Mr. and Mrs. John Lubatti

It was such a joy to witness my dear cousin, Rebecca Slicker's, marriage to her new husband, John Lubatti. The ceremony was beautiful; Rebecca & John added a number of small touches, including the lighting of a unity candle, the blessing of an Irish wedding bell, an incredible solo by Aunt Linda's significant other, Andrew, and a number of special readings. Perhaps most unique, Rebecca & John personally served Communion to each of their guests. The reception, held on the top floor of Bayfront Towers, in downtown St. Petersburg, offered incredible views of the entire area. Rebecca & Vanessa, two special sisters and amazing cousins, got married within months of each other and used the same venues for each of their ceremonies & receptions. Witnessing the many ways in which each personalized her own special day was a real pleasure! Congratulations to each of my beautiful cousins!

As an extra pleasure, I got to visit with my brother Rodney and his girlfriend, Sophia. Since they live in Tallahassee (a six hour drive to the north), we rarely have the chance to see each other. Having the opportunity to chat made the evening a particular joy for me :-)

A Few More Photos of Our Orlando Fun :-)

Fun at Sea World!

Family Vacation with the Voorhees

YAYAYAYAY for Auntie Coral, Uncle Tom & Holden, who very generously included us in their Orlando vacation plans :-D. We had soooooo much fun in our adjoining hotel rooms (the boys were constantly running back and forth, screaming with glee whenever they saw each other!). The simple joy of spending consecutive days together as a family (it had been awhile since Kevin, Quintin & I had spent more than a few waking hours alone together, lol!) made the weekend an incredible one, and the fellowship of such dear friends made it extra special!

We arrived from work late Friday evening and made a last-minute trip to the local Walmart, had a great pizza dinner, and went swimming in the hotel's awesome (if a bit chilly!) pool (located just ten feet outside of our hotel room door!).

We spent a wonderful Saturday morning simply enjoying the precious ability to wake up together (We are usually rushing in opposite directions as soon as our eyes pop open!). Daddy and Quintin had some cuddling time (again, a very rare treat!), and Daddy gave Quintin a shaving lesson, lol! Auntie Coral, Uncle Tom, Holden, Kevin, Quintin and I, along with gear for us all, were able to fit with ease into the cavernous Voorhees Suburban, an incredible feat lol! Auntie Coral made an incredible breakfast and packed lunch for us all to enjoy at SeaWorld's waterpark, Aquatica, our first Orlando destination. While, unfortunately, the park staff made us leave the bulk of our meal in the Suburban (they have a new NO Cooler policy), we were able to take in a lot of the smaller snacks we'd packed for the boys. Because the weather was overcast with predicted rain, the park was amazingly uncongested! We enjoyed an AWESOME children's play area, with slides, bridges, and (of course!) a million water features. I left early to travel to St. Petersburg for my dear cousin, Rebecca's, wedding (see separate post); everyone else stayed to enjoy Loggerhead Lane, a slowly moving current winding its way through the park. They left the park in early afternoon so that both boys could take much needed naps -- Holden slept 3 hours and Quintin slept nearly four (a record by about two hours!). Once everyone got up, they headed to Downtown Disney. After the wedding, we all met at T-Rex, an intricately decorated restaurant with huge, animated dinosaurs that roar and twist -- truly an amazing dining experience!

Everyone slept in Saturday morning, before packing up all of our gear for a day of fun at Seaworld. We began by sharing ice cream in special Shamu bowls, as the afternoon was hot and muggy. We next headed over to feed the manta rays while Daddy ventured onto one of the amazing new roller coasters there. Feeding the rays was an incredible experience. Their mouth works like a vacuum -- they sucked the food right off of our hands! Quintin was a little intimidated by his first experience, but watched in amazement while Holden, Coral & Tom fed them. The rays were obviously used to the feeding process, since they actually popped up out of the water and begged, looking eerily like dogs! The first show we watched, replete with flying trapeze artists, fabulous costumes, water ballet, and a dozen dolphins, was so beautiful that it made we cry :-) We next visited an aquarium room attached to another of the parks rides. Fish swam completely around us, with glass aquariums over our heads, under our feet, and on each of the walls! As an additional perk, the room was air conditioned, giving the boys (and the rest of us!) a chance to cool off some & regain composure lol. We headed from there to share chicken fingers & fries, before walking to an enormous glass elevator, which took us up over the park and spun slowly, allowing a complete birdseye view of the entire area. From the elevator, we had just enough time to head to Shamu's pavilion for his last show of the evening! The boys were pretty exhausted from all of the heat & excitement, and Holden fell fast asleep just as the orca whales made their debut, lol. After finally making our way out of the park (we got stuck in a bottleneck towards the entrance), we went straight back to the hotel to cool off in the incredible pool! We enjoyed a quiet evening of Coral's awesome egg salad sandwiches and a movie (yay for hotel cable!), before getting the boys down for an early night.

