Flordia I: Bruce

Here is the first of three posts from Azra and my trip to Florida. This one includes miscellaneous pictures from when we were at Margaret's house.

One afternoon we went to the beach ....

We had lunch at the Bruce Cafe one day ...

We took the kids to the library for story time and crafts ...

But mostly we just hung around Margaret's house, which was very chaotic and wonderful ...

We got to know most of their animals (dogs, roosters, chickens, turtles, the alligator - but not the pig) ...

And we spent time with Michael, whose recent arrival was the reason for the gathering ...

Miran's Birthday and our 6th Anniversary

I just got back from Florida and was downloading all my hundreds of pictures and found some shots from last month that I'd never downloaded or posted.

So I thought I'd start by sharing some pictures from Miran's 30th birthday party - including his pile of gifts, his cake, and him in the hat Azra bought him. The last shot is of Miran and I on our way out to dinner on our 6th wedding anniversary - notice that I'm wearing my wedding dress (its a little snugger than on our wedding day).

Stay tuned for pictures from Azra and my 10-day Florida trip!

random pictures from the past month

I know its been awhile since I shared any photos, so here are a few random shots from the past month, which I thought I'd better get sent out before the Florida trip because hopefully I'll take lots of pictures and post them from that trip.

Fourth of July - Miran got the flag up that Margaret gave him for his naturalization and I made some festive star shaped cookies (in my hand are some we took over to the neighbors).

World Cup - I think Miran watched every single game during the world cup, and I probably wathced half of them. Here we are with some friends over during one of the US games. Since the flag was already out we hung it up to be spirited.

And a few shots from Megan's wedding that I took from other blogs or emails because we forgot our camera.

Shakespeare

Just to show we do things other than paint rooms and work on our garden, I wanted to post a shot of Azra I took last week when she and I went to see a performance of a Shakespeare play in a local park. It was fun and actually not too hot to sit outside that evening. She has to go see three plays for her communications class, so we need to find two more to attend in the next two weeks.

Megan's Shower

I just got back from a wonderfully relaxing week-end in Staunton. The purpose of the trip was to attend (and help cook for) my cousin Megan's wedding shower. And that was fun. But I also got to spend a lot of time with Cecilia and the twins, which was also great. Its always wonderful to see them, and really get to know their two very different personalities.

Below are a few pictures from the trip. I actually had lost my camera through the whole shower, and only found it again as everyone was leaving, so I got a shot of the guest of honor, Megan, and her brother Patrick in the driveway afterwards. Then comes Dad's great shot of the sisterly love followed by my shot of the same scene ... which was a little later when their natural smiles had turned into their silly "say cheese" smiles. The last shots are of Maggie and Ingrid enjoying licking the beaters after while we were making cupcakes for the shower and of Mom and Dad in the herb garden.