Trip down south

We took our first long road trip down to SC in July. First a rehearsal dinner on Friday night, then a wedding on Sat night, followed up by a LaGuardia family vacation at Kiawah Island for the whole next week. As soon as we made it down to SC we met up with the Francis/Brewer family at Folly Beach so the kids could see the ocean. Yes, they have both been to the ocean/gulf before, but they don't really remember it. This was the first time that they truly enjoyed the sand and the ocean. So much fun!

Little trip to the Charleston Aquarium with Papa Joe before the wedding.

Checking out the small boat for the kids to play and explore.

The newlyweds! Emily and Tj congrats! We had such a great time at your wedding!

Beautiful setting and so much fun to celebrate with them.

ceremony site, under an old tree

Then turn around and go under the tent and patio for the reception. The food was stationed inside this beautiful old plantation house.

Sister - in - laws

Amanda, Liz, Michelle and me

Me and my hubby!

About to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary! (9/10)

the band and the dance floor looking out over the water/marsh

And now for our Kiawah pics, hold on...there are a lot of them! Just too hard to pick a few!

My brother-in-law, Brian, cousin Matt and Mark at the all u can eat oyster dinner at Kiawah.

An attempt at a family picture

Our big boy wanted to sit up in this tree

Family trip to catch some crab. The hardest part was to decide who was going to stay home with the little kids. Ok and trying to keep Caden and Joey from netting each other and scaring the crabs off. Brings back memories from when we used to go down to Kiawah when we were younger.

Our big 3yr old

Sammie enjoying the sand and shallow ocean water

cleaning the crabs with Papa Joe, and yes they did eat some of it and enjoyed it!

I wish that I could have posted all of the pictures that we took in trying to get at least one decent picture. So funny! Not to mention all of the parents yelling and trying to get the kids attention. If you walked by you would have thought we lost our mind! Ha! That didn't happen until at least day 4! Ha Ha!

All the grandkids

Sammie, Charlie, Natalie

Joey and Caden

Papa Joe and Gigi with the grandkids

family pic on the beach

The three older kids

Me and my hubby

me and my little girl, who's not so little anymore

after pictures, Sammie couldn't resist going in the water

Charlie having fun in the sloppy sand

ice cream cones on the beach

the little Nat (Nat-cat) eating the sand

Siblings

the boys

Gigi and Papa walking with the kids (minus Natalie)

Sam

Joey and Joe

my boys

funny girl

Some of my cousins were also down in SC with their families. Their kids are a bit older than ours and enjoyed pulling them around in the raft in the shallow water. The kids loved it!

gotta love the sleeping babies at the beach

Treasure hunt with Papa Joe on the beach to find the buried treasure

On the way home we stopped at an Amish store for some dinner.

Made it all the way thru vacation and they still like each other!

Daddy the horse pulling the kids

Fairs, family and lots of summer fun!

Summer fun!

I caught Caden putting his arm around his sister while we were at the Akron Ribfest. So cute or maybe was just looking to hold on to the creaky ride. Either way...he wasn't pushing her out, so cute!

It is always fun when I get together with my siblings. Seems like we never grew up and can crack each other up! Joe and I saw this blow up caterpillar at the festival and I told him he had to climb inside for a pic. Too darn funny! How can the entrance and exit be like that, its almost not right! Ha!

Papa Joe at the family farm with most of the grandkids on a gator-ride (and one random kid)

Some of our family was in town from Italy. We got together at Jen/Brian's house for a cookout with them and had a great time. There is a language barrier (with some more than others).

Brian and sweet Natalie

Jen came down with Natalie for a visit. Sammie was showing Nat all of her stuffed animals and books in her bed. They just love her!

Trip down to The Fraze for WingFest! (Ok we like festivals!)

Dad enjoying the fountain pools with the kids.

Sammie loving her ice cream

The kids have been having a ridiculous amount of fun taking the cushions off of the couches.

I know that my siblings and I used to do this when were little, I wonder if it drove my mom crazy. It does keep them busy and they think it is a trampoline.

We fell into the train trap at the mall. On an evening trip out to Dayton one night, we took the kids to the mall. They played on the indoor playground with the rowdy kids and then we saw the train upstairs...the kids wanted to go on so badly...so we caved. Kind of a dissapointment.

Garden 2011

So far the garden has produced a lot of veggies for us.

The garlic has been pulled and is hanging up. Zucchinis are done now, and the eggplants are almost ready to be eaten. The peppers and cucumbers have been pickled and the tomatoes just keep on coming. It was our first year of eating our asparagus (need to wait 3yrs) and it is amazing the difference between fresh and store bought. So delicious! I am anxious to try the sweet potatoes (new item this year).