Filtering Life

You better get that title or else you should stop reading me.

I’m back, did you miss me? Did ya, did ya? Yeah, well whatever. Keep your expectations low for this post, I am recovering from being all over the east coast, unpacking, and knee high in laundry all day.

All I can say is Route 95 should be blown off the face of the map….I thought I was going to go postal in NJ in standstill traffic. This was also our first major trip with Chloe and it made for some interesting and inconvenient stops to say the least. I really need to talk to Chloe about timing her poops a little bit better. Our lifeline was the DVD player we borrowed from Amanda, that was worth it’s weight in gold even though we only had one Baby Einstein video and Monsters Inc for Chloe…it was worth hearing the same classical music and toys honking, beeping and screeching for 30 minutes over and over and over.

We had the most amazing hosts in DC and NY. Thank you Allison and Chad and Uncle Mike and Auntie Shelia…you guys are the hostesses with the mostests. We also had a VERY brief lunch with Chrissy on our way through gawd awful NJ….so great to see you! Let me just get to the photos, I am only going to put a few in, the rest are…say it together….”on my flickr“…very good, gold star to you.

Can I just start out with the most adorable shot of Chloe….

Had to get that out of the way because I could eat her face off…love that kid. You can surf that wave on her head.

We really weren’t good photo journalists, so that is why I will only show you a few.

The family reunion was really really nice. I have always lived far from my relatives so it seems like every time I see them I learn more and more about my family and enjoy them so much more as we get older. One of my cousins married the extremely talented Steve, designer of VIRB, and together they procreated the most adorable daughter, Ella, who was VERY into “Mr. Ryan”. How can I compete with those baby blues and sassy bleach blond hair?

Ryan’s Uncle Mike stole Chloe’s affection and earned the title of “Best Block Builder in all of Niskayuna” That is quite a mouthful, but trust me, he earned it.

Before you throw your stones of judgment, I do realize that her outfit is anything but matching and her bib says, “Waiting for Santa”, yeah Chloe, only 5 more months till Santa comes, keep waiting….what kind of mother am I?

My dad took me, Ryan and my cousin Pete up to the insanely gorgeous, Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains to go rent a pontoon for the morning. We had to be up at 5:30 AM to make this little excursion happen. 5:30 AM folks, I don’t get up that early unless I am quickly breastfeeding and then promptly going back to my warm bed. For the love of all that is holy. Once we got there we all decided a speed boat would be more fun. GREAT idea…IF it were actually warm out, but it was only in the low 50’s. Let’s think about that….50 degree wind whipping all along your body at 40-50 miles per hour. F to the R to the E E Z ing!!!!!!!!!! It was fun on the whole, but for three hours our happiness rose and fell on the sun poking through big fat clouds warming our fridged dying bodies.

Ryan worshiping the sun god

A brief Chex Mix break….extra cheesy! I have that white trash look going on….that’s how I bring all the boys to the yard.

On our way back through DC we got to hang out with the Nickersons and meet there insanely adorable son, Abel. We, of course, took full advantage of putting the two kids together. Check out the double dose of cuteness.

Chloe, don’t worry, we aren’t brining the baby home, you don’t have to be scared….you’re still our number one.

and Uncle Joey made a guest appearance! Her shirt says, “If you think I am cute, you should see my Uncle.” It is clearly debatable which Uncle the shirt is referring to…but I’m just sayin.

That is not how you earn the title of Best Uncle Joe…back off the goods.

So there you have it, you waited all week for that. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more. It was just one of those really nice weeks with lots of people you love doing nothing super extraordinary, but enjoying fabulous conversations over great coffee and food. It was simply….great! Now I need to wade through a sea of blogs and emails….yikes.

Check out our latest sampling of wedding photos…it’s shaping up to be a great season this year.