Celebration Weekend

We are home after a whirlwind trip to Ohio. We drove up Friday afternoon to Napoleon to drop the kids of with Nana and Papa while Daddy and I headed to a friend's wedding in Cleveland.

 

Saturday, the kids had a blast just being in Napoleon. We had braced them that Becca and Tyler would be away at school, but Tyler the Huge surprised us and was home! They enjoyed a little soccer time with Vera (thanks Aunt Carol for the pics):

 And loved hanging out with their favorite jungle gym:

 The rest of their day was spent just playing with Nana and Papa. They baked cupcakes, played Legos and dress up, and reorganized the toy cabinet. The kiddos had a blast, which meant we were free to have a blast with friends.

Brad and I drove to Cleveland Saturday morning and met friends for lunch before the wedding. I love that we have known these people since college, see each other maybe once a year, and pick up like we saw each other yesterday. We laughed and caught up and then drove around campus to see what remained and what had changed. We were most sad to learn that our beloved, awful bowling alley was no more. It is in foreclosure, and the boys thought a little too hard about buying it.

The wedding itself was too fun, and we stayed up way too late. Some things never change.

Sunday, we were able to sleep in a little bit and then headed see Granddaddy and Grandma Judy. It was the first time we had seen their new home, and the kids loved seeing the treasures and hearing the stories. Evan declared it, "Even more fun than Nana's," and he's making plans to have his own "zoo" when he grows up.

Sunday night, we had a small birthday party for Issa. She went with an owl theme:

 Nana had the candles spread out, but Issa decided she really wanted them as a hair bow. Nana is very patient. I'd say that owl was a perfect match:

 Look at these goobers:

 Nana and Papa gave Issa some new dance wear, and she needed to demonstrate how well it works with a bird cage:

 Aunt Carol, Mommy,  and Nana were all afraid the crazy candles clumped together would create another Bushka's birthday situation (in which we did, in fact, set a cake on fire), so we asked Issa to pull her hair up, and Nana lit while we sang. Thankfully, the water on standby was not needed:

 Tyler helped Evan get a better look:

Doesn't everyone blow out their candles in tree pose?:

 Happy birthday, Issa Bug, you are getting way too big:

In short, it was a perfect weekend. We had a blast seeing friends and family and celebrating so very many things. I missed so many great pictures, but the memories will last a lifetime.