shake your family tree and watch the nuts fall!

Such a sweet boyfriend
taking care of the luggage!

The first of my recent travels away from DC was down to Vero Beach, Florida!! This is a town I've been frequenting since the ripe-old-age of four. (On my first plane ride down I asked my grandfather if the white stuff outside the window was snow!) My family lovingly nicknamed it "Zero" Beach because of the entertainment and action (or obvious lack-there-of) this beachfront town has to offer. In high school I even convinced my friend Elizabeth that the sidewalks were rolled up at 6PM. When she looked out the front door she was unaware that my grandparent's street never has sidewalks... though she caught on the next morning ;-)

Our three day trip was highlighted with a handful of fun-filled family activities; a celebration dinner for my grandparents 60th anniversary, and the real reason everybody made the visit; my Aunt's wedding!!

Unfortunately we were not greeted with warmth and sunshine, as I had expected, but rather gray skies and hurricane-like conditions. But, alas, the show must go on!!

Me and Ross ready to
party with the family!

We snuck in this picture before the rain started... though the sky was plenty gray at that point!

The cake at dinner featured Nannie and Pop-Pop's wedding portrait!! I actually have pictures of me and my cousin trying on my grandmother's wedding dress. It is a beautiful yellow silk, but boy is it heavy!! And, wow she was skinny. I've got about a six inch gap across my rib cage where I cannot close the darn gown.

For the plane ride down to Florida I downloaded the user manual for my camera. I have a Nikon D80 but was not well versed in all of its features (I hadn't read the manual in four years) so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to brush up on my photog skills ;-) The pictures turned out great, and I've included a handful below!

All the grandkids!! This is a fun crowd :)

Pop-Pop and Nannie with my mom, aunt, and uncles!

My aunt put together a great slideshow...
video from my mom as a baby. So cute, mama!

And now, on to the weekend's feature event!! My aunt got married to a great guy who works in DC... this means I get the pleasure of seeing my family more often :) With all the rain, thankfully they had a tent set up outside for their ceremony. However, the guests had lifted and shifted their chairs toward the center that when the ceremony finished there was no more aisle for the bride and groom to walk out!! It worked out well though, because the fastest and most efficient route to the inside was up by the "altar" area.

Here comes the bride -- and groom!

My cousin did a great job helping out Reverend Frisby

First kiss!

Delicious AND beautiful cupcakes served on a tiered tree.

Escort cards with names on front and table assignment inside.

Following the ceremony and a lunch the family had originally planned a boat ride and pool party... this quickly turned into bowling and a clubhouse barbecue. Fine by me! (Although my little rental car wasn't going to make it through the flooded streets and I had to skip on the bowling part.) We all finished the night off with family and friends, some delicious barbecue (I'm craving mac-and-cheese right now), and a fantastic game of charades!! (Thank you "Lava Lamp" for instigating that one!)