Mommy's Reunion

Well, nigh on ten years ago, I was in graduate school with about 30 lovely ladies and one nice young man. That's how speech therapists roll. My class was wonderful. Funny, compassionate, inspiring people, for sure. And we've managed to stay in touch, mostly! Since it had been TEN YEARS since we graduated, we decided to throw together an reunion this summer! A HUGE thank you to the ladies that organized us! We had such fun!

First up we had a potluck-ish, family picnic at a great park in the State College area! It had a playground, wading stream, and sand pit! All great fun, I assure you! C&G have been wanting to go wading FOREVER, but we can never seem to get ourselves together to get it done....until last weekend! I should add, it was not WARM that day. And the water was FREEZING. Oh well, can't deter a determined three year old.


(Mostly dry, here)


(Less dry, more wet)



(Threw a shoe)


(And totally wet now. And shivering. But not giving up the fun.)






A huge THANKS to the Foor kiddos, Alina, Maddie, and Nicholas for wading in and out and up and down with Colin and Gillian. Big kids are FUN. Especially the Foor kids!

Colin and Addison having to fun in the mud.


I wish you could hear the shrieking and giggling this involved. It was pretty contagious.

Ok, finally we them out of the water, dried off, and changed. And off for more fun.


We managed to get some group shots too.

Fourteen out of 30 isn't too shabby, right? I had so much fun talking and catching up with everyone. They are still the same wonderful ladies, just with 10 more years of life under their belts!

And one of the kiddos. So many beautiful, happy kids. Makes me smile to see them all together! And there are three sets of twins in this shot. And two sets aren't there! So, YES, FIVE sets of twins out of 30-32 people. We are just too cool. No one has a set of boy-boy twins yet, so there's hope for more!


Finally we got our tired, grimy kids out of the park and stopped for a quick tour of my department's SHINY NEW clinic on campus (thanks, Dr. Finke!) and then off to our hotel.



Those kids were TIRED. We managed to get some dinner into them and Daddy with minimal screaming. Not NO screaming, just minimal screaming. Then bath and bed. And then Mama headed OUT for a fun dinner with my classmates! Thankfully Daddy was gracious enough to stay in the dark, quiet hotel room with passed out kiddos!

It was a fabulous day, if I say so myself. I so enjoyed it. I hope it's not 10 years before we do it again!!!

Up next, more fun in State College!

Zoo Reunion!

On Saturday we took the kiddos to the zoo! I had made plans to meet up with two friends from graduate school and their children. I hadn't seen Erinn since graduation in 2002, and I hadn't seen Amy in about 3 1/2 years! So, it was time to catch up!! I was really looking forward to meeting Amy's son, Nicholas, and Erinn's two cuties, Ellie and Jack! We were lucky enough to have known Amy's twins, Maddie and Alina, since they were about two weeks old!! And, of course, we were happy to introduce Colin and Gillian, as well! (So, that's 5 adults and 7 kids under 7 at the zoo!)

It was a beautiful, beautiful fall day in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Actually, it was reminiscent of the actual 9/11. It was fitting to be with Amy and Erinn on 9/11 since, in 2001, we were all together at Penn State starting our second year of graduate school. I remember huddling in Moore Building with these ladies all day, listening to the radio (we didn't have a tv) and scrambling for information, like most of the country. What a scary day, but at least we had each other.

So, our zoo day! I will just say, that Colin had the time of his life!! He just seemed to love it all. He really looked at all the animals, what they were doing, and telling us all about it!
He was impressed with the elephants apparently:


And the koi:

(And isn't he just the cutest in he Penn State jersey??)

Gillian's favorites were the African Painted Dogs. They were right up close to the glass wall, sleeping, and she thought they were pretty cool:


Both kiddos were super excited to see the BIG FISH in the aquarium tanks! Also, they really enjoyed the penguins swimming around like nutballs (like penguins are want to do). Colin was just giggling and giggling at those silly birds.

Colin loving the fishies!


G getting up close and personal with the tank:


One together!


Gillian's other favorite part of the zoo was this kayak near the sea otters:

If you remember from the beach, she is really into boats!

Colin took a different approach:


Oh, yeah, another highlight from Colin's day...WORLD'S BIGGEST FAN!


So, Gillian was none too pleased to have to leave her kayak, so we took that as a clue that it was time to head home (it was already 1:45 and WAY past naptime). Before we left, we wanted a picture of the ladies and kiddos together.

So, chaos:


Then we settled into semi-chaos:


Look at those lovely ladies, and those adorable kiddos!

It was so nice to see old friends, and meet those awesome kids. We are going to try to plan a whole class reunion in State College for next summer. I can't wait!