A trip away...

Two weekends ago, (ah! I'm falling behind!), my cousin got married in beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. There were activities from Friday afternoon straight through Sunday afternoon, and since it was all situated in such a beautiful location at a five diamond resort, Jason and I decided to spend a few extra days. The girls divided their time between Jason's parent's house and aunt and uncle's house, and they had a ball! They jumped in the bouncy house, went to the apple orchard, cheered at the Illini game (Marin started the ILL- INI chant at a restaurant after the game when she spotted all the orange and blue clad patrons), went to the petting zoo, and hung around Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob's farm happy as clams (Marin pushed a little toy combine, and combined macaroni noodles- hmm, there's a first).


Meanwhile Jason and I dined and drank our way through five days of perfection and complete elegance, rarely having to take our eyes off the ocean. I really could have gotten used to turn down service complete with raspberry chocolates, and classical music playing as I entered my room every night. In the morning, a fluffy robe was always waiting right next to cozy slippers and the weather report for the day. At the Ponte Vedra Inn, a door man would see me coming 20 yards away, and hold the door open with a "Good Morning, Miss." as I breezed through with nothing to account for but my sunglasses. While, in real life at home, I pry open doors with my feet and hold them with my rear end while I push an extra long stroller through. We stepped out our door and were right on the ocean and took walks to collect seashells, and at night we sat on the beach watching the stars until well into the morning. Seriously, I could have gotten used to all of that. But, I missed my girls something fierce.

Still, with the girls in careful hands, we made the best of every moment. And although I had to drag my breast pump through every five star dinner and cocktail reception, and pump in some seriously only-a-mother-whose-done-this-would-understand places, we lived it up. We missed my mom and dad who were on a Mediterranean cruise they had booked before Drew set the date, but we had such a great time with my brother and Katy, and we loved spending time with all of my cousins, whom we don't get to see often enough. We laughed so hard, and danced, and partied- a little too much on more than one occasion- our way through the wonderful five days. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, we closed the wedding celebrations with a brunch at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday afternoon and got a tour of the famous tournament course.

As an added bonus, we got to spend time with Jason's cousin who lives close by in Jacksonville. We went to dinner with her in Ponte Vedra shortly after we arrived and spent a day and night with her and her boyfriend on the tail end of the trip. We enjoyed a delicious seafood feast on the water and visited the World Gold Hall of Fame.

When our plane landed, I was so excited to scoop up those girls of ours I was practically crawling out of my skin. But ahhh.... it was good to get away with just Jason and I for a few days of beach front sunrise and sunsets right out our door. And great fun with my family all day long. Fuel for the soul.

Lucky (In Love) In Kentucky!

Did you miss me? Come on; you know you did. :) I'm alive, just behind. I'll get you up to date lickity split, and it will be like we were never apart. Deal? Here goes....

Two weekends ago, Uncle Jake and Aunt Katy came to watch Marin all by themselves all weekend long, while Jason and I headed to Kentucky for Dana and Tim's wedding. Marin had a blast with Uncle Jake and Aunt Katy, and Jake and Katy survived the weekend unscathed. Marin received the royal treatment from Uncle Jake and Aunt Katy all weekend long. They went for walks, out for lunch, got new coloring books, and even made a craft for mom and dad- a ceramic hand print keep sake. How sweet are they? What's more, when we got home, Katy had completely scrubbed this place from top to bottom. How's that for free babysitting?!

Jason and I stopped half way through our road trip in Indianapolis to visit our friends Mike and Becky, and we had a great time seeing their new home, and visiting. Becky made a delicious dinner, and their son Joel is cute to boot! But it was a quick trip, because the next morning we headed to Louisville to witness Dana marry the "business man by day, cowboy by night" that she had always been looking for.

It was also great to be together with my college girlfriends- we were only missing two girls (one home with a brand new baby, and one celebrating Yom Kippur). And after all shedding tears of joy for Dana and Tim, we kicked the party off strong out of the gate and danced the night away! The reception was at Dana's parents horse farm, under a big white tent decked out with bright colorful flowers, and paper lanterns. There were touches of Dana at every turn, including a second gorgeous wedding dress just for dancing, capped off with to die for red heels. And, as Tim toasted to everyone, I think the day was what she'd always dreamed of.

At the end of the night, Sarah pointed out that this was our last family wedding. Of course that made me cry and beg everyone to stay until the very last possible bus ride back to our hotel. And so we did...

Congratulations Dana and Tim! We wish you oodles and oodles of happiness for many, many years.

Our day with Aunt Vee and Nicole!

Monday, Aunt Vee and Nicole came up to spend the day with Marin and me. It is always such a treat when Aunt Vee visits. She just loves Marin to pieces, and I'm not sure who gets more excited to see the other- Aunt Vee or Marin. We just love her so much! In fact, Marin was so excited to see Aunt Vee and Nicole that she ran around like bonkers for the first 15 minutes.

