I Heart Faces - Week 41 - Pink

Week 41 - Pink

I Heart Faces is a site where you can share photos and submit them into weekly contests, of faces, one for kids and one for adults.

Last Day in NY

Saturday night we got back to the Lemonda's and the "parent's" played cards. I was able to put Holly to bed at around 9:00 and I came down and sat at the table and talked with everyone while they played. Since we were little kids, my parents would get together with Elise and Jim to play Spades.The next morning as relaxing. I slept in as did Holly so the "grown-ups" went out to breakfast and we had the house to ourselves. Holly woke up slow, and I had a chance to sit in the air conditioning and pack. Holly played int he room and on the bed, and even in the crib while I went through all of our stuff and packing.There was this train store that my dad had been wanting to go to and it was closed during the supposed business hours, so we left the guy messages and emails, he finally got back to my dad during there breakfast and said he could go by that afternoon. So my mom came home with Waffles for me and my dad and Jim headed to the train store.I was packed by the time they got home and had a nice relaxing quiet morning. Holly was ready to play and get out of the upstairs room by then so the timing was wonderful. My dad gave her a bottle, and then she sat int he high chair playing and looking at books while I ate.Sadly we had to eventually leave for the airport. My mom was frantic, she likes showing up several hours early then I do, and with the worry that I couldn't get a gate pass the last thing I wanted was to have to sit at the airport without Holly's stroller by myself waiting for my plane. Jim was convinced they would never let her back with me.I don;t think he realizes my powers of persuasion, I simply had to talk to three people and fill out two forms, everyone was polite and nice and pointing me towards the person to talk to, and the checkpoints, and perhaps since I knew the term gate pass and they could see the baby and stroller it made it easier, but 15 minutes after we got to the check in area, my bag was dropped off and I had a pass.My bag was 11 pounds over weight so Jim had given me an extra carry on so I wouldn't have to pay any fees, and that helped a lot. I was able to put a lot of extra Holly stuff in it, supplies, books. My mom got several outfits for Holly and a few toys, so it made up the weight difference. After we got through the gate we had a chance to get a Jamba Juice and one last slice of pizza and then made our way to the gate.Other then my mom freaking out that the plane would take off without me while I was int he bathroom, the boarding was uneventful. We had our teary eyed goodbyes and for the first time ever as we walked into the place tunnel Holly waved goodbye to my mom. When we got onto the plane we had an entire row to ourselves, even the row in front and behind us were empty. After a bottle and a little bit of playtime she fell fast asleep, and I was able to lay her down on the empty seats next to me. I even got to watch two whole movies.

Tanta Christa's

After brunch we headed out to Wantagh to visit my Tanta Christa. She was so happy to see us. When my mom called to find out if she was available she was ecstatic and started to cry. I think she was worried that we weren't going to make it to see her during the trip, as it was almost the last day. I think it has been around 10 or more years since I last saw Tanta Christa, and it must have been about 20 years since I have been to her house.The kitchen and the living room and the stairs to the basement and the back yard all all just as I remembered them. I have fond memories of visiting with Tanta Christa and Uncle Jack, staying the weekend when I must have been around geeze, I don't even know. I guess it must have been 7th grade. I remember Tina's Canopy bed and staying the night with her, Jackie must have been in college then. I Particular I remember a night when Tina was going to a concert with friends, i so wanted to go, I remember looking up to her and idolizing her.In NY, I was really the oldest of our friends, our little neighborhood group, so it wasn't common for me to have an older cousin to look up to, I loved our visits to Tanta Christa's. I don't think I have actually seen Tina since that time, She grew up, went to college, got married, had a baby, all then while we were in Florida, and on this day, we met her Daughter Katherine (after my grandmother) for the first time, now already in college. That is a lifetime. I had to have been younger then 7th grade when we visited but the time we lived in NY before that I was in 2nd grade and that feels too young.Being back in the house was surreal, it was so amazing to meet Katie, she loved listening to stories about the family. There were three generations there on this day, Holly and Katie are actually in the same generation, which was weird. It was an amazing mini family reunion. We made plans for them to travel to Florida over the Christmas holiday, this of course put Tanta Christa in tears again, her imagining having the whole family together again. It had really been 20 years since a big family Christmas at my grandfather's house. I remember once when I was little, maybe 1st grade, we took a picture of many generations together, each sitting on the lap of the next. I was the baby, and the last to sit on the pile of loved ones, I wonder if my mom has that picture somewhere, I remember I think being on Tina's lap. I remembered helping my Opa make pizza with anchovies, and I remember Tina helping me open my gifts.While we were talking Katie referred to Tanta Christa as "Oma" and then later referred to my "Oma" as Tanta (really her Ur Tanta) which was so funny because we are just the opposites, but even stranger was when we referred to my mom as Holly's Oma. Its amazing that she is an Oma now. I know Tina would kill me for posting this picture of her. She has been really sick of late with allergies and breathing problems and she has had to take prednisone, which no one should ever be forced to take for more then a week. As a side effect it makes your cheeks puffy and you gain a lot of weight. But I could see behind it, and Tina, the Tina I remember is right there, so I had to post.This picture though is the scary part. While we were all sitting in the backyard talking and drinking orange juice "little" Jack came home. he walked into the back yard and i swore it was my "uncle jack" walking in. He is the spitting image, it was so freaky, a flash of the past. Jackie must be almost as old now as his father was the last time I saw him, or at least withing a ten year range. uncle Jack was a retired Cop, and Jackie is now a Chiropractor. It was amazing to see him. last time I did it was the 80's and I remember he was a "grown-up" in College, and he had one of those 80's style beards, now he is all "Jack"We had a wonderful visit, but alas it was time to go. This is a Picture of Tina's daughter Katie and there cute little puppy. When we were walking out Katie said to me, your mom called Oma and said she was coming over and the whole world stopped, we dropped what we were doing, "Lisa was on her way" I guess I know why the world stopped, she said, this little family reunion was amazing. and I agree. I can;t wait to see everyone again. Holy had fun, the bell of the ball. She found the little fountain in the garden, played in the grass, had some OJ and at a snack, then she was ready to go. I suppose I shouldn't tell you about the bump she got on her head falling under her Oma's watchful eye while trying to climb up the steps and go back into the house. it was gone in two days, but boy when it swelled up did my mom feel bad. (Shhhh)

