Wedding weekend

My cousin Christopher recently married a girl named Rebecca in China. He's been working there teaching the past few years. They celebrated back here in the states with a wedding reception and we all got to meet Rebecca in person. The weekend was like a family reunion since all of my relatives were able to make it back to Quincy. The girls got to meet my cousin's girls who are about the same age as them. They were BFF's from the minute they met! :)

We stopped off at my parents house for the first night to break up the trip. We went over to my mom's friends' house to swim in their pool. They have a little slide that the kids loved!

My dad bought a golf cart and the kids loved riding around the backyard on it. Calvin wanted to drive, but we told him he's just a little too young yet! ;)

There's an old tree stump that the kids practice hammering nails in every time we go to my parents house.

We headed to Quincy and stopped off for lunch at one of our favorites.

Morgan's a double steakburger

Pretending to eat her burger

The REAL reason they love this place

We stayed in a hotel in Quincy and the girls got to share a bed. This goes over pretty well for one night. Ha! They both wanted to watch the same show during our "down time", so they hooked up their headphones. Morgan crashed super fast - that girl loves her naps. Avery only naps if forced.

Before the rehearsal dinner, we grabbed a drink at the hotel bar. The girls got Shirley Temples.

Random stop after breakfast the next morning. Avery thought this looked like the perfect stage for her  "show".

My cousin and his family came to the hotel for a swim with the girls. The water in the pool was freezing. Not sure why an indoor heated pool would be so cold, but it was almost too cold.

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at McDonald's and let the kids play in the play area for a while.

That night was the wedding reception. The venue was an old brewery and was decorated so nicely (thanks to my mom and dad's help!) Obviously, there were a lot of Chinese influences in the decorations.

Lots of dancing and silliness with the kiddos. Here's Madeline giving Avery a piggy back ride.

Here's the happy couple with Morgan.

Grandpa with Morgan, Grayson and Avery.

Family picture... hopefully I can get one of the actual copies, but this was from someone's cell phone.

BFF's - Morgan, Charlie, Madeline and Avery

Morgan, Charlotte and Avery

Another wedding

This time, Matt and I went to a wedding for a coworker while the girls stayed home with Mama and Papa. The wedding was in Wisconsin, so it was a nice little getaway for us. It's always fun to have a night out with grown-ups!

While we were partying in Wisconsin, the girls were having a blast with their cousins and grandparents.

Apparently, anything goes clothes-wise when Mama lets them get dressed

They took all the kiddos to McD's play place for dinner

Emily's Wedding

My former neighbor from when I lived in Rochester was getting married, so I took the girls with me to Rochester for the weekend for her wedding. The girls love weddings - the party dresses and the music and dancing - so much fun! And now they have something else to add to the list of reasons they love weddings - Shirley Temples! The bartender asked if they would like one and I said sure - they were hooked! Who wouldn't love all that sugar in a drink! :)

Morgan snapped a picture of Mama and Papa dancing

There was a park outside

The girls were giving Papa a run for his money on the dance floor 

They spent about half the time on the floor - ha!

I think they were trying to take him down!

Beautiful sunset

Dancing with Emily

Not too many single ladies, so the girls got in on the bouquet toss

Avery was vicious and came out a winner!
She was really tired by this point if you can't tell!

We spent some time at my parents house hanging out. I had to do some work, so my parents took the girls on walks and to the library. They love spending time with Mama and Papa. There was a lot of excitement at their house this time because the baby birds were hatching. A mother bird had made a nest in the wreath on my parents' front door and laid eggs (yikes!).

This was from the trip to the library. It's like they are 25 and having coffee together - ha!

My mom's friend dropped off some bikes for the girls to ride around the neighborhood on. The weather was gorgeous!

Wedding in Quincy

Last weekend, we went to Quincy for the wedding of my cousin Kelsey and her (now!) husband Bo. She was absolutely beautiful and we all had a great time at the wedding!

We drove down to Rochester on Thursday night and stayed at my parents' house to break the trip up a bit. The girls just love visiting their grandparents house! We spent a little time hanging out with Grandpa on Friday and then headed over to Quincy.

Our hotel had an indoor pool, so we had a quick swim after checking in. We had a pizza party at the hotel with the rest of the fam Friday night and some play time with all the cousins. On Saturday morning, we took all the kiddos to a place called Going Bonkers. It's a huge play place with tons of climbing and slides. Perfect for wearing out a bunch of kids!

Morgan had a little shadow named Beckett everywhere she went.

After lunch, I went to the wedding ceremony while Matt got the girls to nap. That night, we all walked across the street to the reception and the girls had a blast dancing and eating cake! I think they only stopped for about 20 minutes during the speeches and first dances (because we corralled them and made them sit down!)

They had an on-site artist painting a picture at the reception. The girls and I went over to watch her paint and she added them to the picture (the pink and blue smudges on the right). Something else cool about this picture is she painted in my uncle, Kelsey's dad, who passed away five years ago. He's next to her left shoulder between her and my aunt, Pat.

They also had this picture and prayer sitting out at the wedding and reception.

By the time we got back to the hotel, the girls were exhausted! On our way home the next day, they slept a ton in the car. And they are NOT car sleepers. Maybe 30 minutes usually. We had to wake them up when we got home! They did say the ride went by really fast. Ha!