Christopher and Jill's Wedding

At the end of our week in Virginia, we headed down to the North Carolina coast for a wedding.  Shawn's oldest nephew, Christopher, and his new wife Jill, were wed in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on the lawn of a historic southern home.  It was a joyous occasion, not only because Chris and Jill are such a lovely couple, but also because it was the first time in several years that all of Shawn's family (except 1 grandchild) were together.  So, of course there was lots of fun and lots of pictures taken!  Grace was honored to be the flower girl for the wedding.  She had been a little nervous but it didn't show, she did great!

The kids with Papa at the rehearsal dinner

Henry holding cousin Kieran.  He is very interested in babies right now...let's hope that continues :-)

The boys having fun with cousin Kaitlin

Grace at the rehearsal, waiting for her turn to walk down

On the morning of the wedding we took the kids to the Elizabeth City waterfront to see the boats.

All dressed up for the the big day

Nicholas was so excited for Grace to be the flower girl.  I think he was proud of his sister ;-)

Nicholas  was also very excited to be sporting his first ever bow tie and sport coat.

Turns out,  his was in good "bow tie" company with several of his cousins.

Kelly's family

Shannon's family

Elizabeth with the newest cousin, Bennet

Here comes the flower girl

About half way up the aisle, she remembered to start dropping the petals :-)

The bride and her father

Keith and Peri, parents of the groom

Our sweet little flower girl

Congratulations Christopher and Jill!!!!

Most of the grandkids

Me and my wonderful hubby

Shawn and all his siblings

Shawn's mother and I enjoying watching the dancing at the reception

Nicholas was really feeling the music that night...he was a dancing machine!

Grace wasn't too interested in being on the dance floor, but Rory and Kaitlin got her out there for a song or two.

Shawn with his goddaughter Madison

Nicholas and Hugh hung out together most of the day...they have a lot of fun together

Grace with her cousin Christopher

Sweetness....

Grace having fun with cousin Colin

What a great day!

Virginia Vacation

We had a fantastic visit with Shawn's family in Virginia the last week in May.  As usual, his mother and siblings are such gracious hosts so each day was filled with fun activities and quality time with family.  Shawn and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone and the kids had a blast with their cousins, aunts, uncles and Nana!

Henry really bonded with Uncle Scott this trip.  He even got a few rides with him!

Seeing Colonial Williamsburg is always great with Uncle Shannon and family!

Madison and Anthony both march in the Fife and Drum Corp in CW.  We always love to watch them march.  This year was particularly neat because they had a special, longer march for Memorial Day.

That is Anthony in the center of the picture and Madison in the right front.

Happy Memorial Day in Colonial Williamsburg

Shannon and Carla hosted everyone in their back yard one night for a "movie on the lawn" night with their new big screen set up.  We watched "Despicable Me 2" and enjoyed lots of treats!!!  What fun!

Nicholas snuggled with Aunt Heidi for the show and we could hear him laughing throughout the movie from across the lawn.

Aunt Heidi and family hosted us at their neighborhood pool for a fun swim.  Can you tell how excited the kids were??

It is so nice so have so many wonderful nephews and nieces, such as Rory!  She, like the others,  are so great with our kids so they really had a lot of fun cousin time together.

Uncle Scott and family hosted everyone for a Memorial Day meal and fun at their home.  Here Nicholas is taking a spin in the paddle boat on their lake with his cousins.

Henry enjoying the lunch with his Godmother, Aunt Kelly

Rory once again taking such good care of Grace and Henry in the kiddy pool

Nicholas had fun with the older boys in the "cold" tub.

Shawn and I took Nicholas and Grace to Busch Gardens 1 day (Henry had special Nana day that day).  It was a perfect day.....great weather, no crowds, and a ton of fun!  The kids rode all the rides they wanted, saw some shows, and enjoyed some treats.

Grace was timid to try any rides at first, but after a couple hours she relaxed and was riding all kinds, having a ton of fun!

Nicholas was so sweet to ride many rides with his sister to help her feel more confident and comfortable.

Silliness in the England section

Nicholas is fearless!  He wanted to ride this adult ride so bad.  I couldn't go with him since I'm pregnant and Shawn didn't care for this ride at all so Nicholas asked to go himself!  That's him in the red shirt with his hands in the air!!!!  

We all enjoyed the boat ride around the lake.

Of course the carousel is always a hit.

This ladybug ride was one of Grace's favorites.

Nicholas on a hang gliding ride.

A ferris wheel in a dragon egg shell

Daddy and Nicholas enjoyed many rids together, including this one.

We had a nice night out to dinner with Nana, Heidi, and Shannon's families

 Here's Grace with her buddy Rory again.

One day we took all the kids to Water County and had a blast...unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that day.  We also took the kids to the Portsmouth Children's Museum.  Here are a few pictures from that fun day.

Nicholas on a police motocycle

Grace playing Veterinarian 

Henry pretending to work in the grocery store

Nicholas making an enormous bubble

Our little builders and their creations