First trip to the arch

On Sunday following the wedding, Jim had a good friend in town with his son.  We started off with lunch at Bailey's range downtown.  Then we headed to the Arch.  It was the first time for our kids to go   up in it.  Hadley was scared but was convinced to go.  After a long wait, we headed up in the tiny capsule.  After the arch, we hit the zoo.  Very fun day showing friends some favorite St Louis sites.

Wedding Weekend

We were so excited this last weekend to celebrate the marriage of Todd and Maribeth!  It was a great weekend and we couldn't be more thrilled to have Maribeth join our family.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  The fun started Thursday night with a Miltenberger family dinner at Pietros.  Friday I attended the bridesmaid luncheon at Katie's Pizza.  It definitely was one of the best meals I have had in awhile.  Then we headed to the Ritz for the weekend.  The girls were very impressed by how fancy the hotel was.  The rehearsal was followed by another great meal at Pasteria.  It was a such a fun night. Then Saturday was the big day.  The ceremony was beautiful at Lourdes.  Tommy promptly fell asleep as soon as he was done walking down the aisle.  Afterwards Jim and I hopped on the wedding bus for pictures while Katy took the kids back to the hotel for a bit. The reception was a lot of fun although Tommy didn't understand why you had to have a cocktail hour and dinner before the dancing.  The girls danced the night away.  Such a fun weekend and so great to spend it with our whole family.

Practicing the big walk

Poppy and Hadley

The soon to be at this point Mr and Mrs Miltenberger

My parents practicing their walk

We found a St Louis 250 cake on the way to the rehearsal dinner

The bridesmaids

My parents

Aunt Amy and Hadley

Madeleine and my Uncle Jerry... they played this game with a stuffed bunny when Madeleine was younger so Madeleine was putting up the bunny ears

PaPa and Madeleine

Uncle Seth and Madeleine

The kids made a visit to the Clayton fire dept and got these hats that they thought would look good on Todd and Maribeth

They work on Amy and Seth too

Fancy hair dos for the day

Amy and Seth after the wedding

Enjoying the wedding bus

The new married couple getting their pic taken

It is not everyday you are in a wedding with your teacher!

Can't wait for the dancing to start

Enjoying a fun night

The first dance

Tommy finally gets to dance.. he went strong for two songs and then realized he was tired

Hadley fell asleep with me holding her while dancing

Birthdays

July is birthday month in our house.  So far we have celebrated Madeleine's 7th birthday and Tommy's 3rd birthday.  On Madeleine's birthday, we went up to the pool and then over to a friends for a bbq.  We finished the night by heading into Kirkwood for the fireworks.  We celebrated Tommy's birthday the following day and had a family bbq at our house.  Then finished the weekend off with Madeleine's friend party at Sweet and Sassy.  She has always wanted to have her party there.

We were so excited for Tommy to walk in his room and see the train table.  His first reaction was not the scream of joy we thought it would be.  He was very upset thinking someone had opened this present for him.  After opening some presents, he then went back to his room and was very excited.

Happy 7th and 3rd birthdays!

Time to blow out the candles

Very excited to see his new crane

Loving her new swim towel that has a dog on it

Time for tennis lessons

All ready to be made up at Sweet and Sassy

Learning a dance to Party in the USA

The movie star birthday girl

Cake time again... she wanted something sassy on it but we settled for a peace sign

Hilton Head 2014

Last week we enjoyed a visit to Hilton Head with my parents.  We survived the long car trip and were thankful to do it this time with air conditioning.  We had pretty great weather and really enjoyed the visit.  The kids all loved swimming in the ocean.  We even had dolphins swimming in close proximity to us one day which was really cool.  The not so cool was the jellyfish on the last day but we avoided them.  We had a great visit.

Tommy was very excited to play in the sand with Poppy.  He even told her "time to get back to work" when she took a break.

Climbing all over Daddy in the ocean.

We went on a pirate cruise one day.  Tommy wasn't too excited about participating but he did have fun playing with his new sword.

This was the second year the girls and I did the cruise and they really enjoyed searching for Stinky Pete and the treasure.

Tommy did love shooting Stinky Pete with the water cannon.  Definitely the highlight of the pirate cruise.

Their favorite part of the Harbourtown playground.

PaPa and Hadley on the sea turtle at the playground.

Our third trip to Hilton Head but our first trip to Salty Dog.

They even got their picture with the Salty Dog.

Making sand cakes

Madeleine doing her teen beach movie pose.

Riding bikes on the beach is definitely one of the best things.

Pony rides in Sea Pines.   Tommy was all excited but then wouldn't get on when he saw the size of the pony.  He wanted a smaller pony.

Hadley on her pony ride

A windy day at the beach

Gregg Russell on our 3rd attempt.  Attempt one  resulted in ice cream in the rain.  Attempt two ended in running back to the car in the rain after two songs.  Attempt 3 was a great night in Harbourtown.

The girls made a spa on the beach.

The whole family had a great time swimming in the ocean.

More ocean fun

The first time Tommy has really taken to the water.  He said he has never been in this river before.

The best time of the day at the beach.   The kids love playing in the waves.

Kite flying

The kids running after the kite while Jim enjoyed flying it.

Hadley flying the lady bug kite... a little easier than the parafoil

Posing again on the beach

My mom and the kids... a favorite back shot.