Plukas-Bolanos Wedding

Last Saturday Andrew and I attended Hans Plukas and Cassie Bolanos's wedding in Princeton.  Hans was Andrew's doubles partner back in their Princeton tennis days.  And we've known Cassie since our Princeton days as well, as she and I were sometimes the only tennis team fans (okay and there was also the Cratons). So fun to catch up with the tennis team and their significant others!  And the wedding date was all made possible by Nana and Granddad coming down to visit- thanks for watching Samantha!

The Princeton tennis team was represented well at the wedding.  Leslie, Shannon, Andrew, Gober, Darius, Hans, Ted, Peter, Gopstein, and Coach.  We loved seeing everyone!

Samantha made a guest appearance between the ceremony and reception.  

Here we three are outside the Princeton chapel, where the ceremony was held.

This is what happened while we were at the wedding- lots of fun times with Nana and Granddad (so fun we're told that Samantha wasn't tired at her bed time and demanded she stay up til 9, the grandparents complied :) )

The reception was held about an hour north in Peapack and Gladstone NJ at the gorgeous Natirar Mansion.  Here's a quick glimpse of the gorgeous bride and groom, with the beautiful view in the background (is this seriously NJ?)

Fun to have the night out with my husbandy!

Hans and Andrew- can't believe it's been 8 years since you were doubles partners!

Nana and Granddad stuck around the next day to hang out with us. Here's some early morning reading.

And early morning tail grabbing! 

Samantha figured out how to sit up on her own this past weekend and every time we turn around she gets closer and closer to crawling (not the best for Lanie who now has to deal not only with S stealing her attention but also lots of tail grabbing).

We spent an hour in the afternoon walking around Rosedale Lake, but first we checked out the newly completed dog park.  Turns out Lanie is scared of other dogs (surprise surprise) but still fun to quickly visit.

My dad wore Samantha in the same hiking backpack they used with me 29 years ago!

A poop explosion led to an outfit and a vehicle change...

And we decided to try the swings again at the new Rosedale Lake playground.

Still no holding on, but it went much better this time!

September Cuteness

September visit to Long Island

Samantha and I visited Long Island earlier this week.  One of the privileges of not teaching this year is that I can travel during the week - sad to leave Daddy behind, but it certainly makes it a bit easier to get to and from Long Island.

Right after we got there, we decided to visit Granddad at his office. He was eager to show Samantha the printing presses.  She was mesmerized! I'm pretty sure the exact same thing was done to me when I was little!

Then when Granddad got home from work, he showed Samantha a new game- dropping golf balls into metal bowls.  They made some nice ringing noises together.

Then this happened...typical.

The next day when both her grandparents were at work, we had a playdate with Piper.  Can't believe how much she's grown since we last saw her in June.  

In fact, Piper and Samantha are almost the same weight now, and Piper is doing so well sitting!  Can't believe neither of them were sitting last time we saw each other.

Attack of Samantha!

Oh look they made up!  Good thing- because Em and I wanted to chat while they played.

Then we spent some time over at my Grammy and Pop-Pop's house.  Here is Samantha hanging with her Nana.

And showing her Great Pop-Pop how to use the remote control- she is an expert at changing the channels these days!

Just hanging on the couch!

And showing her Great-Grammy all her toys!

Love this one!

And of course when my Dad got there, he immediately grabbed his granddaughter!

Then just before we left, we made a quick guest appearance at the ladies lunch.  Three generations of ladies!

Swinging!

Last weekend Andrew Matthews came to visit.  Clearly Samantha has now taken to her Uncle Andrew- who has been around a bunch of times before- see here and here and here. 

After church, some Andrew vs. Andrew tennis, and delicious dumpling lunch, we decided to take Samantha to the park. She was immediately skeptical of the swing.

I have seen loads of pictures of Samantha's little friends enjoying these bucket swings so I thought we would try.  Um this is what we got...

I told my parents about the swing experience and apparently it's genetic.  I also have the gene that made me as a baby not hold on to swings and instead flop forward.  

We'll see if swinging changes, but until then S will study shadows while swinging.

And her parents will make fun of her!

AJ snapped a family pic of us before he headed back into NYC.  Too bad S was still so scarred from her swing riding experience that she wouldn't smile for the camera.