A little getaway and birthday wishes

Yep, today was my birthday....and my sister's too.  Love having a sister to celebrate our special day together.  LOVE being a twin.  Can't imagine life without being one, really.  We will be getting together this weekend to celebrate.  That makes me happy.  I celebrated today with my dumplings and hubby.  It was F.U.N!  More on that later.

Anyway, these photos here are looooong overdue, as in almost two weeks overdue.  But here they are.  I kept my promise....better late than never.  So I'm posting them.  Our trip to Ponte Vedra Beach...

(with a mix of iPhone photos thrown in) 

Havi came with us.  This is how she travels all the time in Patrick's car. So he decided she'd get away with us too.

After we settled into our hotel room, it was time to grab dinner.  We walked over to this great little Italian restaurant, where my sister and her crew met up with us.

I tried to get a shot of Caleb with his cousins.  Tried is the operative word.  Josh has a mind of his own. I guess I better get ready for that when Havi comes home. lol

The kids played a little as we sorted out rooms and keys.  Caleb was so precious with Josh all weekend.  He is ready to be a big brother to an itty bitty sister!  He's so helpful and compassionate.

Next morning we grabbed breakfast and hung out a bit in the rooms before we headed to the beach.

Yes, that's sand you see in those beautiful, long eyelashes!  It was all over his precious little face!

That night my sister and BIL watched the dumplings while Patrick and I went to a pre-wedding party.  Dinner was held at a restaurant overlooking the water.  It was breathtaking!  And here is the gorgeous couple, Jesse and Shylie.

We had such a fun evening meeting new friends.  We sat at a table with two couples from Alabama.  They know the bride's mom and dad from when they all used to live in Alabama.  To say we hit it off would be an understatement.  We laughed all night!  Seriously.  My mouth hurt from laughing and smiling so much!  New friendships were formed that night.  It's amazing how much we all had in common.  Crazy.

Next morning we had breakfast, or rather attempted to have breakfast.  We waited an eternity for our food to come out.  We were quite grumpy about the whole thing because the littles really needed to eat.

Caleb tried to keep Josh busy by playing with him.

Then it was back to the room/s for chill-axin, as my kids call it.

Then Patrick and I had to clean up for the wedding.  My sister snapped a few photos of us before we left, with my DSLR and iPhone.

Then she snapped a few of Madeline, who escorted us downstairs.

Then there was the wedding.  Ah, the wedding.  Shylie was gorgeous.  Jesse was handsome.  The setting- surreal. It was held at the TPC Sawgrass.  For those of you that aren't up on your golf courses, it's kinda like the 5th Major.  A-mazing!

And this was the view from the clubhouse overlooking the 18th green (beyond all the people.)  I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming this up.  The ceremony was absolutely perfect.  So moving.  So full of love.  The atmosphere was sensational.  The music, the dancing...oh Patrick and I were cutting it up!  We truly had a fantastic weekend.  We couldn't be happier for Shylie and Jesse and feel so blessed to be in attendance at their wedding.  And I have to give a big shout out to my sister and BIL for watching the dumplings so we could attend all the events.  We couldn't have done it without you two, or should I say four. lol.

Well, even though today is my birthday, the celebration is going to continue into the weekend.  So I will have lots of photos to share.

Oh, and on the paperchase to Havi, we should have had our Article 5 picked up from the consulate yesterday and overnighted to CCCW@ in Beijing. So the official wait for TA has (likely) begun!  Though I probably still need to confirm it.  We should expect our actual invitation to travel in another 2-3 weeks.  We are getting so close, I really need to do something for the girls' room!  lol. And time to start nesting!

NYC: Family and Central Park

So our last full day in NYC was filled with family and fun, except for one major mishap.  Patrick's family took the train in from Connecticut.  Lydia was so excited to see her cousins, and the feeling was mutual.

Bammy was tickled to have all her grandkids under the same roof.  And of course, we were all so excited to see Bammy, Aunt Chele and Uncle John.  (Caleb could never say Michele when he first came home from China.  So we shortened her name, and it stuck.)

We made our obligatory trip to Rockefeller  Center to look at the tree.

Then we hailed a few cabs and made our way to Central Park.

A $4 bag of nuts (all 10 of them) was purchased and consumed before we stepped too far from the vendor. Gotta love NYC prices.  Oh well.

We wound our way through the park until we reached our destination: Wollman Rink.  We knew how anxious the kids were to ice skate, it being their first time and all.  What we didn't know was whether the outing would be a winner or end in tears.  I'm happy to report it was a winner!

Well, it was a winner for the most part.  Remember the mishap I've alluded to?  Well, we had quite a scary moment when all the skaters had to clear the ice for the zamboni.  Caleb had taken to ice skating so well that he managed to get too far ahead of me and Madeline (and Michele and Lydia.)  So when we I finally made it off the ice, we couldn't find him!  It seems that he got off at one point (the one Patrick was not waiting at for him), and they crossed paths.  Michele immediately went to the PA crew and had them make an announcement.  At the same time, John spotted Caleb walking back inside the skate rental.  So I raced over and grabbed him.  When he came off the ice and didn't see any of us, he headed inside to look for us.  A lady saw him crying (oh that part killed me) and said she would help him find us.  I still don't know how soon after the lady spoke to him that John spotted him outside.  At that point, I was just so thankful he was safe.  

Thankfully Bammy bought the kids some warm chocolate chip cookies to eat, and thankfully, the whole situation didn't keep Caleb from returning to the ice.

After another round of skating, we packed it up and made our way to Grand Central Station to say good-bye to Bammy, who had to leave early.

After I took the photo above, a kind lady offered to take the same photo but with me in it.

Since I had the shot set up, I willingly gave her my camera, thinking she should be able to take the same shot.  I should've known something like the shot above was going to happen when she initially held my camera out in front of her and tried to take the shot without looking through the viewfinder!  I kindly told her she would have to look through the viewfinder to take the shot, but at that point she had already pressed the shutter down part way and locked the focus on the background and not on us.  Oh well.  At least I'm in a shot, right?

The kids loved to climb all over the rocks.  So we let them.

Just look at that love between cousins!

Lots of hugs and kisses were given and received as we said good-bye to Bammy.  Then we walked back to the hotel from there while the boys went to John's Pizza (I think that's what it was called) to grab some pizza for us to eat back in the room.  The kids had a blast eating and playing while the grown ups enjoying chatting with each other.

The next morning, as we were packing up to head home, Caleb was playing on the bed when that wiggling, barely-hanging-on-there tooth of his finally decided to fall out!

After packing up, we made our way to the airport.

The kids had an absolute blast watching the planes take off.  Did you know that planes are kings, queens, princes, and princesses?  Well, they are!!! lol.

Well, while that might sum up our trip to NYC, I still have a TON of photos I want to share. And with Christmas around the corner, I better see to it that I share them because, no doubt, Christmas will mean a boatload of more images to share!  Hope you all enjoy a safe, fun pre-Christmas weekend!