Baby "Dinner" Club

We've wrapped up a somewhat quiet weekend with a loud and boisterous meeting of what used to be called our our 'Baby Dinner Club', and now, may more accurately be called Afternoon Heavy Appetizer Club With Toddlers. (Hey, someone has to get pregnant again sooner or later, right?) Here are what we used to call 'the babies' who could not have been cuter this evening, lined up on the bench in our back yard screaming "CHEESE!" at the top of their lungs.

Emmett, Lucy, Alec, Juddy and Ged

Andy and Andrew

Susan and Brooke

The girls

The boys

Lovebirds?

September flowers from our garden, I can't tell if they look lovely or hideous in this photo

Brooke reading to the buddies, 'late night' (8pm or so)

Thank you, friends, for a lovely evening!

Congratulations, Jana and Aeon!

Jana and Aeon are in the unique position of not only having hired professional photographers for their Ceremony, but inviting at least 10 professional, practicing photographers as guests. They art directed every aspect of the ceremony and reception and the results were spectacular - AND show up well in photos. I didn't want to steal too many photos off of Facebook (from people who I don't know well), but figured that our dear friend Ashley would not mind if we shared pics from her camera.

If you have a moment, please visit Jess Koehler's blog - she's an amazing photographer (and guest at the wedding) who already has pictures up that truly capture the spirit of the event. http://www.curiositysavedthehuman.com/blog/

T & A, before hopping into a convertible and driving to the ceremony:

The beautiful ceremony, under the big tree at the Zion Lodge:

After the ceremony, with our dear college friends Carly (center, Maid of Honor) and Ashley:

The beautiful bride! Photo by Andrew:

Andrew and the exquisite SHANE! We were so happy to reconnect with our friend on this trip.

Teresa, Ashley and Carly

Ashley saw how beautiful the light was in this field and told us to GO!

Lovely Jana

Zion National Park, Utah

To celebrate the marriage of our friends - Jana and Aeon - we very recently took a trip to Zion National Park in Utah, and wanted to share some photos from our lovely experience there (the day before the wedding.) First of all: can you believe these things are real?!

Another of God's great masterpieces:

With some lovely new friends (well, we became friends quickly), we decided to hike Angel's Landing, a hike that took most of the day, which we were maybe not the best prepared for. Jet lag, sleep depravation, altitude sickness, crippling fear of heights... the other hikers were just pleased as punch to have Teresa along.

This is actually how narrow the trail gets. And this was as far as Team Ilnicki went.

We should mention that everyone else at the wedding has done this hike at some point, in addition to many septuagenarians and toddlers, but on this particular day, only one hiker seemed to smell danger and opt out of the last half mile of the trail.

Afterwards we headed back to the beautiful Clear Creek Family Ranch to unwind and enjoy the delicious rehearsal dinner.

A Comparison

May 2009

August 2011

This is the blanket that the awesome Christina Lindholm, one of VCUarts' deans, hand-knitted for Emmett before he was born. We haven't been able to get it away from him so that she could personalize it for him, as she had originally intended. This thing is about to come to life, it's so loved.

Updates!

Hello from Richmond! It's been a crazy busy month - the type that makes us wonder why we bother attempting vacations at all. Just sending a quick hello from the South!

-So we recently wrote about little Anthony Patrick, Emily and Vinnie's baby (our early bird nephew) and are happy to report that he is home from the hospital and, from all the photo texts we receive (thank you Gramma Kim!), it looks as though things are going swimmingly.

-Earthquake! Yes, we felt that earthquake and it was TOTAL crazytown. Apparently the type of rock that Richmond resides on can make a quake feel MORE intense than its reading on the richter scale, but does not move in such a way that buildings experience much damage. The aftershocks are terrifying because we heard the initial earthquake before we felt it - so every time we hear the earthquake sound we freeze, expecting it to escalate again. (It hasn't, and it's not expected to.) Fortunately, we know of no damage or personal injuries as a result, and therefore can get on board with some internet giggles: http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earthquake-devastation

Andrew and I were at work when it happened and Emmett was a few blocks away at his preschool. The preschool director was so awesome - emailed all parents within 5 minutes to let us know that they were 'practicing' emergency drills, everyone was fine, and the kids were listening beautifully.

-Great Dismal Swamp Fire! Yes, we smelled the smoke and saw haze from the fire, but it wasn't close enough to do anything but affect our air quality for a day or two before the...

-Hurricane! (Which put out the Swamp fire.) At the last minute, we escaped to Wintergreen Resort in Charlottesville, VA, with our friends the Gilberts, and barely experienced any Irene effects that weekend. However, we were without power for 5 nights. It wasn't too bad but it definitely wasn't fun. We couldn't get our small generator to start, much of our food went bad while we were away, and our stove is electric, etc. Emmett was very upset that the light in his bedroom would not turn on for story time, and every day since, he checks to see if we still have power (and is very happy to find that there is.) Coming home, it was heartbreaking to see so many ancient trees on their sides - many sad scenes in our neighborhood. We are blessed to have avoided property damage this time - but it's still sad to see it all around.

-Emmett! He's doing very well, and recently moved 'up' to the next class in his preschool. He seems to enjoy going to his new classroom, but misses his old teachers. He's a pretty sensitive kid and very fond of his routine; changes make him cling to his parents quite a bit. Here are some recent photos: