Be sure you take lots of photos! Vacation 2012

Our first family vacation. Homecoming, introducing Little Bear to his daddy's side of the family, roadtrips, plane flights, a wedding. Of course, everyone reminded us to take as many pictures as possible. How many do I have? Two. And they are both of Little Bear lying on nondescript pieces of furniture making faces.

We will just have to hope that, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a few words may make up for the photographic record I should have brought home... or, we could use stick figures!


Vacation 2012 Highlight Reel

Little Bear was a wonderful traveler... he slept nearly the entire time we were on planes and in the car. Matt joked that we should get a jet engine to lull him to sleep at home.

We saw so many friends over Homecoming. It felt strange to be back on campus and know very few current students, especially among our households, but it was good to see so many people whom we hadn't spent time with in the past two years.

Little Bear was so good and quiet those nights to thank his Aunt Kimmy for sharing her room!

Our nephew, John and Karen's son, was afraid of Matt's beard when he was a baby... During our visit, he reminded everyone, "Don't be scared of Uncle Matt!" We spent an enjoyable, relaxing Sunday afternoon through Thursday afternoon with Matt's family in Pennsylvania.

We stopped back in Steubenville Thursday night on our way to Cleveland for Hank and Megan's wedding, and spent the night in Harrison and Ian's attic. After starting Friday morning off properly with tea, we had to show Uncle Ben Little Bear's new hat before picking Mark up for the drive to Cleveland.

Lindsay, my little sister in household who hadn't made it to Homecoming, drove out to see us Saturday morning at our hotel. Her little one is so big! I can't wait until Little Bear is that size.

The wedding was lovely. Matt was a groomsman; I'm so glad that we were able to come so he could be there for Hank! It was a long day for Little Bear, though... the wedding party went off and took pictures for four hours (!!!) between the wedding and reception, which lasted long into the night. "Uncle Harry," Kevin, and Beth all helped to keep the baby quiet, but he couldn't seem to fall asleep. By the time we put him to bed for the night, he was so tired that he slept 7 hours straight! (More than an hour and a half longer than his previous record).

Sunday morning, before getting on a plane home, we were fortunate enough to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Cleveland with Mark and Harrison. Little Bear was as quiet as a pacifier could make him... it's difficult, with him being too little to understand that there are times when he can't make any noise. I'm sure it is just as frustrating for him as it is for us. He was good, though, and the Mass was so beautiful!

The trip home was uneventful, thankfully, and we fell exhausted into bed when we finally arrived at 2:30 am. It was a wonderful 10 days, and we just wish we had had more time to spend with everyone!

(Drawn in Adobe Illustrator)