Will & I spent a long weekend in Washington, DC for a family reunion with my mom's side of the family. We had a BLAST! I think about 35 people showed up from all over the country - MO, WA, NY/CT, TX, IN, MI, KY, CO, FL and VA. The Koz's hosted (my mom's cousin Dandy & her husband, Bob) & Will & I were blessed to stay with them so that I could put Will down for naps or bedtime & then could still join the family for fun. Although, I admit, I could not stay awake all night with the rest of my cousins & second cousins - at almost 30 & as the oldest & only mom, I was out by about 1am every night. I know- no one's accused me of being cool. What can I say?
So, the pictures are out of order because I'm too tired & have too much laundry to spend any more time on them tonight! Sorry! I'll post pics tomorrow or the next day of our sightseeing - these are family time pics!
Enjoy! Thanks, Korzeniewsky's & Dulin's & Love's for a GREAT time! I loved introducing Will to many of you & we had a blast spending the weekend with you!
The family picture +some concrete thanks to the remote on my camera. I'll post a better one soon that my little brother took.
After church at McLean Bible Church on Sunday, we drove about 7 minutes from Bob & Dandy's house to Great Falls National Park. We hikes for like 2 minutes & came to these gorgeous rapids on the Potomac River. In the 1700's George Washington built canals along the river to make it navigable for trading purposes. It was beautiful!
On the left, I'm standing with my first girl cousins & that's Will, of course, on the right
I know you were just hoping to see this. I woke up yesterday morning to board the plane & looked in my little orange container to get my prosthetic tooth (remember that whole swimming lesson incident with Will back in April - I'm still wearing a prosthesis until Aug or Sept!) Anyway, this is what I saw - somehow the tooth had detached! YIKES! I can not fly across the country all day missing my front tooth! (I'll spare you a picture of my toothless!)
Thankfully, I borrowed some superglue & attempted to put it back together. I didn't do a very good job- it's rather crooked & sticks too far out from my gums. I'm hoping my oral surgeon will feel sorry for me tomorrow & allow me to get a permanent tooth put in sooner rather than later. Needless to say, when I went downstairs for breakfast & to ask for superglue, my family was not very impressed with their redneck cousin.
I learned how to play Bocce ball & also learned that I am terrible! Apparently, any hopes of a future career or cute clothes to go with it have been dashed by my complete & total lack of skill. The Koz's built a bocce ball court near their pool & we had a fun tournament. My partner was kind enough to put up with me - Sorry, Alexandria! Casey & Dandy, however, won & got cool trophies!
I learned how to play Bocce ball & also learned that I am terrible! Apparently, any hopes of a future career or cute clothes to go with it have been dashed by my complete & total lack of skill. The Koz's built a bocce ball court near their pool & we had a fun tournament. My partner was kind enough to put up with me - Sorry, Alexandria! Casey & Dandy, however, won & got cool trophies!
Will got & gave LOTS of kisses!
On Saturday night, we had a great storm & lost power just before dinner. However, the Dulins are not afraid of a little rain shower. A few brave souls continued to fix the incredible dinner using the outside kitchen & an umbrella. We ate by candelight & lanterns & then had the family talent show- sitting in the dark with lots of singing /guitars/piano/ & some wine. Amazingly, Will went to bed without a bath or brushing his teeth & even slept through the music! I called R during the power outage & told him I felt like what Laura Ingalls Wilder must have felt like when they were on the pioneer trail & sat around in the dark singing & talking. Except, he burst my imaginative bubble by reminding me that Laura probably didn't have a lovely resort like home to sleep in during the rain, or a nice glass of wine, or even the promise of a comfortable bed & the hope of air conditioning. Whatever. I'm sure my experience was somewhat like hers. ;)
After several hours, the power came back on & I admit, I was grateful for the chance to use the restroom & brush my teeth & sleep with air conditioning!
In the dark before dinner, Will enjoyed some cuddle time with Alice (married to my second cousin - she's from Brazil & has the most beautiful accent & Nona (Lucy- holding Will) who has been a nanny forever for John & Alice's kids & continues to work for them even though the girls are all grown now. Will absolutely adored Nona- sang songs about her, cried for her, cuddled with her - LOVED her! I also adored Nona- she is a huge help with Will & a fabulous cook!
Swimming with Uncle Bob- the pool is salt water which felt GREAT to swim in!
Swimming with Dandy - I love this picture of her kissing him!
Playing with me, Julia, & Uncle Bob on the trampoline - love that static electricity in his hair!
Chilling with Great Grammy
Playing in the pool
Tessie has been with Uncle Joe's family & now Dandy's family since before I was born. She lives with Bob & Dandy & is like a member of our family - she & Lucy both come to weddings, funerals, & reunions!
Tessie is from the Philippines & Nona Lucy is from Boliva & Alice is from Portugal. The three of them spent most of Saturday cooking. It was a very international kitchen! The food was FANTASTIC- quite the feast! It reminded me of Thanksgiving except that it was full of gourmet foods instead of turkey & potatoes. So YUMMY! Thank you, Tessie & Lucy for cooking all weekend long & cleaning!
My Aunt Carolea, cousin Rachel, & Will & me
I went downstairs to take pictures of my younger cousins & brother playing pool one night & playing Wii in the theater room. I did not have the energy, however, to actually stay down there & join them - my late night days are over, I'm afraid! Just behind Casey there is a dance floor which amazingly, we did not use despite my family's propensity for, ahem, dancing & music recitals!
Dandy & Bob have a great home where I stayed along with most of my cousins & second cousins. It was a perfect place for hosting a family reunion - they have the pool, a putting green, a tennis court, & even a Bocce Ball court!
This is a view of one of their neighbor's barns & silos. Just behind the Koz's there is a family with lots of animals! One afternoon, Bob took Will & I there to meet the precious new puppies! Will got to feed the horses too! My 1 year old son is braver than I am as I was too nervous to hold the baby carrots for the horses but he was willing- I was afraid he might lose a little finger (& we can't spare any!) so I made him help Mr. Kelly feed the horses. Will loved it!
The Koz's have a great garden & we had the most delicious tomato pie made from veggies out of the garden. I can't wait to try the recipe myself this week with our homegrown tomatoes.
Will learned how to crack a crab leg
He mostly enjoyed playing with the crab leg.
I'm afraid he's growing up too fast when he is able to watch the Wiggles on an ITouch all by himself while sitting in DC traffic
My mom & her cousin, our hostess, Dandy
Some of the fam hanging out in the outdoor kitchen while waiting for more family to arrive on the first night
Will loved jumping in the pool & swimming, of course! Above, he is jumping into "Uncle Bob" (actually he's married to my second cousin, Dandy) & swimming
Will was thankful there was a golden retriever to play with. Unlike our dog, Ruby, however, Max was really great at fetch & would steal Will's toy balls & refuse to release them.
Will learned several new ways of kissing (I come from a very affectionate family!)
Above, he is "nemo kissing" his Great Aunt Carolea (we call her GAC) & below he is learning from Uncle Bob & Aunt Dandy how to "whoo kiss" which is actually great fun!
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