Slip & Slide Fun in the Sun

Being stuck down here in Pa. can get quite hot. Our family is waiting for the mini-van transmission to get fixed, and since the kids can't go swimming in the lake, we all decided to keep cool by using the hose one day.

The 4th of July Bike Parade 2009

Every year it is a fun experience. Kids decorate their bikes, take fire engine rides, eat hot dogs and enjoy the company of friends and neighbors. Here are just a few shots from this year's celebration.

The 3rd of July (Prep night)

Trying to catch up from last week, I'm only now getting around to posting these one week later. Usually decorating the bikes is a July 3rd tradition shared by Aunt Erin, however this year Uncle Colin fell sick with pneumonia. So both of them had to stay down for those reasons. The kids did pretty well though.




The plan was to have Tristy dress up like Paul revere, as we put a horse on the front of his scooter. Liam would be going as Uncle Sam, and used cotton balls for his beard. Gillian was going for the statue of Liberty, but was a bit short on props I guess.

Anyway, it is always fun to watch their ideas take shape the night before the big parade.

Back from Italy & Greece

Hello,

If you would like to read about my recent Italy & Greece trip, you can find my notes, pics and stories at the following blog. I'm putting this trip on another blog as I don't want tons of students to have access to this one, which is more for friends and family viewing.

Hope you will enjoy the pictures and stories.

Cullen

Baby Reagan's Christening

Our little baby girl cousin, Regan had her baptismal christening today. Sean & Tara were kind enough to invite the whole family down to celebrate her special occasion. Here are some pics of today's get together. Missing was Grammy Farrell, who was sick for her 94th birthday. We hope she feels better soon.








These are some shots from today's get together.

Father's Day (We had to celebrate early)

As my trip to Europe approaches, we wanted to do something with just the family this past weekend. Originally we had a canoe trip down the Allegheny in mind, but there's been so much rain lately that we had to settle on something a little more safe on 'dry land' so we thought maybe a trip to the zoo might be fun. We kept it simple by packing lunches, and keeping it light.





Got some good shots of the animals and although it was crowded and sprinkled a tiny bit, the day was fun. A bit hit was getting to see the baby elephants, baby otters & beavers, and of course the monkeys. While there I took a slew of pics practicing for my upcoming trip on my buddy Steve's camera. So far I'm working out some kinks, but it seems to be going ok so far. We later decided to hit Eat'n Park on the way home at the Mills in lieu of cooking after a long day of walking.



In celebration of the Pens winning the Stanley Cup this past Friday night, one of my Fathers day gifts was a Fleury T-shirt. I also got a couple art projects from Tristan, a necklace/charm and also treated me to chocolate chip pancakes in bed. It was a very fun day and next week when I'm gone the kids and I won't feel like we missed out on the Father's day celebration since we did something special this weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

The kids finally get to return to the lake, and of course it wasn't long before everyone was down to see the lake. Here we see Pap pap posing with the kids on the sea wall.






We had great weather all weekend which made for a great beach day. The water was cold, but not as bad as usual. Liam and Tristy both jumped in and seemed to hold up pretty well despite the low water temps. Here are some shots from that day:






Tristy warms himself on a rock

Cousins Meet

Also during the month of May, one evening we met up with Baby Ellie and the kids were able to hold her, Here are some pics which show their first meeting.

Gillian's Recital

Not doing well with keeping up on the family blog, (thanks in part of facebook), but last month Gillian gave her first performance with the 4th grade band where she played several numbers on the flute.

Gillian really likes music, and was given a special award for getting "outstanding" (the elementary school equivalent for A+) for all 4 nine weeks.

Gillian then graciously posed playing flute in our front yard for this picture. Way to go Gilly girl!

More pics of Ellimere

Erin has her baby!

At 9:28 Erin and Colin delivered a baby girl.
They named her Ellimere Vernette Symons.
She was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 inches long! No
one is as happy as Gillian to have another
girl in the family!

Happy Easter

Went down to Pittsburgh to visit the family. First stop was the Farrell's household, where Gammy Farrell had Joey hide about 20 eggs in the back yard. While waiting for the other cousins to show up, the kids played ball in the back. The sun was out and not a cloud was in the sky, which made for a perfect Easter day.


Then it was over to Shaler for Easter dinner, where Dad cooked us up a nice dinner. Mary Louise made homemade canolis, and Vee made strawberry vinaigrette salad. It was a yummy meal and everyone had a nice Easter dinner.

Erin is ready for baby any day now.

Easter Egg Time

No PALS this year, instead the kids used rubber stampers with ink pads for their eggs. It was a fun evening, and the kids each made about 4-5 eggs each. The ink was also fluid enough that a small brush could be applied. There are some of the pictures from that evening.

Our Trip to Phipps

We miss seeing the color green, and since Armstrong County is 1-2 weeks behind everyone else, Sam and I wanted to see some flowers. So we packed up the car and took the kiddies down to Pittsburgh. I forgot to take my camera with us, so no pics of the Strip district this time.




Our first stop was Wholeys on the Strip, to get some fish sandwitches which were tasty. I had a few other items to pick up in the Asian food store, before we scaled Polish Hill and popped over to Oakland.





Once at the Phipps, the kids had a really nice time. There was an outside area with a massive tree trunk and place to play, which they enjoyed.






There was one place where we stopped to do crafts. The kids made a sort of tropical rain forest flower from a Dixie cup and construction paper, which rain forest frogs store their tadpoles in.






Here are some other shots of our trip.

Tristan Sleeps in a box

For the past few nights, Tristan's bed has been empty. He found a cardboard box that he prefers instead. One night I snapped a pic of him as shown here.

McConnell's Mills

On the way back from the roller skating birthday party, we just could not let this day get away from us, so Betty brought Ethan and Bethany with our family for a nature walk down along the McConnell's Mills park.





We got to see some daring folks with Kyaks enter the water under the bridge and brave the cold water.









Here are some other pictures from today's walk.