Vacation Continued

As promised, the happy couple:

Sam and Tiffanie

Bella was super excited about the wedding and couldn't wait to dance with Carrie and Justin and to see her cousin Katie again!  They did not dissapoint and lavished her with lots of attention as did Sarah and Jackie and Bill, too.  She put her dancing shoes on and had a good old time, she didn't care if the music was playing or not, she was ready to dance!

And the girl has got some moves, let me tell you.  We often used to worry that she was going to put out a hip or something, but all our worries were for naught.  She's got the moves down!

We didn't stay very late though as we had a two hour drive back to Bill's house that night and ha plans to go to the zoo in the morning...

So after breakfast, we headed off to the Pittsburgh Zoo.  Jim really is a zoo person, me-not so much.  Although since being married to him I have become more of one I must admit.  Ha!  We visit them often enough that's for sure.  Anyway, Jim had really been wanting to take Bella to the Pittsburgh Zoo for sometime and I was happy to go along and we did have a great time.  The zoo has changed a lot since the last time that we were there and the children's zoo is completely different!  Bella had a great time, lots of things to climb on and play on, slides and interactive things.  It was really nice.   And I just loved seeing the polar bears, they were so much fun to watch!  Here are a few pictures of our day there:

Bella loved watching the Sea Lions play, we watched from both above and below ground!

Here we are with one of the elephants! We got to touch his tusk and pet him, pretty cool!

In the Children's Zoo

Playful Polar Bears

Touching a blue and yellow speckled sting ray.

That was our day at the zoo.  It really was fun.  We were all pretty beat by the time we left, especially me.  Ha!  When we got back to Bill's I laid down and slept for two hours.  Did I mention that the zoo is built on a hill?  Lots of walking up and down stressing my muscles to the max. 

Enough for today, I'll share our final day of vacation with you tomorrow! 

Have a great day!

I'm Back!

Coming back from vacation is a bummer!  Vacation was wonderful.  I had a great time.  The first half of the week was spent on Topsail Island in North Carolina and it was great.  The weather couldn't have been better, the company was terrific, the food was even superb!  Each of us 'kids' cooked dinner one night and we had quite an assortment of food; baked ziti, pulled bbq pork, meatball soup & eggplant parm, stuffed chicken, babyback spare ribs, mmm-mmm!  It was not so good for my diet, but it sure was tasty.  Ha!  I spent most of the week in a bathing suit and a cover up, no make up, didn't do my hair-it was great.  Here's the proof:

I got lots of color and even more freckles.

I spent lots of time behind the lens of my camera.  I even did a photo shoot for my niece who is a senior this year, and though I haven't gotten permission to post her pictures I'll give you a sneak peak:

Isn't she just so pretty!  I am so blessed, my sister has two daughters and though they are very different from one another in looks, they are the sweetest, nicest, most polite and faithful young women you might be luckey enough to meet and/ or know! 

Here is a shot of me and my siblings with my parents-a rare occurance these days.

The ocean was warm and ever so inviting.  We saw dolphins, pelicans, sand sharks, crabs, and even a few stingrays.  Really had so much fun. 

Then I had to leave on Thurday to head back home.  I was anxious to get home as I hadn't seen Bella in several days and I know that she was missing me too.  Then I had Friday to unpack, do some wash, take a trip to the local zoo with the little one and start the packing process again for our trip North.

So early Saturday morning me, Jim, Michelle and Bella headed to Pennsylvania for my my BIL's house and then from there it was on to our nephew's wedding.  Busy, busy, busy!  We really missed having Tim along with us, but he was just starting back to work after being out from his accident and we knew that the car ride would not be good for him, but still he was missed.

The wedding took place at a lovely old inn in Cambridge Springs, Pa.and the setting was one of the many gardens there.  It was so beautiful!  Just as the music began for the bridal party to begin their walk down the isle it began to rain, but that didn't seem to damper the spirit of either the bride or the groom in the least.  In fact, by looking at these two you might not ever know it was raining at all! 

 I'll post some pictures tomorrow along with some more from our vacation.

My View From Here

So far my vacation has been a lot of sitting on the deck of the house which sits right on the beach.  Soaking in the sun, playing in the sand, splashing in the water, taking long walks on the beach, relaxing, snapping photos, searching for shells, laughing, eating, napping, having fun, sharing stories, watching the dolphins at play, and the pelicans soar and search for fish, singing late into the night, and catching up with family.  In other words, just perfect! 

I did do a couple of photo shoots, that was fun too!  Nothing stressful, just family fun.  

Now on to the next leg of the vacation with the rest of the family.  I could get used to this...

A LONG and Busy Couple of Days

We last left off that I might get grumpy, well I got more than grumpy! As the day progressed I got a headache that led to a full blown migraine. I went home and laid down and then began my prep at four o'clock. That was pleasant. Not! But honestly, the migraine was worse. Between that and the prep I hardly slept at all. By the time I got in for the procedure I couldn't wait to be knocked out! The good news is that when I woke up I felt pretty good. The headache was gone and I was re-hydrated. While I am still laying down on the bed after just being woken up in recovery, the dr. comes in to talk to me. He says that they found dyverticulosis, but that is normal in-are you ready- 'old women'. Jim had the good sense to glare at him and tell him that I am not an old lady. He quickly rephrased that to 'middle aged women'. I guess I have to take into account the fact that he wasn't looking at my face, rather my other end. And I would have to assume that you can't tell a person's age by the condition of their colon. I mean, it doesn't have rings that you can count like a tree trunk or anything right? But old woman-really?! Hmpf! The worst part is that he didn't find the source of the blood loss so I have to have another procedure. I am really beginning to hate this doctor!

Saturday, I kept it pretty low key for the most part. Then in the evening we took Isabella to see High School Musical 2 at the Weinberg Center. It was a production put on by a local dance company with kids ranging in age from 6-15. By the look of things, we were probably the only people there not related to or friends with one of the performers. It was not my idea of a great time, but Isabella loved it! It was fun just to watch her watch it! Sunday I worked on some cards and crafts, and then Monday we went to Hersheypark. We left the house about 7:30 a.m. and returned home at around 10:30 p.m. -we were beat! It was HOT as blazes. The sun just seemed to scorch my skin and I am red today. I was in no way ready to get up for work today, but I am glad that we went. The pictures above are from yesterday.

Oh, and Bella lost that other tooth on Sunday! She is now missing the two top and the two bottom teeth in the front!