Maryland, Massachusetts, & Maine

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind taking us to Maryland for Ricky and Ana's wedding, Massachusetts where we spent a few days at my parents with cousins visiting from Pennsylvania, and then on to Maine where we spent the week at campmeeting.  Whew!  There is no rest for the weary, however.  Now we are in packing mode for the move.

I am far too tired to recount everything that has gone on.  Plus, the people who care most about this blog were with me anyway.  That said, I do want to record some of what went on although I think I will do it mostly in pictures.

As I start to write, it is 9:30 pm and Aubree decided on her own to throw her binkies away. She's made these overtures before but tonight we're pulling out all the stops to make it happen.  Right now she's sitting here in the living room watching a dolphin documentary and she's been promised a present out of the Target stash of gifts in the garage.  Hopefully by the time I finish writing tonight, she will be sound asleep...binky-less.

On to the recap...

Ricky and Ana got married on Sunday, June 17 in the Tridelphia Seventh Day Adventist Church in Clarksville, MD.  It was an extra special day because it was also my parent's 39th wedding anniversary.  The whole family was there, of course, and we had a great time as we usually do with these road weddings since many of us stay in the same hotel.  The last one of us is now married off - - the last of the ten cousins.  A big day for sure!  We are thrilled with the addition of Ana to our family.

Getting reacquainted with cousin Acadia (16 months)

The rehearsal was getting a little bit tedious, as most do.

Brady has an obsession with cords.  But at least it kept him occupied while we rehearsed.

Aubs and Zasha (20 months)

Attempt to get a picture of all 11 cousins.  Note Camille behind the tree!  From left: Zasha, Camden, Luccia, Mia,  Acadia, Brady, Bode, Calleigh, Finley, Aubree, Tyson.

The boys are outnumbered 7 - 4.  But not for long.  Alison (November) and Kelly (December) found out this week that they're both having boys!

The five Brace cousins.

An attempt at a family picture. At least one kid cooperated.

Proof that you should never take a picture from a low angle.  Our noses look really weird.  Or is that how we really look?  Oh no.

Shannon and Finley

Sabbath afternoon we went to the Smithsonian Zoo in DC

A little lingerie party for Ana on Saturday night.  Let's just say they knew I wasn't buying stuff for myself when I was in Victoria's Secret.

Camille french braided Aubree's hair for the wedding.  Love this picture!

Some pre-wedding jitters, apparently.

All good now.

The original family.

I don't have a whole lot of pictures of just the bride and groom somehow.

These are 4-year old twins, Liam and Beck, who were also in the wedding.  They all got along great!  But then, the girls are pretty used to playing with boys.  

The four girl cousins. 

We got a kick out of Aubree's hair after the braids came out.

This picture is out of order but it's too much of a pain to move it.  The kids enjoyed the pool at our hotel, Homewood Suites.

Monday morning after the wedding, Duncan flew home to work and the kids and I left with my mother to drive up to my parents house.  We left around 11:00 and arrived about 9:00 pm.  Not too bad of a trip despite a few bouts of grumpiness from Brady who is still facing backwards.

On Tuesday, Ron and Elaine (who had been at the wedding) arrived with cousins Derek and Tyler to spend a few days with their cousins.  It was nice to catch up with them again and have them meet Brady.

Papa took the girls strawberry picking.

She was so tired she actually slept like this.

Riding the train into Boston.  I would later come back on the train with the three kids by myself while Ron and Elaine did more sightseeing with the boys.  It went pretty well.

We went to the Children's Museum on Wednesday.  It was a VERY hot day.

Brady sucking on blocks...just like hundreds of kids before him, no doubt.

Due to the exceptionally hot weather, we decided Thursday was a beach day and went to Lake Pearl in nearby Wrentham.

This boy loves his watermelon!

Friday morning, Ron and Elaine and the boys left for Plymouth while we loaded up the car for Freeport, Maine.  Growing up, campmeeting was a major highlight of my summer.  We absolutely LOVED it!  Of course, the campmeeting we went to was the Southern New England Conference campmeeting held in South Lancaster, MA.  I really wanted my kids to experience the same thing.  Florida only has campmeeting over the weekends now although it wouldn't have been the same anyway. Since Shawn is a pastor in Northern New England and I wanted the kids to be with their cousins, we decided that is where we were going.  Unfortunately, Northern New England changed their campmeeting week to be the same as Southern New England's this year so sadly my dad couldn't be with us.  That was the one low spot.

