Cathy and Ron's Wedding, Part 1: Rehearsal

Cathy and Ron got married a few weekends ago. We drove down for their wedding late on Thursday night, and stayed at Mimi and Grandpa's overnight. On Friday we did some running around, running a couple of errands for Cathy and doing a few things for ourselves (we forgot to bring a bottle for Leah - oops!). Then we headed over to Bristol, RI, which is where the wedding was and where we were staying. Our hotel was actually the top floor of a historical house, and it was really great. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room - it worked out really well because Nana and Poppa came with us to babysit the kids, so we each had a bedroom. Leah slept in with us and Cam slept in with Nana and Poppa.

The wedding rehearsal was on Friday evening at Colt State Park, the ceremony location. It is a beautiful park with a really pretty outdoor chapel overlooking the water. A great ceremony spot! It was pretty chilly though, especially as the sun started to go down.

Leah was all bundled up in her pink Red Sox gear.

Cam was SOOOO excited when Ella and Jack got there. He went running for Jack.

The lovely bride - how can she be so calm the night before her wedding?

Three of the kiddos - what a cute bunch!

They had a lot of fun playing while we were waiting for everyone to arrive so we could start the rehearsal.

Auntie Cathy giving Leah some kisses!

Once everyone arrived, the rehearsal started. Here is the beautiful groom with his bouquet!

Bridesmaids - Amy (Cathy's friend), Megan (Cathy's sister-in-law-to-be), Carrie (Cathy's friend) and Kim

The adorable ring bearers

Watching Ella come down the aisle

Ella the flower girl

And here comes the bride, escorted by her lovely pink-bow-wearing father

Bow gone, time to be serious

Jack and Leah - he loves to hold her

As soon as Grandpa took the bow off, Cam went right for it. He demanded that Ella put it on his head and walked around with it on. What a goof!

Kiss!

There was a beautiful sunset after the rehearsal, so we took some great pictures.

After the rehearsal at the ceremony location, we headed back to the hotel. Because the dinner didn't start til 7, we decided to have Cam and Leah stay back at the hotel with Nana and Poppa. I was afraid that if Cam didn't get a good enough night's sleep, he would be horrible at the wedding the next day. So Cam, Leah, Nana and Poppa grabbed a quick dinner and went back to the hotel for bed. Before going to sleep, Poppa read books to Cam and Leah.

The rehearsal dinner was at an Italian place called Leo's. The food was really good. First we had some delicious appetizer pizzas, along with cheese and crackers. For dinner there was a bunch of yummy Italian food. Cathy and Kim started off the buffet line.

Why hello, Jeff!

Brother and sisters - Tim, Cathy and Kim

A hug from Ella for her auntie

Jack saying thank you for his gift

Labor Day at the Cottage

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to the cottage for the long weekend. The weather wasn't great - maybe mid 60s, and it was rainy, but we had fun anyway.

On Friday night we had dinner out on the porch.

Cameron did a bunch of dancing, which Leah found hilarious. It was so cute, she was just laughing and smiling at his antics.

What a cute girl!

Cam was Great-Grandma's big helper this weekend. Here is he is, helping her make her dish for the pot luck. She probably could have made it herself in 5 minutes, but with Cam helping it took a good half hour. He sure had a great time though!

Patrick holding Leah

Then Maggie had a turn

Cam riding out to the raft with Maggie and Bridget

Rowing the raft back into shore

Grandpa supervising

Cam loved playing on the hammock. He had a few hammock-related injuries over the course of the weekend, but he kept going back!

Cam found this camera in the toy box and spent a lot of time "taking pictures"

More helping Great-Grandma. I can't remember what they were doing here, but Cam just loves helping!

A Day at the Fair

Trying to catch up on posts... back at the end of August, the New York State Fair was going on. We usually go with the Borsts, but none of the weekends worked out this year, so we were on our own. Nana and Poppa decided to join us, and we had a nice evening at the Fair.

First we went to the circus - Leah was wide-eyed and excited for the circus! Actually, she was probably a little over-stimulated with all of the people, sounds and things to look at.

Leah, Poppa, Cam and Nana

Mama, Daddy and Leah

Tim was picked to be part of the show. SuperClown pulled him out of the audience and first he got to shoot the balloon bow and arrow. He shot an arrow to Cam, and Cam was excited to get a balloon.

We thought that was going to be it, until SuperClown motioned him into the main ring of the circus! They handcuffed him onto a board and went through a whole act about pretending to shoot arrows over his head and between his legs, all while he was blindfolded. It was really funny and fun that Tim was in the show. Cam was a bit traumatized by the whole thing, and didn't like it that the circus was trying to take his daddy away!

Next up was a petting zoo. Cam liked this wallaby, but he wanted to make a funny face in the picture.

What is Cam looking at?

The giraffe in the petting zoo! It was really cool.

We did a bunch of other stuff, mainly eating and looking around at the animals. At the end of the night, Leah was quite tuckered out and fell asleep in her stroller.

Holz Weekend at the Cottage

The Holz weekend at the cottage actually happened way back in early August, but since I have been a slacker about posting stuff, here it is... a month and a half later. Better late than never?

We got up to the cottage on Friday afternoon and everyone else got there on Saturday. On Saturday morning, Matt and Dad set up the tent outside. Cameron was happy to play while they did that. He found the trucks and was happy as a clam for hours.

Vrooooooooooom!

Uncle Matt showing off his handstand skills (and the port-a-potty in the background)

We caught lots of frogs this weekend. Cameron liked holding them himself and was very good about being careful with the frogs.

He liked to pet them too.

Time for the boats - Cam and Poppa in the paddle boat.

Matt and Mom

Miss Leah on her first cottage vacation

Cameron helped Poppa water the trees

Daddy and Leah

Once all of the Holz's arrived, the boats were out in full force. Jason, Nick and Poppa paddle the canoe in the foreground while Michael has the kayak in the background.

Matt and Tim also used a canoe

Gina and Matt

Aunt Linda

Mike, Jason and Nick in the paddle boat

Cam working hard with his construction vehicles

Aunt Susi and Ed decided to take a paddle boat ride... Cam decided he would join them!

Nick in the kayak

Fun with the boats

Gina and Leah hanging out

Poppa trying to give Leah a bottle. She was not having any of it.

Aunt Sue and Alex stopped by to say hi. Here is Aunt Sue meeting Leah for the first time.

Jason

Cam wanted to go in the kayak, so first Daddy took him.

Then he wanted to go for a ride with Mama.

Michael in the canoe

Jason took a turn in the kayak too.

We went for a walk and Mike gave Nick a ride.

Then Nick gave Cam a ride... unfortunately, Cam was pretty much just choking him while he was riding, so it didn't last for too long.

Leah snuggling with Poppa

Maybe a prince?

Nick caught one

Cam actually liked going in the "outside potty" - we made him pose like this!

There was a good bit of poker playing going on, and Cameron learned that he loved to play with the poker chips. Like a good little child of mine, he spent most of his time organizing them by color or making color patterns!!