Monday morning, Kevin woke up early to leave for work and I began the packing up & cleaning process. After loading the car, Quintin and I explored some and played on the hotel playground. When Holden woke, we packed up the Voorhees family and drove to Auntie Coral's favorite lunch-time destination -- Chick Filet! There, Uncle Tom played with Holden & Quintin on the indoor playground area while Auntie Coral & Mommy got to have a few minutes of girl time and relaxation :-) From Chick Filet, we headed to an indoor (air conditioned!) flea market, where we got our photograph taken with a half dozen parrots. On the ride home, Mommy called Grandpop in New Jersey to catch up some. Then, Mommy & Quintin stopped by the American Eagle Antique Mall where we keep books for Granddaddy's bookstore, and dropped off & shelved a couple of boxes. The evening was spent in a flurry of unpacking & laundry, before "hitting the sack" extra-early!

Thank you, Voorhees family, for a wonderful weekend! Thank you, Nana, for staying at our home and caring for all of the animals during our trip! Thank you, God, for the awesome gifts of family & friends!

Happy Birthday, Aunt "Tsa-Tsa!"

September is a month of special birthdays, wonderful opportunities to celebrate the joy that these precious loved ones bring to our lives -- You each are incredibly dear to us!

This year, my best friend (and Quintin's Godmother) turned thirty -- We shared a joyful day celebrating another year of her life with one another, and ended the evening with a special surprise birthday party organized by our mothers!

We love Bailey!

Bailey Johnson is Quintin's personal hero ;-D He is older, taller, stronger, and knows infinitely more about cool boy things like Cars and action figures and video games! Quintin follows Bailey as closely as a shadow & Bailey is incredibly patient with him while Quintin's doing so. When Quintin found out that Bailey was celebrating his tenth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's, Quintin talked about it for weeks ahead of time, even though he knew nothing about Chuck E. Cheese! When we walked through the doors of that place, saw the huge quantity of games, heard the kazillion beeps & bloops & bongs coming from every direction, and caught sight of Bailey Johnson in all of his Birthday Boy glory -- Quintin knew he'd found a little slice of heaven ;-). We spent several hours rushing madly from one game to the next, sang a hearty "Happy Birthday," went through the tubes hanging from the ceiling of that place, watched Chuck E. make his rounds (from a safe distance, since anything closer made Quintin cry, lol) and finally, as exhaustion set in, played with Cars under the toddler area climber. Afterwards, we swam & watched a movie together -- Quintin was a zombie by the end of the night! We had a great afternoon with you, Johnson family!

Adopting a Blanket

Quintin has been watching Elmo's Visit to Grouchland lately. In it, Elmo loses his special blanket and goes on a quest (through Oscar's garbage can) to find it again.

I know that security objects can have a very healthy place in a child's life, helping with transitions and providing a sense of comfort & ritual, and have tucked various soft blankets & toys around Quintin since he was born, thinking that one might become THE special object for him. A few have hung around for a while -- he carried around an ET doll, from church friend Bradley, by its long, alien neck for a few weeks beginning at about 1 1/2 years; Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Ernie get a lot of loving (we got them from Save A Lot just before Christmas last year); he takes a few Cars to bed with him almost every night (Bailey gave him his collection of Cars just after his first birthday -- many of them have been rubbed beyond recognition).

Quintin's good friend, Holden, has several "Night-Nights," blankets with a small stuffed animal attached, that he requires to sleep. This, combined with Elmo's dramatic attachment to his Blanket, evidently got Quintin thinking and, a couple of weeks ago, he asked for a blanket. We fortunately had many to choose from -- gifts from his baby shower, a couple handmade; my own baby blanket; my brother's baby blanket. Quintin chose to carry around each one I got out, and ended up with a precious reindeer hoodie blanket from Nana, Mommy's baby blanket, and Uncle Mike's baby blanket (the first three I pulled out of his dresser). He looked so adorable clutching the blankets -- all of that baggage made it pretty difficult for him to walk! The blanket clutching lasted only a day, since he quickly learned that playing was trickier with a blanket, but we still have them in the car and every now and then, he'll ask to cuddle with one during our drive :-D

Happy 2nd Birthday, Holden!

Holden Turns Two!

Holden Voorhees (our special "nephew"), Quintin's best friend and son of close family friends Coral and Tom Voorhees, celebrated his second birthday at the Zephyrhills Lion Club with a Thomas the Train theme! "Auntie" Coral & "Uncle" Tom transformed the room with the help of a ton of balloons, an extra-special Lion's Den Bounce House, two ride-on Thomas the Trains, and an incredible Thomas the Train birthday cake! The kids all scarfed down Chick Fillet nuggets & fruit, the adults enjoyed egg salad and tuna fish sandwiches, and everything was served on Thomas themed plates and table clothes. There were, of course, fashionable Thomas hats; noise makers too ;-)

Everyone had an amazing time -- the kids were in constant motion! Even Auntie Coral got into the bounce house to play and went down the slide a couple of times :-D There was lots of delighted screaming when Kevin pretended to be a shark and chased all of the kids around inside of it -- Mommy, too, got in for a bit of fun (and to play referee!).

There were a ton of people, many of them from First United Methodist Church of Zephryhills, and it was wonderful to watch so many of our friends enjoy themselves. Thank you, Voorhees family, for an incredible day of family fun!