First Day of 1st Grade

Madeline was such a trooper on the first day of school this year.  We got home late the night before from our trip to Omaha.  We were supposed to get home on Saturday and have all day Sunday to rest and get ready for school, but it didn't work out that way.  She did great though and had a good day.

Daddy home early to greet Maddie getting off the bus 

Wedding in Omaha

We traveled to Omaha for Chris's cousin Stephanie's wedding.  The night before we left, we got the news that Chris's uncle David (his mom's brother) was in a motorcycle accident in Omaha.  When we arrived the next day, we met the whole family at the hospital and he passed away late that night.  It was hard on everyone there, but to see all of Mary's family which includes 9 siblings (counting Dave) and nearly 30 cousins all lean on each other for strength and get through his passing, a wedding, a wake, and a funeral within 4 days was pretty amazing.  I decided their family motto should be "Keep Calm and Carry On".  The wedding was beautiful and it was nice to see everyone.  We stayed with Chris's Uncle Terry and his family again and our girls loved playing with their girls.  We had a little bit of a debacle with our flight home.  We were supposed to leave on Saturday, but our flight didn't exist anymore (long story) so we stayed an extra day.  It ended up working out because we were able to hang out with everyone one more night and go to the vigil for Uncle David the day we left.  Needless to say, we were all pretty wiped after we got home.  Good thing our girls are troopers!

The Cronin Clan 

Nags Head 2012

In early August, we headed to the Outer Banks for a Hess family beach vacation. Once we all finally arrived (traffic gets worse each year!) we settled into relaxation.  Or, as much relaxation as possible with 3 little ones.  Gone are the days when we would stay on the beach for 8 hours straight laying out and playing bocce ball!  It's  a new kind of fun though, watching little sandy butts run around.  The highlight of the week was that the Woj's were there at the same time visiting Mark's mom.  It was so wonderful to have Aunt Joanne, Uncle Mark and Katie with us for dinner most nights of the week and for some beach and pool time.  All in all a great week!

We had grand plans for a professional photo shoot early in the week.  We got all dressed and ready to go and BOOM! the skies opened up and a huge thunderstorm came and lasted long enough for us to have to cancel.  So we tried to capture some photos in the house.  

 Lovin' Aunt Joanne

 Really?  This is the best we could do for a family picture of the 4 of us!

Snuggle time with cousin Katie

We did have our fair share of rain unfortunately, so we visited the aquarium of course.

Had to include this picture because I love the curls!  

 Finally, some fun in the sun!

The closest thing we got to a group shot. 

  

Our last night there we made one more attempt to get some pictures.  The skies were so dark and we made it back inside just in time before another storm.  It was quite windy while we were taking pictures.  Got some decent ones despite Mother Nature's lack of cooperation.  

 Author photo for next book, Dad?  

 Beautiful rainbow after the storm!