Boston Grodzins

When we were in Boston we ended up seeing relatives from the Grodzins side of the family as well. A happy time was had by all! We went swimming with Dean, Nora and Lily at the Charles Hotel and had a wonderful time. The girls looked like sisters with their ringlets and sparkling blue eyes! Chloe was absolutely fascinated by her beautiful, charming, sweet and silly older cousin. We also got to see Misha and Kelly and stay up late Wednesday night. That was a special treat for sure!

Thanksgiving in Boston

This year we went to Boston to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mark's side of the family. It was a grand Woodall-Neville-Oates reunion and the Thanksgiving feast was perfectly scrumptious! Chloe had a wonderful time reconnecting with everyone and showing off all her new skills. For the first half of our visit we stayed at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge and on Thanksgiving morning we moved in with Aunt Anne and had a big slumber party with everyone! It was so much fun! We miss everyone now that we're back in Chicago, but we're looking forward to seeing everyone at the end of the month!

Mark's Goodies

here's a link to mark's flickr.

San Fran with Pan

Click here to see more shots from San Francisco!

Half Moon Bay

Beautiful Coastal California town. See more pictures from our vacation here!

Happy Birthday to Gundor!

Gundor joined the septuagenarian club on September 1st and to help him celebrate the big SEVEN ZERO we flew out to Baltimore to stay with Marks family over Labor Day weekend. We had a marvelous reunion! We started with brunch with Celie on Saturday-straight from the airport so we wouldn't miss each other as Celie was to depart for Italy only hours later. After that our schedule was more relaxed, centered around home cooked meals, significant bottles of wine, and a supremely decadent chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, whipped cream and strawberries on top! I tried valiantly to stick to my diet through it all, but I so hate to be a party pooper... Even Panda joined in the fun (in the theme of eating) and experimented with her first bites of solid food! We were so happy that Millie and Gundor were able to be a part of that memorable milestone! Video to come!

(FYI: Panda, it turns out, detests avocado but will tolerate banana. Upon further review since returning home we have proved that she gets downright excited for rice cereal. We'll have to retry green things at a later date...perhaps she simply wasn't ready.)

Here we are on the plane on the way out. They had a spare seat for us so we brought on the car seat and she slept the whole way there...amazing!




The best seat in the house!

First Food!

While in Baltimore we decided to try "solids" for the first time. Avocado missed the mark...our daughter was not a fan.

Michigan, Part Deux

Visit Picasa for more pictures from our latest stay in Michigan. It was quite delightful. We are missing the beach house and our nightly celebrity bowl tournaments!

B'more

We went on our first official family vacation: Baltimore for the first week of July! We survived our first plane ride, Chloe met lots of new friends and family members, we celebrated the 4th of July, and spent plenty of time in Milly and Gundor's beautiful garden. It was a very relaxing and fun holiday! Click here to see more photos of everyone in Baltimore!

St. Joes

Well we're back from Michigan. Panda and I had a lovely time with Cookie, Grandpa, and Sasha and we absolutely adored the Konker's laid back, retro-style and completely comfy cozy beach house. It has so much personality! I drove up on Wednesday with Jill and Simon, who decided to stay for the night after we realized there were about sixteen spare beds. It was so fun to have a road trip and a slumber party! But Panda and I missed Mark so much the whole time we were gone. We wish he had been able to come with!

See more highlights-- the beach, the house and the company-- in Picasa.


PS. The porch (decidedly the favorite room in the house) shady and breezy, ended up being the place to congregate over the hot hot hot weekend. We all loved napping on the swinging bed!