Archive | family

a few hours in Chicago!

July 12, 2013 at 8:28 pm

This past week I went to a family reunion in Michigan for Elliott’s family… which was a little intimidating without him but ultimately so much fun. I have married into the most wonderful family! They love me and our kids so well, and they all have so much fun together. I’m already looking forward to the next reunion… 3 years from now!

The reunion was in Michigan, which is about a 10-hour drive from Virginia. I’ve driven with baby Lena from Virginia to Michigan before and did not want to repeat that miserable ordeal, so I opted to fly. My sister-in-law Jess and to-be brother-in-law Charlie (marrying Eden in September!) decided to fly along. Thank you, Jess and Charlie, for making the trip so much more manageable… and fun!

After landing in Chicago, we had time to kill and all wanted to see downtown Chicago. I’ve flown through the O’Hare airport so many times but had never seen the city itself. So off we went in our rental car with the two babies, found street parking not far from Millennium Park, and took off to explore.

^ These two are so wonderful with their little niece and nephew.

^ Finally finally saw the Bean!

^ There were fountains in Millennium Park. She was soaked and soooo happy.

^ We walked down to the Chicago Yacht Club and Lake Michigan.

^ Charlie is a rocking it as an uncle-to-be.

^ My new favorite photo of Lena. Jess snapped it while waiting for the crosswalk signal in the middle of crazy-busy Michigan Ave. Goes to show you never know what your eye and your camera can capture in the busiest moments.

^ Watching the L train rattle by.

^ Beautiful window display.

I’ve got a crush on you, beautiful Chicago. Can’t wait to come back with Elliott to do some more exploring someday soon!

5 :: in family, travel

bits + pieces from Virginia

July 3, 2013 at 3:51 pm

Lena, Gil, and I have been having so much fun here in Virginia with our extended family. Visits to the farmers market, lunches with friends, mornings spent running through the sprinkler, and Mama getting to sleep in… mmhmm, life is good. We have two more weeks here before we’re reunited with hard-working Elliott in Sicily. Despite all the fun, we are very eager to be back together as a family again.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from our recent adventures. The first photo is of my dear friend Abi, who was my college roommate, one of my bridesmaids, I was one of her bridesmaids… and then our babies were born 3 weeks apart! Isn’t her daughter Lucie the sweetest?! Those cheeks! Those ankles! Gil was nonchalant, but… I know he was just playin’ it cool.

Here those two are, “playing” like 5-month-olds do.

She’ll stay on the toilet forever if Gil is there to talk to &
matchy-matchy with “Auntie Ema.”

Blowing bubbles with Aunt Leslie.

A blurry picture of Gil’s first meal. He ate about 3 tablespoons! Hungry, much? He’s wearing a bib that I wore as a baby.

Sipping cider at the farmers market.

Gil Garber. Nuff said.

And finally, below is the poor creature that Lena spotted and identified as “Monster.”

5 :: in family, friends, home sweet home, life lately, Virginia

this June morning

June 21, 2013 at 7:10 pm

I followed Lena outside with my cup of coffee this morning, answering her suggestion of, “Go ou’side, Mama. See bugs. Come, Mama.” I’m so glad I listened to her. What a beautiful Virginia morning! We enjoyed all of it outside: exploring my mom’s gorgeous garden, playing around in the wagon, and having a tea party on the porch.

My “Aunt” Leslie is not pictured in these photos, but she was with us this morning and later took heaps of photos of Gil. I’m so excited to share another “Gil photoshoot” on the blog on Monday. I really think he gets cuter every day… but I’m his mama, after all!

How’s the weather where you live? I’m glad not to be in Sicily right now; Elliott said he was sweating while sitting still in our house last night. It’s 100 degrees there and feels hotter, but here in Virginia we still have some beautiful “spring” days left… even though this is the first day of summer! Do you plan to be outside this weekend?

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P.S. Today is the LAST DAY to enter the bike seat and helmet giveaway! Winner will be announced on Monday!

8 :: in family, life lately, pretty places

a visit to Marmee’s library

June 19, 2013 at 9:35 pm

Hello again! We’ve been deeply enjoying our time here in Virginia, soaking up every moment with family and with each other. Unfortunately Elliott returned to work in Sicily yesterday and I’m feeling a little lost without him. Sigh.

I have another month here in the States, so if you’re in the neighborhood… email me so we can hang out!

On Elliott’s last day here we decided to visit his mom at work. She’s an elementary school librarian, so she’s an easy grandmother to go visit! We loved the books, the bean bags, the stuffed animals, and the colorful, cozy environment of her beautiful library.

Lena also enjoyed visiting a classroom of 5th Graders that participated in a book club this past year with Marmee (as Lena calls her grandmother). She gave them all hugs and high fives before they were dismissed. Our little ham!

I love Elliott’s beard and longer hair in these photos. At work he has to be clean-shaven with a short haircut, so every time we’re on vacation he grows his beard for me!

I had to include the last photo that my father-in-law took of Lena. She bombed it by sticking her finger in her nose right in front of her smile! Good thing she’s cute.

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If you haven’t yet, you might want to enter my giveaway for a child’s bike seat and helmet!

7 :: in family

a little update from Virginia

June 11, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Friends, I’m sorry. We’ve been in the States for almost a week now and I haven’t managed a single post. Here’s a quick attempt at an update, and then later in the week I’ll hopefully have more news, photos, and… the most amazing giveaway this blog has ever seen. (I’m especially excited about that one!) In the meantime, here are some fun photos from this past weekend and a little update on life.

Anyway… we’re in Virginia! We left Sicily on Thursday after a whirlwind, last-minute decision to fly commercial instead of taking our chances with free military flights. After Elliott spent hours on the phone calling military terminals, he could tell that it would be unlikely that we would be able to fly all the way home on Space A/military flights. With the chance of being stranded in Spain or Maine with two lusty-lunged, jet lagged children, we opted for the last-minute bargain on Delta flights. This mama is so glad we did! It’s good to be “home.”

We were especially keen to get home because of Reunions this past weekend at the University of Virginia. Elliott graduated in 2003 and I graduated in 2008, meaning that this year is his 10-year and my 5-year reunion. How could we not go back for that?!

We had a fabulous weekend visiting with so many old friends, some of whom we haven’t seen since we “walked the Lawn” at our own graduations years ago. More wonderful friends of ours — Will and Johanna — offered their house as our home away from home, and that’s just what we needed with two little children and jet lag. We spent the weekend visiting our favorite old haunts in Charlottesville, reuniting with some of our favorite people, and dreaming about moving back there one day….

If you were there this past weekend, it was wonderful to see you… and let’s not let too much time go by before we meet again!

Waving at the pilot as we boarded in Sicily &
he slept on my lap like this all the way from Rome to Paris

Charlottesville City Market early on a Saturday morning!

A photo that I stole (hi, Kim!) from a lunch with some dear friends. Kelly (far left), Tara (next to her), and I were all in nursing school together at UVA… and now we’re all grown up, married, and have kids!

Lena and Gil met and loved our friends’ children: Sasha on the left and Cornelius on the right.

Hanging out in the Center for Christian Study with Cornelius… which we all hope they will be doing again as students in about 18 years!

My dear friend/roommate Abi and her new baby Lucie (Gil was born on Lucie’s due date!) &
Auntie Jess (now a nurse in Charlottesville) snuggling with her nephew for the first time