and back to Colorado :)

......so these are just the highlights. I'll try and get the slideshow up so you can truly "experience" our trip.....but for now, peace ....I'm out!! (seriously)

July, the Crazy Month

...I can't believe it's July 31st today and I haven't made one single blog post for the entire month yet. ....Well, I guess I'll blame Marsh because that's what spouses do to one another ;) ....we have done quite a bit of traveling and family get-togethering (not a word, but sounds good), so that hasn't made hiding away and updating the blog all that simple. Plus, Marsh had the camera and was responsible for downloading the plethora of pictures we took (oh yeah, it's a lot!!!). But I'm going to make a stab at it tonight and hope to have some new slide shows up in the right hand corner as they really do need to be updated anyway. We were in Wisconsin, Chicago, St. Petersburg (yep, Florida ....the other hot end of the country this time of year), and I spent a few nights in Colorado to attend The Police concert at Red Rocks, unfortunately without Marsh but with Andria and friends .....it was phenomenal!! ...Anyway, Matt still needs to send me some pictures, but I'll try and download the ones I took from my picture phone. ....Hang in there for some fun new stuff :)

Chance becoming citified

I never thought Chance could get used to an elevator, but he has been a surprisingly distinguished urban gentleman!! Even his first trip in it was filled with more curiosity than apprehension, as his ears perked up every time the elevator "dinged", signaling the passing of another floor (fortunately, there aren't that many floors as my vertigo would kick in....). He figured the elevator situation out rather quickly and now knows exactly what to do ....what a smart boy, if my biased self must say so ;)

Lil' Lila

While Ed's band, the Band of Heathens, was playing in Houston this past weekend, Kacia and I took the opportunity to have a gals only dinner together. Before we went out to eat, of course Lila needed to get her belly full ....with peas, that is. I just had to post this one. Lila is my newest little buddy and she makes me smile :) ....We are going to spend some time together this week and I'm really looking forward to it!!

More friends we miss....

Judy and Wells ....a lovely, fit couple!!

Once upon a time, there were two beautiful, intelligent, witty, and very fun single gals (of course I'm referring to myself and Judy) who found a crazy, bachelor guy named Ron to live with (as a matter of fact, yes, it was like "Three's Company"). They all partied too much, laughed a lot, occasionally argued, but most importantly became very close and like family to each other. Until one day, a single handsome suitor came along who just so happened to be good friends with Ron and swept Judy off her feet and to Idaho (that's
Wells I'm talking about by the way, pictured above) ....and then to Oregon (all good prosecutors must heed the call!)....Then Ron met Lara and moved away to Florida and I was left all alone in Colorado .....but wait!! My sweetie Marsh finally came along and I, too, was eventually pulled away to another state and the three of us are officially spread out across the country .....and once again, that's why we are thankful for air travel!! Well, anyway, here Judy and Wells are 10 years and 4 kids later!! We are hoping to make a trip to Bend, Oregon in the fall where Judy, Wells, and clan reside, but we have a ton of trips this summer and may have to postpone our visit ....But I wanted to share some pictures of their 4 beautiful children (no, really, they are all beautiful and I'm not even just saying that out of some sort of obligation). Taylor is their first born and a spitting image of Judy. Then comes Jacob who, in my opinion, looks just like Judy's father who I had the privilege to meet before his passing. And finally, there's the twins (quite the surprise there!!), Ava and Noah. I think Ava looks like Wells and Noah looks like Judy's brother Sy. ...Who really cares, though....they are ALL adorable ....see for yourself:

Ava and Taylor .... on a "girls only" outing with Judy!

Jacob, the human marshmallow ;)

the Lone Ranger, Noah!

...the entire clan, learning team work (now THIS is the wonderful thing about a big family, right Judy??!! ....you guys have your hands full!! ;)

...We love and miss all of you!!! We can't wait to make it to Bend soon (hopefully before you make it down here to Austin, right???!!!)