Fun Times with Family

On Sunday we returned from a week spent with Jon's family in upstate New York. We had a fun time there, an exhausting drive to and from, and some oh-so-fun plumbing issues at the end. On the way up, we spent a fun evening and morning with Dan Shearin and his adorable kids. After the the longest day of my life (traffic + fussy baby = NOT a fun car ride!) we made it to NY and received a warm welcome from parents, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews. The Evans family (Matt, Becca, Bo, Lydia and Abigail) had arrived the day before from Canada, and we were glad to be there with them since it's been well over a year since we've seen them...and we met our niece, Abby, for the first time. The Watson family (Paul, Jen, Chris and Paulie) live just down the road and it was nice to see them for the second time this summer.

A couple days after we arrived we had a big family get-together in honor of Jon's grandfather, Adolph Laubmeier. It was a nice opportunity to take some multi-generation family photos with everyone there. The next day we all went to the pool at Minekill State Park and even though the water was cold, Laura did pretty well with it.

On August 13th we celebrated Abigail's first birthday by having the grandparents over for dinner and cake. Laura tasted her first cake...and she liked it! (Big shock, I know!) After the kids were in bed at night, we had a fun time playing poker together. Toward the end of the week, the plumbing problems began. At first we noticed that the toilets were acting funny, then they wouldn't flush. Poor Lydia was suspected of flushing a pull-up diaper down the toilet...she's 3 and seemed the most likely culprit. After the sewage lines backed up into the downstairs tub (ewww!) we realized that the problem was serious and we could no longer use the toilets or showers....and there were 6 adults and 4 kids in the house! Thankfully, Jen and Paul were willing to share theirs, so Jon and I showered at their house Saturday morning before we left to come back home...that could have been one stinky day in the car! Turns out, the problem was caused by a crack in the drainage pipe leading from the house to the cess pool, and poor little Lydia was innocent!

Laura learned a new trick while we were in NY...she can now wave hello and goodbye! It's more of a raised hand than a wave at this point, but fun nevertheless. Overall, we had a nice time, but it is also nice to be back home where the plumbing works and the internet is fast! :)

Catching up on Summer 2009

I'm starting this blog to keep our family and friends updated on what's going on with our family. Since the Coast Guard keeps us far away from many of you, hopefully this will be another way to stay in touch. I'm planning to update it on a weekly-ish basis, depending on what's going on.

We have been having a very busy summer so far! We started off the summer by spending two weeks in June visiting with family. We spent a couple days in Pennsylvania, where Laura got to meet her great-great-grandmother. Then we traveled to Jefferson, NY and spent a little over a week with Jon's family. Before coming home, we spent a few days in Williamsburg, VA with some of my family to celebrate my grandmother's (Mimi's) 80th birthday.

In this photo are Eric Hughes, myself, Melissa Young, Adam Hughes and Elizabeth Brown. (Mimi is seated in the bottom left corner.) This was the first time all of us cousins had been together since Jon and my wedding. We had a great time hanging out together, especially on the day we all got to go to Busch Gardens together.

A couple weeks after that trip, we went to Swansboro, NC to spend a weekend with my Unlce Phil and Aunt Beverly while Jon played in a raquetball tournament in New Bern, NC.

Jon has had two deployments with the International Ice Patrol out of St. John's Newfoundland, in addition to his regular work duties.

Laura has been growing like crazy, of course. She is 8 months old now and can roll over both ways, sit up on her own, and is learning how to feed herself little snacks. Her two front bottom teeth are coming in, so her adorable tooth-less smile will soon look a little different. Her favorite thing to say is "da-da" and although she doesn't know what it means yet, her face lights up whenever her daddy walks in the room.

This week I am helping out with our church's Vacation Bible School. I am in charge of the crafts, and it's been a fun, crazy, busy time. This weekend we are heading back to New York for another visit since Jon's sister and her family will be visiting from Canada. We are looking forward to seeing them again and meeting our niece, Abby, for the first time.