Olivia's Camping Adventure

One thing that Olivia was excited about on this trip was that she was going to go camping with Granny and Grandfather!

Here she is the day of the big overnighter.

Alessandra and Mommy went up with the camping folks to have some lunch and check out the site. Alessandra enjoyed the woods (and had some love for Granny!)

Here is Olivia with Granny and Grandfather near the trailer.

The next shots are all taken by Olivia (minus 1 that was by Granny). She decided that it was important to keep the camera with her so she could document the trip.

By Olivia:

We made a camp fire, it was FUN. It was very glowy.

This is a smiley face, but he has no nose or mouth, just eyes.

These are chips for the animals. Squirrels, birds and chickmunks (:) )

This is when we started dinner. LOTS of ketchup. We cooked marshmellows. I got 4.

Granny took this one. I am not sure what to say.

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This is Olivia's feet. I took the picture.

This is Grandfather looking funny

This is for daddy.

Grandfather was sitting by the fire to keep his feet warm.

Mickey's thinking of something... what is it?

This is the trailer and the door was open.

What is that thing?

I liked my camping trip. It was my first time, I think you guys should go too sometime. I think it was fun with Granny and Grandfather.
Love, Olivia

Upstate NY is the best!

For the 4th leg of our trip we zipped up to Kingston, NY for a visit with the Grandparent's Aiello (and lots of other nice loved ones too). We had a great time. (and please note, apparently sometime around here some fingerprints found themselves on my camera lens...)

With Grandfather and Granny we went down by the Hudson River and fed the birds (next to the great Rip Van Winkle - the boat that Brad worked on when he was younger and Cristy and Vince celebrated their wedding). (Oh yes, this all happened AFTER Ice Cream at Mickey's Igloo... yum).

A BIG fan of feeding the birds.. and the random fish who would pop out from time to time

Grandfather assessing the situation

The girls by the artistic globe thing (name escaping me). There was also a stage set up down there and they enjoyed performing for us.

We also got the opportunity to spend some time with Gram Heather. However, the first shot out the door (to play with her cousin's), Alessandra took a spill on the gravel. Here she is getting some TLC - Gram style.

And here are the Aiello girls (well Clamser's too.. but related in that way). Alessandra, Olivia, Adelina (Addy) and Josephine (Josie).

They created a chalk drawing of their own "city" map where they each had their own house, a library, school, park and even a Chuck-E-Cheese.

This is Gabe. He lives next door to Heather with his sister Sara (and parents too).

Alessandra in her "house"

Josie!

Addy, Olivia, Sara, Alessandra and Josie

Here they are all "sleeping" in their houses.

At some point the swimsuits came out and it became fun to jump on Uncle Vince...

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more to come...

Happy Independence Day

Growing up in Upper Arlington, Ohio made the 4th of July a really special holiday (and one that we loved just as much as Christmas). We lived right next to the Parade route and down the street from the fireworks, so as a kid in middle school and high school, it doesn't get much better.

We headed out to the parade in the morning with the Miller's. We sat on the corner/area by our old house (which - for the record has not been well maintained... keep it nice people!) Lot's of nostalgia as we watched the floats, bands and many classic cars parade by.

The kids on the corner...

We parked by St. Agatha church, Poppi waiting for us as we stopped to get flags from our old neighbor. Here are Poppi and Nana with all of the kids

We finally caught up with Dave, Shannon and Kiefer!

Cute little family off for more festivities

At their house! We headed over to Dave's for lunch. Here is Alessandra playing horseshoes with Dave and Fred.

And, in the tree.

Happy 4th!

First haircut, shots by Olivia and a Bowling Extravaganza

In between each leg of our trip, we had some winding down time in Ohio. This proved a GREAT tactic to keep some normality in the long process that is travelling from overseas.

In our second visit to Ohio, we decided that Alessandra's frizzy do needed a little trimming. Her first haircut (if you can really call the fuzz that I delicately trimmed an actual haircut). Our goal was really just to make her look more like the 3 year old that she actually is. :)

Those eyes get me every time...

After the haircut, Olivia took the liberty of using the camera for awhile.

Poppi and Poppi and Olivia

Poppi and I also took the girls (along with 4 other girls) to the Bowling Alley. We all enjoyed the festivities.. here are a few shots by the girls...

The whole group starting play. Please note the great shirts that Brianna made for everyone. They looked so stylish.

Brie helping Alessandra

Brie

Whitney

Action shot of Poppi

Action shot of Kelly

Sweet - a roller down ramp!

Olivia behind Poppi's camera (I think Carley was behind mine, I have very few photos of her)

Whitney

This is Logan

Alessandra also took some time to read a book while bowling.

Crazy girls with bright balls

Whitney, Brianna, Carley, Olivia, Logan and Alessandra