July 2013

July was one of the busiest months of the year... maybe even past couple years! I've thought of skipping these past months and just catching up, but as this is a type of photo journal for me as well as to share... here is the month of July. Though, because I am many months behind I will be writing less captions and letting more of the pictures speak for themselves.

In St. Louis for Independence Day Celebrations

Bombing the British soldiers

A necessary reading of the Declaration of Independence and letter from John Adams reminding us what the day is all about

The brown vest boys

Jordan chilling with his girl...

and with his little girl

Enjoying some fireworks under the arch

I think the line waiting to get on the metro was three times as long as the fireworks were long!

The City Museum

They said we'd have fun... and boy did we! I think we had more fun than most of the little kids

The advantage of having a brother over 6' tall when no ladder is around

I think families with lots of energetic kids need this to burn off all their extra energy

After the City Museum we changed into our 50's outfits for a movie in the park. For the Month of July one of the St. Louis parks hosts a movie showing every weekend. This week was a movie set from the 50's and it's such fun going dressed up.

 Jack showing a bit of his ESFP side

Waiting for the movie to start turned into a photo shoot... shocking, I know.

"What a day at the course." "Oh yeah? How'd it go?" "Oh it went great! I took two pairs of pants, in case I got a "hole in one"" ~It takes two

The biggest inflatable screen I've ever seen.

The kids weren't as impressed with the film

We were able to attend the wedding of Jeremy and Darcy 

First time riding for Jack...

... and first time riding in wedding attire.

Sunday afternoon at the park with my boys

Back in Massachusetts Mom has a visit with Kathy

We heard this band that played vintage inspired music would be playing at these gardens for free. We decided to go dressed with a 30's feel.

Victor and Penny

Jack helping Rebekah pick a shirt out

It's not often I get a night out with all my brothers. 

We heard Josh Turner was having a concert in town... for FREE!

It was packed, standing room only

Josh Turner... best country singer ever.

A Lovely evening with the Joneses and Wongs

Just like his daddy

Back in New Hampshire Mom was able to go to the Mello Harris  wedding reception celebration

Girl time

Another movie in the park.... can you guess which movie was playing?

hint: medieval times, classic, quoted by many

The three loud laughers

A lady walking by asked if we would pose dramatically with the boys fencing for her.

A full crowd for the viewing of Princess Bride

Just as the film finished Pa called to let us know that Grandma Connie passed away and the funeral would be in a few days.

Mom, Uncle Johnny, and Aunt Rita had all been able to be with Grandma to the end.

Our version of a gps

The following morning we packed our bags and headed east. 

We took turns driving through the night making it in record timing in time to still go to church... but after that we crashed.

The siblings are all together!

AND the cousins! After 5 years it was quite the reunion.

Ever since we were little, Grandma's attic was always a place us grand kids wanted to explore, but rarely would be allowed to go up. All together we had such a fun time picking things out...the only thing missing was Grandma to see the joy of everyone exploring

We met these four Portuguese gnomes along the way

Fun finds

The four siblings in age order

Grandma's wake... definitely Portuguese. 

The funeral home said we were the loudest group they had ever had. She would have loved it.

We love our Tia!

Chilling with the great Aunt Rita

Her sons and grandsons were pallbearers

During the middle of the service Marian started playing with Uncle Johnny's tie cracking herself up.

"As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children, To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them."
 

Getting some cousins pictures... photo-bombed by our moms

Age order is almost like height order backwards

The Flynns and Thomases minus Jordan and his boys

Celebrating Matthew and Lauren's birthday a few days early

Uncle Ron teaching us some fun swing dance steps

Like uncle, like nephew... actually I think that's just our family

And so the work begins...

The mastermind behind sorting out miles of paperwork. Thank you for your hard work Uncle Johnny!

Sorting the shed

Weeding out all the major piles of trash

Seeing what's in the attic and starting the organizing process

If you notice they are posed exactly how they were in the sibling picture of them over 30 years before hanging on the wall behind them

One of the special finds of the week was Grandma's wedding dress. She had told us she didn't have it anymore, but it was found in a plastic bag in an attic closet

Cousins

Taking a step back in time

After the funeral I stayed with Mom to help clean out Grandma's place. Every so often we came across some fun treasures like these dresses that were Grandma's from the 60's (Lauren's too)... just in time to go to Amanda's 60's party bash

They set up a fun photo station

A collage with the Flynns

Some of our friends and other guests... such a fun time!

Lauren's boyfriend Blake drove in to pick Lauren up, coming in time to celebrate her birthday.

Love our family!

Lauren and Blake were an amazing basement cleaning crew. Couldn't have met our deadline without them!

Tia came and gave us a tour of the house next door which was Mom's Grandmothers house (on her dad's side). Nothing has been touched on the second floor since 1973. That was one of her grandmothers dresses she's holding.

Ever heard of those stories of people finding long lost cousins that they didn't meet till they were older? Well, that was me with Mom's cousin David... seriously like from a story. I couldn't believe we hadn't met him before! He's SO much fun!

We so enjoyed our visit with the Murry's!