Columbus–Yoh Family Vacation

The weekend after school was out, Jeremy’s cousin (Greg) was married in Columbus.  This brought in Jeremy’s brother (and his family) and his sister (and her husband) from out of state.  Gloria decided to make this time an extended weekend family vacation.  It was a great idea.  We went down Friday afternoon and checked into a very nice hotel.  The best things about the hotel –

the glass elevator,

the staircase past the gazebo,

    

and the pool.

              

I would add a suite which had a door to allow adults to stay up longer than their children and a yummy breakfast.

On Friday night, the Greg and Maggie (stars of the wedding) hosted a gathering at Flanigans with pizza and sand volleyball.  It was difficult to know how to dress since it was a wedding event, but I might play volleyball.  (Who am I kidding?  I would definitely be playing volleyball.).  I wore khaki green shorts with a tank top.  It was “dressy” enough, and okay to play in.  It was a fun night to get my toes in the sand again. 

On Saturday, we made a trek to the pool (again… see above pictures).  Then, we got ready for the main event.  I found a fast, easy style I could manage to do for Madison.  Ellie was happy with her hair down. 

         

It was an outdoor ceremony.  The sun was intense, but it was beautiful.  Here are the mothers (bride’s mom on left, groom’s on right).

    

The wedding party

    

The bride with her father

The reception was fun.  The girls had fun dancing and taking pictures.

                   

On Sunday, we went to the Columbus Zoo.  I love the Columbus Zoo.  It did not disappoint.  We went on a boat ride to see the animatronic dinosaurs.  Theo (age 4) shouted back to his dad, “Don’t worry, Daddy.  You can do it!” when things seemed a bit scary.

      

We posed on statues, played with penguins, viewed animals, rode a carousel, and watched a show.  It was a long, but fun day.

                    

That night we went out to eat at The Rail restaurant.  It was good, the kids were tired.  Monday, we woke up, had a good breakfast, hit a store to pick up some shorts for Madison for Gatlinburg, and headed back home.  We are thankful for the time we can spend with family.  It is not easy to get everyone together when they are coming from two states in opposite directions.  Thank you, Grandma Yoh, for making such an effort to get things organized and people together.  We all appreciate it. 

May’s Moments

I once read that it is ridiculous to apologize for not posting in a blog when you haven’t posted for awhile.  I do it every time.  Sorry to be redundant.  I realize there are only a few people reading and they already know what has happened.  So, maybe I just apologize to myself for not keeping up like I wish I would.  Some people use facebook to log their life.  I use a combination of the blog and actual picture albums (which I am also waaaay behind on).  I feel like this is my memory back up.  If I don’t remember when we did something or details, I can skim back through this electronic copy of my mind, and Bingo! found it.  I enjoy knowing it’s there for me.  So, May came and went.  And with it, came little memories I would like to catalog…

Mother’s Day/Birthday Celebrations…

Landen, Jen, and my mom share the month of May for birthdays; so they share a common party, usually tacked onto Mother’s day.  It was a good day to be together as a family.  Kickball, trampolining, talking, and eating among other things that were enjoyed.  The next day, we celebrated at church with a kids’ musical.

   

Chuck E Cheese’s …

You know that famed restaurant for kids that makes parents pull their hair out.  Well, my mom got the girls a gift card for their birthdays to go with a friend.  So, we finally picked a weekday to venture into this abyss.  It was a pretty quiet day at Chuck E Cheese, and for that reason, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Madison chose to invite her friend Mackensie; Ellie invited Aubrey.  This was a dilemma in itself because neither of them are at an age for “best friends” so they just picked on of their many friends.  I picked them up after school, let them play at the playground for a bit, and then Jeremy met us and off we went.  They had a great time playing games, eating pizza, and picking prizes. 

         

8th Grade DC Trip…

I was asked to chaperone the 8th grade trip to DC this year along with my other coworkers.  I was apprehensive about what this would entail, but I love to travel, so I was looking forward to getting away.  I was nervous about how the students would do and how things would go.  The company that plans it for us did a great job, and we, as chaperones, had little to do.  There were 28 girls on a pretty comfortable bus.  I was able to watch High School Musical 1 AND 2.  We stopped at Gettysburg which was really interesting (except for the Ghost Tour – waste of time).  DC was filled with monuments and museums.  The highlight for students was probably the dinner time cruise – there was lots of food and dancing!  It was a great trip, and it will be one I look forward to (assuming I get to go every year). 

    

Garden…

Jeremy is always good about getting a garden put in.  This year we took advantage of the school’s greenhouse plant sale to try some new things out – brussels sprouts, broccoli, pumpkins, and peppers. Also, we picked up a spider plant for Madison’s room and an aloe plant for Ellie’s room.  The girls helped him (a little) plant one evening.

End of School…

We made it!  Both the girls and I.  And Jeremy, too!  It was a good year, a growing year, and a fairly quick year.  Here are the end of school (right) vs beginning of school picture (left)