Brunch

The morning after the wedding we all met for a brunch at a very cool Greek restaurant owned by a friend of the family. I remember going there once for a special occasion back when I was in Jr. High, it was called the kabob house if I recall. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was so busy eating and wrangling Holly that I didn't get much of a chance.We were meeting with family and close friends who were still in town. The bride showed up near the end of our meal, we were all ecstatic to see her. It was great to catch up with old friends, here is Stephanie's dad with an old friend of my parent's Laura.We also had more of a chance to catch up with Alice and Ed. I didn't get to talk to them much at the wedding. I heard about there recent trip to Alaska, and many other travels including Turkey, one of Alice's favorite places to have visited.We also had more time to catch up with Lorraine and Sabina which was wonderful. Holly was so well behaved, she ate very well, tried new foods, she was a good girl. Eventually she was ready to run around the restaurant while Mommy finished her brunch, Oma had fun chasing her. It was a great final get together.

The Reception

I thought we would have had more time, more of a break between the ceremony and the reception, but by the time we left and drove over to the hall there were already people mingling in the gardens with champagne, drinks, and finger foods. Holly didn't get a chance to nap on the way over, but she was excited to join the party once we arrived.The food was amazing. I can't believe that the food in the garden wasn't the main event. There were carving stations, fruit, cheese, bread, and cheese platters, hors d'oeuvres, and even hot finger foods.Holly enjoyed all of the food. She had strawberries, watermelon, bread, and lots of cheese. We even got her some orange juice to drink. But she didn't really want to be contained at the table for very long, so soon she was off and exploring.The grounds are beautiful and Holly was eager to toddler around through the tables, and over the bridge and through the river. It wouldn't be an event with Holly if she didn't want to go go go!This of course for Holly was the pinnacle of the event. She was simply obsessed with this fountain. Water, at any cost was all she could think about. She started to stalk the fountain trying to find a way in through the flowers. She really wanted to play with the water, it was sort of amusing to a point, when she would get upset every time we left the fountain, or when she would run across the entire garden weaving in and out of the guests and tables back to the fountain.Eventually I had to take Holly inside and distract her. The bridal party was inside making sure everything was set up and taking pictures. In the main hall the three little flower girls were dancing. It was so adorable.They were playing ring around the rosie and Holly would run up to them and try to chase them and then when they fell she would squat down and sit with them. She loved playing with the older kids.Here is my Dad comforting Holly who is upset to be taken away from the fountain yet again, this time on our way to join everyone in the hall and begin the dinner.

