Year of Weddings - Part 2

2005 was the "Year of Weddings" due to the fact that a lot of my friends were married that year. We were flying all over the country going to weddings. It was exhausting but so much fun.

2008 is another Year of Weddings but on Sharis' side this time.



We showed you pictures from Leslie and JB's wedding earlier and were able to attend Robin's (and Brian's) wedding last weekend in Grand Rapids, MI. Robin is another good friend of Sharis' from St. Mary's.



I sat with Brian (and Robin's Mom and Dad) at Leslie's wedding while our wives were busy with that wedding. He is a fantastic guy who is really down to earth. Her parents are very nice as well. I told Robin's Mom that I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it to Robin's wedding because of work so she worked on me all night at Leslie's wedding to get me to go.



We brought Little Man to the ceremony but he was Captain Crabs so we didn't stay after Communion and took him back to the hotel for a nap. That means we don't have any pictures of him from this wedding (because he didn't go to the reception). He had his tie on again though.

Penelope's (she is the one on the right in the left picture and in the center in the right picture) sister babysat Ryan for us during the ceremony which was really nice.



The reception was at a very cool museum which had a skeleton of a massive whale hanging above our heads as we ate. They also had a bunch of cool old signs and there was a ton of natural light pouring in (which I love for taking photos). The church was also great for taking photos because of all the natural light. It was a great wedding - sorry no Ryan photos.

Grandma P Visits

Grandma P took the Megabus from Cleveland last Tuesday and home again on Saturday to come visit Ryan (not Sharis and I, Ryan). She had a blast engaging in all his daily activities including meals, baths, walks, changing diapers and reading books (seen here reading "The Monster at the End of This Book" starring Grover). Thanks for the visit. We all love when any of our family members visit.

Muscle Man

CIMG1895
Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

This is a shot from when my parents babsat Ryan when Sharis and I went to Vegas at the beginning of June. My parents found these weights behind our TV and filled them with water and Ryan was enamored with them.

We had a blast in Vegas but I think my parents had more fun being with Ryan for the weekend. They went on a ton of walks and were able to spend a lot of time outside. I even think my Dad was able to resist the temptation of feeding Ryan Dairy Queen while we were gone - even though he tells us Ryan only had one at every meal. On the other hand, I honestly think my Dad had it 4 or 5 times over the weekend. He can't believe that the walk to DQ from our place is shorter than it is for him to walk to his mailbox.

Make sure to check out all the pictures on my Dad's Flickr site (by clicking the picture). There are a lot of good pictures. My Mom loved how he carried a coaster around in his mouth wherever he went - as you will see in how many pictures she took of that action. There is also a picture of that "A Ha" moment for Ryan when he realized who we were after we got back from the airport.

2 Bald Guys

This is a random post and picture (from way back at Thanksgiving - Ryan at 19 weeks) but I just saw this picture on Flickr and wanted to throw it up again. I also thought I should put Ryan in here somehow otherwise half the family won't read the post. Although you can't see my Dad's bald head, trust me, he's bald!

Besides Sharis' massive regurgitation of content today, we have been a little light with the posts lately. All I can continue to blame that on is busy lives.

I was able to get a little time today (Sunday) to put some posts together so I might be able to get you at least 1 post per day all week (thanks to Scheduled Post Publishing). We'll see. I have some content on Ryan that is a bit old but would like to get it out there.

Yesterday was Sharis' favorite day of the year (the longest) so she is bumming that it is all downhill from here. Enjoy your weekends.

Little Monkey

Ryan makes this new "monkey" sound when he's excited about something and his mouth cracks me up every time. Also featured in this video is his newfound talent of clapping.

Stairs

I was visiting some good friends who just had a baby and while Dee and I were talking, Ryan crawled right over to the stairs and started climbing them. I got behind him and watched him finish off the entire flight. As most of you know, we don't have stairs in our house so I'm not sure how he became such a master of this skill, but here he is repeating it again at my parents house later that day.

Sick

Ryan woke up on Friday morning with a temp of 103. No other symptoms, so his dr. said to monitor for 24hrs. He still had the fever on Sat morning, so we took him into the office. They diagnosed him with viral pharyngitis (fancy for "a sore throat") and said it would go away in 3 days. He's been such a good boy through it (sleeping a ton) and Dan and I have enjoyed his mellow mood and increased cuddling.

Step in Time

Ryan took his first steps yesterday and Dan and I both got to be there to witness! Despite the fact that Dan is feeling claustrophobic in his newly acquired office space, there are perks to working from your bedroom. He'll be running soon, I'm sure (Ryan, not Dan). Until then, we'll try to capture a few steps on cam for you all to see and share in our excitement.

Oh, and in other, less impressive news...Ryan finally started clapping for the first time a week ago (June 7th, for those keeping marks in their baby books at home). I couldn't believe that he didn't start this sooner, but kept wondering if the clapping thing was all too traumatic for him when he was just a 7 lb peanut. He used to burst out in hysterical crying at the sound of applause. And so he continued, suppressing this urge until he could no longer demonstrate such restraint when he saw his Daddy, Uncle Kyle, and Cousin Jeff finish a round of golf together in one piece.

Family Reunion 2008

We were in Cleveland this past weekend for a Family Reunion for Sharis' side of the family. A good majority of Gary's brothers and sisters and their kids...


(and their kid's kids) ...


were able to make it up from Cincinnati for the sweltering heat and high humidity.

There were lots of hugs...


and kisses...


and even cannonballs...


The girls swam in the pool...


while the kids relaxed and hung out...


and the boys played golf (unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Kyle losing 25 balls in one round or breaking his Grandmother's driver in half on his first swing of the day).

And at the end of the weekend, I'm pretty sure everyone felt like Abby...


Thanks for a fantastic weekend and all the planning on everyone's part. Even being a relative outsider, it was a blast.

You can see the entire set by clicking on any of these pictures.

And make sure to check out the pictures Gabe took in his first foray into photography which include:

7 pictures of the flowers
7 pictures of Allen
12 pictures of his Grandpa Tom and
20 pictures of what must be his favorite subject - Great Uncle Gary