As some of you know, I am a little "sketchy" when it come to details.

With that in mind, here are some photos, the details of which I may or may not know,

from my extra long weekend in Ithaca:

I rolled in Wednesday evening, pretty proud of my first ever 6 hour driving trip, solo.

I really like the drive between here and Ithaca, although as noted, I have

always been the passenger.  As always, the traffic was light and the scenery lovely.

I didn't LOVE the last 2 hours in the dusk - dark watching for deer.

Thursday, Sarah and Emmett and I ran some errands in the morning and then I dropped them off at their respective places at Cornell and found my way home (I LOVE GPS)

Friday morning, pretty early, Keith, Emmett and I went for a frosty walk. 

Keith didn't work that day, although I don't remember why??, so we had Emmett all day.  We did pretty well.  Once we figured out the preferred temperature of the bottled milk, we got on fine.

Note that awesome suit that Emmett is sporting!

Pictures are in no particular order.

Nice feet!  He can roll over both ways, but not especially intentionally.  Soon...

No, I didn't split any wood, but I did stack some.  

It was something helpful I could do without supervision and without

doing anything too terribly wrong.

Did some "sort and organize".  My specialty.  Fortunately

Sarah and Keith and Emmett are not too particular.

Repurposed desk - works great and the green chair even blends in.

Saturday evening we met Eric and Margaret at a cool brewery for dinner.

Baby Willa is a couple weeks younger than Emmett and

Sebastian is in kindergarten.  Another awesome really kiddo.

Look at this crazy cool thing!  Eleftheria, I'm trying to remember if

you have one of these things?  It is one of those "new fangled"

things that I think are pretty cool...unlike the heated wipes 

machine.

Sunday evening little Mr. Emmett had a case of the miseries and Sarah

and I finally decided maybe he needed something to eat.  There was

NO learning curve!!  He likes sweet potatoes Pop.

Cleaned up and cuddling his Dad's blankie...

Dad comes home from work...yeah!  Yes, Sunday evening.

Story time - he like his books!

What a smile!

Two Fall Days in Ithaca

Thought I would post a quick blog from the weekend.  

I am finding that I want to use the same pictures

that I sent over Viber, so if these

seem somewhat familiar...well...

There is a field just up the hill from K & S's house where we can take the dogs for a run-

so, we did.  Emmett, Keith, the doggies I went on Saturday morning.  

I am not sure how many pictures I have of this tree...MANY - ALL seasons

but fall is by far the best!

A photo from the walking path across the hillside.  This was

taken on Saturday.  By Monday when we were leaving

the colors had intensified 2 fold, but sadly, it was not

a good photo day.

On Sunday, we drove to Stewart Park and then rode our bikes

from there to the market.  It was a great bike

ride, easy obviously, since I was able

to do it and the park is just lovely.

I love these two willow trees.  They always

frame a beautiful view of the lake.

Not sure what we are doing here, but obviously

we are very busy.  Looks like Emmett was

disembarking

for a little time to be "one with nature"

(and possibly a diaper change).

 We had some breakfast and looked around at all our favorite vendors

and checked out some new ones,

then packed up and headed over to the children's garden.

This place is awesome!!! Saturday was the fall festival 

and there were all kinds of activities going on for

kids and families.

.

 This is the "anarchy zone" however, and it is a big dirt pit where

there are all sorts of unorganized activities regulated only by

whoever is watching their kiddo.  Sounds scary, but over

the years the only tears I have ever seen were shed by

kids who had to leave.

Speaks for itself...

s

Down the road from K & S's driveway.

Keith, Sarah and Emmett...thank you one more time for the good food, the walks,

the 2 awesome bonefires, the hugs and kisses and cuddles, something productive

to do, the bike ride and all the love.

XXXOOO till the next time, Mom H

Meet Joe and Nicole Rouch

Here, for your enjoyment are some pics from Nicole's wedding.  G'ma Nancy and I traveled to Kentucky last Thursday for the event.  Other "out of towners" were Maribeth, Hunter and Rachel.  As you know, G'pa and G'ma Rockwell were in Paden City for the funeral of my Uncle Paul.  He was G'pa's older brother and the father of my cousin Marla who died last year.  I passed many, many days as part of their family when I was growing up.  They were an important part of my life.

Best hotel pool ever!!!

The beautiful bride and her beautiful Grandmother.

The outdoor venue was lovely.  

As some of you know, DIY weddings are neither cheap, nor easy, but they are personal.  Many, many hours and so much love goes in to the preparation.

The bride and her attendents.  The little girls are from Joe's family and of course, the boys.  Dylan is next to Nicole, Luke is in the middle and Conner.

The happy parents of the bride.

The "out of towners".  Rachel and Maribeth helped with the food and decorating for the Reception  The food was awesome and the tables were lovely.  You did your usual great job!!

Parasols were provided to help with the heat and sunshine.

Happy Dad and Beautiful Bride.

Nicole and Joe exchanged very beautiful and very personal vows.

Rachel made several of the very awesome serving pieces which were first used for Malia and Ryan's reception.  (Thanks, Jacob for you repair work.)

Beautiful cake and very cool topper.  You can see a couple other of Rachel's serving pieces in this pic.

Hmmm, I don't know how to make this go????  Anyway, Becky and Phil (and Joe?)  all took dance lessons in preparation for the event.

A quiet, albeit, warm, moment.

Brother and Sister...nice beard Jacob.  It was good to see you!

Bride and Groom ready to cut the cake.  It was strawberry on the bottom and spice cake in the middle :-)

Dylan and his mom share a dance.

Beautiful event, beautiful venue, beautiful day.

Joe and Nicole, may your life together be blessed with humor, adventure, quiet times together and fun times as a family!

Parga

In route to Corfu, we spent one night in the lovely little town of Parga.  When we arrived in the evening, the town was in full swing with crowded streets, seashore town activities and no parking.

Ian did incredible driving and we eventually found a spot with the help of our AirB&B host.

Below is the next morning shot from the balcony of our room.  Eleftheria found delightful accommodations for us, once again showing her "travel agent" skills! 

The restoration and renovation of homes and buildings into tourist and vacation accommodations seems to be in full swing.  The rooms that we stayed in here were delightful.  I think August in Greece is a bit like the Christmas season here - the peak of travel and commercial activity.  The time when many businesses make their best money.

View from the shore - post card perfect.  Notice the castle on the hill.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to check it out.

C&C:  Coffee & Chat

Three Quarters Family Photo (I think Emily was asleep in the stroller)

Eleftheria treated Ian to a Fish Pedicure - Neither Ian nor Artemis were too sure...

From Parga we headed to the port and our ferry trip to Corfu.

Ian and Artemis made a valiant attempt to feed the gulls but they didn't seem to "get it".

It was fun anyway and the ride across to Corfu was lovely.

stay tuned...

Love you all.