Two Funerals, A Parade and a Wedding

I know, I know...I haven't posted in a very long time, but I have some very good excuses! March has been a really strange month. I started my new job on Monday, March 3. Charles got a phone call early on March 4 from his parents--Charles' grandmother in Nashville, Juanita, had passed away. We both let our employers know we needed a few days off and drove to Nashville early on March 5. We stayed the rest of the week, attending the family visitation and the funeral and also helped Jack and Nancy with sorting through items left in Juanita's house. It was a sad, but good few days--it was nice to see family members we hadn't seen in quite a while.

On Saturday, March 8, while the snow was accumulating quickly in Nashville, my father called me to let me know that my grandmother, Alma, had passed away. Charles and I, once again, had to notify our employers of the situation and, thankfully, everyone was very understanding. We drove back to Atlanta early that Saturday afternoon (during the drive, I was making phone calls to the funeral home to get some tentative plans made for the service) and Riley and I left for Morristown early on Sunday, March 9. On Sunday and Monday, I helped my father and Cathy make final arrangements for the service and it was a surreal experience. I've never had to do anything like that before and the whole process was exhausting. Charles flew in that Tuesday morning via a "buddy pass" from our pilot neighbor, Jason.

We came back to Atlanta on March 12 and left for Tybee Island on March 13--at this point, I've only spent two nights in my own bed in two weeks! We had already made plans months ago to visit our friends Mark, Ellen, Emma & Zoe for St. Patrick's Day and we really wanted to keep those plans. We decided after the past few days we'd had, we needed to have a little fun.

We went to the parade on Friday and had a blast:

You gotta love men in kilts!

Look, kids, it's the Piggly Wiggly!

The awesome Tybee Island float.

This pooch was walking the parade in style!

Uncle Bubba? Is that you?

We also had a chance one afternoon to go to the beach so the girls could play and fly kites. Riley loves the beach so much, she keeps asking us when we're going to move there:

Riley digging in the sand on Tybee Beach.

Zoe shows off her kite-flying skills.

The whole crew on Tybee Beach.

Mark & Ellen took us to the "Turtle Pond" on the island so we could feed the close to 100 turtles that live there. It was fun, but you had to watch out for those seagulls!

The walkway to the Turtle Pond.

We all enjoyed feeding the turtles--they saw us coming and swam straight for us!

Do I really need to write a caption for this one?

The seagulls really wanted the bread, too. They would actually catch the bread in the air!


Riley was happy to be back at school last week after missing the previous two weeks. Her teacher and friends sent her cards they made while she was out telling her how much she was missed--they were just too cute. Last Thursday, Riley's school had an Easter egg hunt and cookout for parents and students and Riley was excited to find eggs and meet the Easter Bunny.

Riley shows off her cool Spiderman Easter basket.

She found some eggs!

Riley shows off her loot.

This is as close as she got to the Easter Bunny. Would you want to sit in this guy's lap?

Last Friday we flew to St. Louis for my cousin Brian's wedding. This was Riley's first plane trip and she loved it. As the plane sped up on the runway for takeoff, she put her hands in the air and said, "Wheeeeeee!"

Riley & Charles waiting to board.

She was sooooo excited...

After we landed, we stopped for lunch and this cool little bar near Washington University and Riley got to climb around on huge turtles in a playground/park area across the street.

Riley & Gami at play.

Riley inspects a turtle.

My mom (Gami) gets eaten by a mutant turtle.

After lunch, we headed over to the chapel on the Wash U campus for the wedding rehearsal. The chapel was gorgeous and everyone had fun practicing for the real thing.

Waiting for the bride...

Riley practices her part. (Sorry for the "evil eyes," but I couldn't fix them!)

Sara & her dad walk down the isle.

Brian & Sara practicing for the big day.

The morning of the wedding, Charles, Riley and I drove down to the Arch to look through the museum and take a ride up to the top. This was our first trip ever to St. Louis and we just had to visit the city's most famous site.

Riley in front of the Arch.

Riding inside what Riley called "the little bubble" up to the top.

The view from the top.

Play ball!

After the Arch, it was back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. Riley hates dresses, but seemed pretty excited to wear her flower girl dress and perform her "job" for the day.

See, she actually has a smile on her face!

After the wedding, the reception was held at Lemp's Grand Hall. It looked like a fun party, but Riley had a busy day and "suggested" that we return to the hotel for some rest. Charles, Mom and I had one or two drinks and said our goodbyes for the evening.

This was one cool building--the inside was amazing and, according to employees, the place is haunted...

The old Lemp Brewery across the street.

We got back on Sunday afternoon and we are looking forward to spending the week at home! My rest will not last long though--I'm flying out to Las Vegas on Sunday for a trade show and conference. Charles is jealous because neither of us has ever been to Sin City. I'll have to fill you in on my trip in the next blog.