Knoebels

After Cameron's wedding in North Carolina, we packed up and headed north again. We drove up to Pennsylvania, where Patrick caught a quick flight home, and the kids and I got to spend a week with Patrick's family. We got to spend time playing with cousins and just relaxing and recuperating. The kids and I all came down with a cold when we got there, so we didn't do much, but it was nice to just rest and take it easy. By the end of our week there, we were feeling a lot better, and we were excited to get to join Bobbi & Papa, Diane's family and Danny's family for the annual family trip to Knoebels!

There is a large area full of rides for littler kids, so even Molly and little Brynn got to ride quite a bit! The kids had a great time, and the adults enjoyed watching and taking pictures and occasionally riding along. It was a really nice day, not too hot, and there was plenty of shade - a great day to spend at the amusement park! Elijah and Molly both enjoyed every ride they went on, without being sick or scared. Elijah went on his first (little) roller coaster, and loved every minute of it!

This little whip was a big favorite!

The purple bug ride - the site of the infamous seat belt incident of 2010, as it has come to be known. Elijah decided to unbuckle their belt in the middle of the ride, when they were about 6 feet off the ground. Molly thought that being unbuckled meant that she should climb out. I nearly had a heart attack. The ride operator was lightening fast, and had the ride stopped and a helper there to keep Molly in her seat in just seconds, and every one was fine. Yikes.

These airplanes were super fun, too!

Maiah, Evan & Lorrie on the giant slide

I was very thankful that Molly took a short nap in her stroller in the afternoon. It didn't last long, but at least she got a little sleep! It was a big day, and I think even a little nap made a big difference.

Five of the seven grandkids (Molly and Brynn were asleep)

Elijah and Evan just loved these hand cars. They went over and over and over and over at the end of the day - there were no lines.

We had such a fun day with everyone! I'm sure that all the cousins will have great memories of these Knoebels days all together. Hopefully next year Patrick can come, too.

There are even more pictures of our day up on the Picasa album and facebook. Enjoy!

Part 2 - The Wedding!

(photo taken by Samantha Sorbello)

The wedding was beautiful. It was a very pretty day (a little hot) at a very pretty place. The bride was so beautiful, the groom was handsome in his uniform, and they were so happy! Elijah did a great job - he even carried the real rings without mishap! He and Piper marched down the aisle like old pros. Tallie walked down as well, and Molly went part-way ... and then turned around and to come back to me. So I ended up carrying her down, which was fine.

Our handsome guys

Almost all the groomsmen (missing Ty on the end)

John and Patrick managed to play daddy and groomsman quite well through the ceremony.

The kids all sat with Mom and Dad in turns, too.

Linde, reading scripture

with Miss Tallie

Me, reading scripture, with Molly screaming behind me. She only lasted a few minutes into the ceremony before I had to take her out.

Piper had a great time being a flower girl. She spent most of the ceremony gathering up petals to refill her basket, then tossing them all again. It was so cute!

The happy couple

Big kiss!

Cameron built the cross in the background for the wedding.

Married!

The wedding party (except we cut Justin off this time)

Waiting for more pictures

My cousin Jen and her family

The little cousins had a great time together at the reception. They played and danced together for hours! (Except for Molly, who spent the entire night in my arms.)

Wedding day, part 1

Sunday was the big day - wedding day! Patrick slept in a little bit (to recover from guys' night the night before) while the kids and I got up and went to breakfast with Nana & Grandpa, Aunt Louise and Uncle Stuart, and lots of other wedding folk. After breakfast, Patrick joined us and we met John & Linde and the girls at the pool. We had lots of fun swimming, as always. All four of these kids love the water. I've always thought that Elijah loved being in the water, but that's nothing compared to the girls - they are all three just FISH. I was worn out long before Elijah and Molly were ready to get out, but our mission was accomplished: swim until they had no choice but to take HUGE naps. We ate lunch, visited my cousin Loey and her family (my kids just loved playing with Anna and James) and put the kids down for naps.

After swimming - tired and happy!

The kids took great naps, and the grown ups ate lunch and got ready to go. I did my mom's hair and spent too much time avoiding going into our hotel room (I didn't want to wake the kids rummaging around in there) and didn't give myself enough time to do a good job on my own hair. (Big mistake #1) Oh well. Sorry about the pictures, Cameron & Amanda ...

