Mike and Ashley's Wedding

Mike and Ashley got married June 20, 2009! It was a great day for everybody. The scenery was beautiful!! I've never seen Mike more happy. You could tell by the way he looked at her that she is his everything. It's not unusual for me to let the occasional tear or two slip out during a wedding, but between the look on their faces as Ash walked down the aisle, the scenery, and the gut wrenching lyrics of a father who "loved her first", the flood gates really opened! Lia and I were both a wreck :)

They were married under a thick canopy of trees, so even though it was raining, our only evidence was the ripples in the pond.

Grandma and Kaden caught the bouquet and garter!! Kaden was pretty excited at first, but after a few minutes, decided that he didn't want to have anything to do with it lol! I got him to keep it just long enough for this pic, but as you can see, he is barely holdin on :))

Barry took great pride in decorating the getaway car! Zack, being the artist that he is, drew pretty banners and hearts everywhere. Although, it wasn't lacking the traditional tacky line or two.... for those of you who have seen What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Johnny Depp's handicapped brother, Arnie. Well, all through high school Mike would mimic his character everywhere we went! I always got the biggest kick out of it, so I just had to pay tribute to it :)

Mike was pretty impressed with it!

After the wedding, the happy couple headed off to Costa Rica for a week, where they had their own private beach, restaurant, and even saw a monkey or two! Congratulations Mike and Ash!! We love you both and know you'll be very happy. Thanks for letting us be apart of your special day.

Hip Hop

Family Trip to Cali

We took our yearly trip to California! We hit Disneyland, Legoland and Huntington Beach! It was a lot of fun. Both our moms and Barry's little brother Matt came with us.

The kids participated in the Jedi training again this year! Only this time, the host chose Kade and then blew right over Abby. Well, I knew that if Kade got picked and Abby didn't, there was going to be hell to pay! So I picked her up and started jumping up and down like a crazy person!! The host looked over at me, started laughing, and said, "I'll choose this young lady in the pink stripes due to the over excited parental unit!" The stuff we do for our kids :)

As you can see, we were taking pictures left AND right...hahaha! (That was a knee slapper) 

Legoland, California! This was a cute park to see, but it was only geared towards 5 and under. My kids had been on some pretty scary rides in Disneyland, so they were slightly bored here. 

Ok. These next two pictures show all too well how it's going to be when my kids are able to drive a car.....

See Abby, flyin around the corner, hair blowin in the wind, petal to the metal...

...And then here's Kade :) 

Had to take some pictures in the Lego fire truck!

One of the best sites in Legoland is Minland USA. They had all the major cities built entirely out of lego's! It was amazing to see. I decided we better get our picture in New York since that's the closest I'm gonna get for now :)

The kids made lego race cars and then raced down a track.

Huntington Beach! Grandma was tired :)

Me, Barry and Matt tried boogie boarding for the first time! It was a blast!!! The waves were bigger than we were. Kinda scary at times. I caught these cool pictures of Matt while he was catchin' some waves.

I think this one could make it into a Pacific Sun catalog! 

Kade's very first big roller coaster! He loved it! 

Splash mountain was the ride we went on the most! At night, there was hardly anybody in the park so we would walk onto the ride over and over again. Poor Matt...he always took one for the team and rode in the front. He got ruined by huge waves!  

Gotta love Mickey!

There was a pole in this old fashioned fire station. I tried to make Barry slide down it for a pic, but that was a NO go :)

This was taken on our last night....I think my kids had had it, what do you think? :)