Wedding Weekend

We arrived in Southern California and the festivities began. We rented the guys tuxes and were treated to a BBQ at Kellie's parent's home. Andy and Kellie gave EJ a remote control boat as his ring bearer gift. Fortunately, Kellie's parents had a canal behind their home where EJ and Andy could take a ride in their boat to drive his new boat. EJ had a blast!





The BBQ was great and we got to do the fun last minute stuff like place cards and folding programs. I loved finally being able to help with the wedding! The bride was calm, cool and collected. She was definitely excited for the next chapter of her life to begin and I was happy to welcome another Mrs. Newman to the family!

The Wedding!

Mr. & Mrs. Newman!

The bride and groom had a wonderful wedding weekend in Laguna Beach, California. The setting was phenominal and the weather was perfect. Here's the set up for the ceremony that looked out over the ocean. Kellie picked gorgeous flowers. The colors were black and white with a hint of green.





Here's the Newman-Natinsky-Gilbert party before the nuptuals. EJ decided his tuxedo shoes were too tight and he just couldn't wear them. I figured it was a battle best not fought so the kid went shoeless the whole night. Not one person noticed thanks to his pants being a bit long.














The ceremony.

Kellie surprised Andy by having EJ's ring bearer "pillow" be a basketball. It was such a great idea and sweet touch. EJ did a great job leading the 18 month-old flower girl down the aisle. I was so proud of him!











At the conclusion of the wedding the guests were sent to a pool side reception while Andy and Kellie snuck in some sweet kisses before pictures.






Time to party! Here are some fun pictures from the reception. It was a great celebration!
Here's EJ at the beginning of the reception with coke in his sippy cup. It was his reward for a ring bearer job well done!

Vacation!

Kellie's parents hosted a lovely brunch the morning after the wedding and then we hit the pool. As you can see, EJ loved playing with Eric in the pool and pretending to surf.






Once we left the wedding hotel we headed to Newport Beach to stay at Andy & Kellie's place while they honeymooned in Bora Bora. EJ was so tired from the weekend festivites he sacked out amist all the luggage and his ring bearer basketball "pillow." It wasn't long before he was back. The next picture is a result of a 3 year-old drinking coke. EJ loves coke, pepsi and root beer. We use it as a special treat. We just have to be ready for the sugar "high" that accompanies it.





We spent the week in Newport and one day in Malibu. Here are the malibu pics. One of Eric's work aquaintances took us to a private beach owned by a guy who produced Baywatch. It was an incredible property. Here are my guys on the private beach.





The kayak behind EJ is an prop from the Baywatch series. He also had the script from every episode bound and in his library. He was very hospitable to us and we had a lovely afternoon.




The rest of our week was spent in Newport Beach. We played on the beach, watched fishermen pull crabs out of the ocean from the Newport Pier.












One afternoon we journeyed farther down the coast to Balboa Island where we played in the arcade, rode the carosal, and took a sunset cruise where we saw seals, sea lions and dolphins! It was awesome.







My good friend from college brought his family to Newport to visit his wife's family so we were able to get caught up. I was amazed EJ sat still long enough to hear about Babar!



It was a great week for us to relax and have fun together. A BIG thank you to Andy and Kellie for letting crash their place.

Summer Fun!

Summer has arrived here in Nebraska! EJ and his buddy, Will, got to enjoy one of the first hot days with some fun in the sun. Will brought over the Buzz Lightyear Rocketship. It was awesome! One person puts the rocketship on the base and the other controls the water pressure to launch it. It can fly really high and everyone can get really wet!



The boys found the baby pool but once we got it clean and filled up they decided they weren't "babies" anymore. Guess we will be getting the rainbow pool out from storage soon. I also think we are old enough for a slip-n-slide so I'll have to track one of those down too.

Texas Trip

We missed the spring bluebonnets this year but we had some family fun in College Station this weekend. We saw Grandma Carol, Nicole and the 2 Uncle Brians. A big thank you to Nicole and Brian for hosting us at their place on Sunday night!



Brian made a visit and got lots of time playing EJ's favorite game, "pillow in the face." Thankfully, he was a willing participant.

Even though College Station is a small town, we found fun wherever we went. Here's EJ at his Nascar time trial (aka the mall).


The town of Bryan had a great Children's Museum with this darling train out front. EJ met some boys during his time there and had a great time playing.





Time with Eric was limited but they did catch some cuddle time on the porch in front of the hotel.