The first course was an Anti Pasta with some yummy Mozzarella cheese. Holly snacked a little bit but then got cranky. A bottle and song later she was fast asleep in the stroller next to my table.I was sitting with Dara and Pam and there Husbands. Pam is not in her residency to become a Doctor and Dara is working on finishing her licences to become a teacher. It was sort of surreal seeing and talking with everyone. Although I had seen Dara somewhat recently and met Jon before, I hadn't seen Pam since she was about seven.Which is kind of amazing, as now she is all grown up and married to a lawyer, Mike. Her husband was very friendly and I had a great time talking to all four of them. I knew Jon liked trains, but i found out that he also likes models and once he finishes restoring the basement in there new house he will set up a train room down there. I had to introduce him and my dad so they could talk trains the next day at the brunch.Unfortunately Pam had to be on Call at the hospital at 6:00 the next morning so they had to head out just after dinner, and would not be attending the brunch. We did get a lot of time to talk though which was nice.Here are Alice and Ed, Dara and Pam's parents. We all got to spend some time talking with them also. they were sitting at my mom and dad's table. Ed made quick friends with Holly, you can tell he really likes kids, Holly had a lot of fun laughing at his silly faces.Here is the Beautiful wedding cake. It was delicious. All of the food was. After our anti-pasta we had a really good pasta dish with a yummy tomato and cheese sauce, I loved it. We also had a salad and then the entree. My entree was a Chicken and Cranberry sauce dish. The tables had yummy bread, and all of the food was scrumptious. The service was amazing, everyone so polite, everyone getting there food at once, and no one taking any plates you weren't finished with yet.Here is my mom and Sabina. I am so glad they had a chance to talk at the wedding. Family is so important, and its just so silly to not talk to your loved ones, I think ti was wonderful to see them, and they looked so beautiful.Here is Holly napping in her stroller, against a wall out of the way. I was able to have conversations with people, and even get up and move around a little, but most of the time I stayed at my table near her so i could hear a cry or see a wiggle.That didn't prevent me from having a great view of the dance floor. here are Lorraine and her mum dancing. It is amazing that Holly was asleep through a live band and a DJ. The party was wonderful. Open bar was nice, I had a few rum and cokes, was enjoying the music and people watching.

Here are the bubbles that my dad set up for the party. originally they were int he front of the room, but due to the video Screens and the band it had to be moved, I think this is a great place and he could run them by remote at various times during the dancing.There were actually three deserts. This one may have been my favorite. It was an ice cream in a chocolate, mascarpone type crust. It was really good. Then after that was an Italian pastries plate that included canolies.Then after a long while we got to eat yummy wedding cake. Here is a picture of my mom's table, the flowers and place setting's were beautiful, and I loved how the tables were at a tilt so everyone could really see everything.Here the bride and the groom are helping with the garter. I don;t think lee and Stephanie had 5 minutes to sit down and eat all of the amazing food. they were little butterflies flitting from table to table talking to all of the guests, taking pictures, and participating in the various activities.Here is Scott and his wife. Such a beautiful couple. It was so weird seeing Scott all grown up. He was amazing, he lent us the crib and the highchair and stroller and car seat. He was such a good dad and so responsible, and his son is already four. Here is Jim, the father of the bride. I am glad he got a little chance to enjoy the party, it was amazing. I hope he did sit down and enjoy the food, but I saw him and Elise make the rounds talking with everyone also. The father daughter song was amazing. The night before I heard the lyrics and I just cried and cried, I guess having a baby of your own makes you all sentimental like that, thinking of they growing up one day. I think it hit my dad too, as when they were dancing he came over to me and asked me to dance, he was so sad that he had missed our father daughter dance. I had thought about how I would feel at this moment, when i was flying to NY hoping it wouldn't upset me, and getting a dance made it perfect.Here is the beautiful Mrs. Hicks. it is so weird that Stephanie is married. I guess even though I grew up, in my mind all of my friends from New York sort of staged the age they were when I last lived there. Scott the little brother who always followed us around. Dara and Steph just getting out of grade school, going to girl scouts, all of us the best of friends.Around 11:45 Little miss Holly woke up. She missed most of the party, or at least let Mommy enjoy most of the party which was really nice. By that time it was starting to die down, but since we were helping out the family we were at the hall until at least 12:30 making arrangements, collecting items, packing the car, getting the bubble machine, ect.This gave Holly a lot of time to still run around and play on the dance floor without having to worry too much about getting trampled. She enjoyed it quite a bit, and liked being "back stage" as the band tore down.I had hoped she would have had more of a chance to play with Jason, Scot's son, but Jason was rather shy and i am sure overwhelmed in such a stimulating environment, so he liked to stay by mommy at all times.Here is a beautiful pictures of our lovely bride at the end of the night, looking as beautiful as ever. Since she wasn't leaving for the Honeymoon until Sunday, she got to wear the dress for the whole party, and she looked like a princess.Here Holly discovered a rose, given to her by one of the groomsmen. It was so sweet. She saw the flower girls with them and she wanted a flower too. It was so cute.Here Steph and my parents are watching Holly play with the flowers. I think Holly thought Stephanie was a princess she was so intrigued by her and the beautiful dress, she wanted to follow her around.I was expecting a rough night, but by the time we got home, Holly ate a snack, played for a few minutes while cars were being unloaded and people were unwinding, she was ready for a bottle and was back to sleep by 2:30. This was wonderful.On this particular night we got an amazing night sleep, staying in bed until almost 10:00 the next morning. i thought I would end the post with a picture of Elise and Stephanie. Elise sang the most beautiful song to Stephanie during the reception, I love this picture of the mother and the bride.