Since Aunt Vee and Nicole are such popular ladies, my mom didn't want to miss the chance to catch up with them either, so she met us for lunch and we all chatted and caught up. Marin was good through lunch and liked smiling at talking in her own jabber with Nicole from across the table. Nicole and Neal are getting married on January 1st, so I mentioned that this occasion might be a good one to do a little mother-of-the-groom dress shopping. Everyone was game so we walked on over to the East Room, one of Geneva's boutique dress shops on 3rd street, after lunch. We had a great time picking out dresses for Aunt Vee and making her try on what I was referring to as the Vee and the not-so-Vee. Everything looks great on Aunt Vee, but there were some skimpier dresses (gasp! bare shoulders!) that just weren't Aunt Vee, and we giggled as she strolled out clutching at the bare areas. She was such a good sport! We did find one gorgeous gown that was perfect and looked amazing on her, and she just glowed in it. The afternoon was a success! Marin slept most of the time in her stroller, so she missed out on a good time, but it was nice for me so that I didn't have to chase her around the store making sure she didn't drool all over the fancy dresses.

After dress shopping we walked back to our house and relaxed a bit before sadly, it was time for Aunt Vee and Nicole to leave. It was a short trip, but a great one, and we know we'll see them again soon!

The celebrations continue...

We have had a lot to celebrate lately, and we've been having a great time doing just that!


Last Thursday we headed back to Swedish Days with Abby, Jeff and little man CJ. We patronized our favorite food tent- the Lion's Club- of which both Abby's and my dads are members. Marin enjoyed dancing to the live music while on Jason's shoulders, and of course we stopped for ice cream before we walked back to our house for the kiddos bedtime.

The next day we celebrated Jason's Aunt Jean and Uncle Don's 40th Anniversary. They were throwing a big party the following day, but Jason and I were going to be out of town, so we decided to invite the whole gang to our house for a pre-anniversary party, party. All of Jean and Don's kids were in town with their families, plus Jean's siblings- Jason's Dad, and their Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim and other Uncle Jim. Lindsay also made it out, and we had a happy house full of Patterson's! We walked up to Swedish Days to let the kids get their faces painted and to check out (you guessed it) the ice cream shop! Jack and Ella wanted to try out this big trampoline while hooked up to bungee cords thingy, and Amy, Lindsay and I decided to do it as well. It was a little demoralizing because we had to stand on a scale before they would allow us to ride, and then later referred to us "the bigger ladies" but I guess they hadn't ever seen grown ups actually give it a try. It was a lot of fun! A few days later when my abs hurt and I couldn't figure out why, I realized it was the flips I did on that bungee ride. Now I know why it is mostly for the kids and the teenie boppers. The "bigger ladies" could barely hack it! When we arrived back home, we all enjoyed Jason's famous pork loin for dinner. And with 8 kids running around, it seemed like one if not all of them were crying at one point, but there were plenty of hands and plenty of willing aunties and uncles to hold them. My parents joined us as well, and the "adults" (which, even with some of us in our late 30's, is how we refer to our parents) all sat around laughing and recounting their wedding days. After everyone left that night, Jason, Lindsay, their Dad and I sat on our deck talking until past midnight. Cops were called for the third time, but the joke's on the borington neighbors; we didn't move a muscle.

Saturday morning Jason and I left for our friend Katie and Sean's wedding in Michigan. Marin stayed with Pappy and Aunt Lindsay and had a glorious day going to the park, out to lunch and on stroller rides. Early that evening, the three of them went to Jason's Aunt and Uncle's anniversary party together. I am told that Marin was well behaved and once again had a ball with her cousins. Jason and I had a great time toasting Katie and Sean at their beautiful wedding and reception at a Michigan vineyard. It was a gorgeous night and the wedding was straight out of InStyle Weddings. We also celebrated our friend Sarah's recent engagement to Brendan, and are looking forward to their year of fun and preparations ahead. Sarah and Brendan are absolutely soul mates- and this was only further confirmed when we got into Brendan's car this weekend and in the backseat was every piece of sports equipment except a zamboni. It was great reunion with Stephanie and Shannon, who have both since moved to Ohio. It is rare when we are all able to get together, but it always is accompanied by gut busting laughter and a lot of inside jokes about P55's, 541T, The Lunch Lady, Rodent-like devices and doing "the show".

Sunday we headed back home and were glad to hear that Pappy and Aunt Lindsay enjoyed Marin as much as Marin enjoyed them. That afternoon Marin, Jason and I met my parents at the annual Swedish Days parade to mark the festivals end. Marin loved holding her little flag and waving to the floats as they passed, saying "HIIII!!!"

It was another great weekend!