We woke the kids (oops - big mistake #2 of the day - should've put them down super early so they could sleep until they woke up) and hurried off to the vineyard. (Beautiful - if you're ever near there, go see it.) Patrick was a groomsman, and he joined the rest of the guys for their pictures. Linde and I got all four kids ready to go (Elijah was the ring bearer, Piper, Tallie and Molly were the flower girls) and then spend the rest of the waiting period bribing them with snacks to keep them clean and somewhat calm. Molly did not take kindly to being woken from her nap, and her bad mood only got worse as we tried to get her dressed. A blister on one of her heels from earlier in the week did not help things - she was not at all interested in wearing shoes! But then it was wedding time, and we were all ready to go.

Pretty Tallie

Dancing! Those dresses were just so much fun to twirl in - so cute!

All dressed up ... and waiting. Snacks to the rescue!

Handsome little man.

Rehearsal (or, the pre-party)

The day after graduation, we got up in the wee hours of the morning and started the drive down to North Carolina for the BIG event of the weekend - Cameron's wedding.

We had a little car trouble on the way down, and spent a couple of hours at a rest stop trying to figure it out, but we made it eventually. Saturday afternoon was the rehearsal (which we just missed - sorry dude), and then the rehearsal dinner. It was a pretty big party, and it was great to see so many fun people. The dinner was at a another vineyard near the wedding vineyard. It was a very pretty place. The kids had had a very long day, so I left pretty early to put them to bed. It was still a late night for them though (they're usually in bed around 7:00).

Patrick and the other guys got to stay up and enjoy some tasty beverages and quality time with Cameron and each other, which was great since there was no time for any sort of bachelor party. I thought it was cool to see all the various groups of people from different times in Cam's life all together and having a great time with each other. His brothers (and brother-in-law), life-long best friends, his high school guys, fellow Marines, and guys from the Academy were all there, along with some of their families.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few.

The groom!

Miss Molly - I didn't get a picture of her with Tallie in their matching dresses, but they sure were cute!

Elijah and Piper spent most of the evening wandering around the grounds with Uncle Stuart - they had a great time together.

Pretty.

Graduation day

Well, it was a big day. Four years of the Academy, a year of the prep school before that, and a couple of years enlisted in the Marine Corps before that ... We were all pretty proud of him. He graduated "with merit" (even Cameron isn't sure what that means, specifically) and was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps. I am just so happy for him that he doesn't have to wear that awful, polyester, white Navy uniform anymore. =)

At the last minute (the night before), it occurred to us (well, to Linde, who is pretty smart) that maybe a big, long morning of sitting in the sun and listening to boring speeches would be perfectly horrible for the kiddos, and we went back and forth about taking them or not. In the end, it was way too late to get a babysitter, and neither Patrick or I wanted the other one to have to stay home and miss it, so we took them. They did surprisingly well, once I got them some water and a pretzel and popcorn. Patrick zipped them right back to the house as soon as Cameron walked, which was just in time to get back for lunch and naps. So it all worked out.

My beautiful little family.
(Look at those kids. Cute? Yep. Handful? Yes, sir.)

We were way, way up there, but we could see everything.

The Blue Angels did a fly over, and the speaker was VP Joe Biden, so there were helicopters and all that jazz as well. I have no comment about him, and I missed his entire speech anyway because I was walking with Molly outside. I did manage to keep her in long enough to witness the Marine officers oath and commissioning, and to see Cameron get his diploma, which was all that I really needed to see anyway. Molly got excited as soon as they started reading names, and clapped and yelled, "Yay Cam-wen!" for each graduate as they walked ... for a while. She gave up on it ever actually being Cameron before they got to him. I'm sure all the honors graduates who went first appreciated the extra applause. They asked the family and friends of each graduate to stand when their (not midshipman anymore) was called so that the support of everyone's family and friends was acknowledged as well. We stood and yelled our best, but we were pretty high up there - I doubt Cam could hear us. Oh, and I did get to see the famous hat toss at the end (after the kids left) as well.

Cameron, about to get his diploma. His roommate, teammate, good friend, and one of his groomsmen, Mike, is behind him. The graduates in black (about 200 out of the 1,025 graduates) are going into the Marines, those wearing white are Navy.

Happy, proud, DONE!

I don't know if there was another family in the crowd there that was honestly a little surprised that their kid graduated from high school at all, let alone got into college, let alone graduated with merit from one of the more demanding colleges in the country. Probably not. If we were any more proud of him, we would have exploded. Awesome. Here's John's post, with a link to some more pictures.