What a great time we had!  We had four tents right next to each other with Shawn and Camille in one, my mother and the girls next to theirs, and then Aunt Toni, Shannon, and Finley were next to them.  My tent was right across from my mother's.  Alison was also there with Tyson staying with her mother-in-law in a tent.  Kelly and Steve are there every year with Steve's side of the family.  So we had quite a contingent.  Things were threatening to start off poorly, though, when I got a call a few days before the start to inform me that I wasn't going to have a traditional campmeeting tent but an LL Bean tent instead.  I almost lost it!  I love those campmeeting tents and I was going to be really, really upset if, after probably 20 years and coming all the way from Florida, I was going to get some second tier tent.  Thank goodness Shawn was able to rectify it.  My mother and Toni both were left with Bean ones much to Toni's chagrin.  Note for next year:  Make sure we take care of this ahead of time.

The sleeping went better than expected.  I brought a noise maker and Brady had no trouble going to sleep.  He did wake up a few of the nights and ended up snuggling with me but I didn't mind.  It was in the high 50's at night which is a little chilly when you're in a tent.  The thing that was very disconcerting was how early it gets light.  The first morning, Brady stirred and I brought him into bed with me thinking it was like 6:00 - 6:30.  I looked at my phone and saw it was 4:50!  What in the???

The mornings were indeed a little rough for Shawn and Camille since Camden and Acadia get up early. With it getting light so early, they were often up by 5:00 am.  Ever try to keep two toddlers quiet while camping?  Not a fun task but they did an admirable job.  The thing that actually woke me up one morning was this singing.  Again, I thought it was like 6:30 in the morning but I discovered it was 5:15.  It did eventually stop.  I later found out from my mother that it was a lady singing two tents down.  My mom finally went and asked her to stop and the lady apparently didn't realize anyone could hear her.  Ahh, hello?  For what it was worth, she did have a very nice voice.

The week got even better on Wednesday when Duncan flew in.  We certainly didn't want to go two weeks without seeing him so he took some time off to come up for the last four days, flying into Portland.  Things are always better when Daddy is around.

Here are some links for videos the girls made of their time there.  Excuse Calleigh's which is sideways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgnNaVtdWNI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnLueZVIDM

Our row.

Casa de Grodack

The Bean tents.  Yeah, not quite up to par.  

Our eating quarters.  We quickly realized after the first rainy day that this wasn't going to cut it.

My mom went and bought a tarp and some nice guys helped set it all up.  Much better!

Nap times did get a little bit hot.  

What I remember about campmeeting as a kid....just playinig, and playing, and playing.

Calleigh went to Kindergarten and her teachers Candace and Krista were awesome!

Mia was there for the first half of the week.  It was so nice to have her there.  She had to leave to get her braces.

Brady's class had a pet turtle.

We ate lunch at the snack bar a few times.  With $1 grilled cheeses, you couldn't beat it!

On about the third night there, Aubree said she was tired and went to bed at 6:50.  Yup, you read that right.  Unheard of!

Parents night out at LL Bean.

The girls always identify LL Bean as the place with the 'big boot."

Ultimate Aubree face

Beach day

Help!

Slip 'N Slide

The girls singing up front at their night class.  There was no Kindergarten in the evenings so they went to Primary (7 - 9 year olds)

Taking a break on the second Sabbath.  It was a hot day.

Another visit to LL Bean.  My mother took Camden there one morning at 5:30.  He and Acadia are very early risers.

I picked the girls up at their class one afternoon to see this written on the board under prayer requests.  Things that won't be happening.

Beautiful day, beautiful place.  See you next year!

Calleigh slept almost the entire plane ride back which departed at 6:40 pm.  I was so worried she was sick (since Camden and Acadia each had a 24-hour bug).  Turns out she was just plain tired.

All in all, I had a terrific time and I know the girls did too, most importantly.  I surely hope we can make it an annual tradition.

We're back into our routine although it's hardly a routine.  Things are all a mess because we're trying to sort of pack. I say "sort of" because I'm just trying to get things cleared up enough for now so that we can take pictures and have prospective tenants come.  We finally broke down and got a storage unit because we just don't have the room to put everything.  My goal is to have it cleaned up enough that we can post an ad on Sunday night.  Here's what is at the storage unit:

 Duncan is giving me such a hard time about these bins of clothes but I keep asking what the alternative is.  Give it all away and then buy more?  That doesn't make any sense.  Plus, I want to point out that probably 90% of this stuff either was given to me or I bought it second hand.

Okay, well, I'm going to end here.  It's now 11:45.  At 10:15, Duncan went to bed with Aubree and it's been quiet since then.  Is it possible she has gone to sleep without her binky?  I'm excited to find out!