Our 3 Week Family and Friends Vacation!

Nathan and I are so excited to start the new chapter in our life with our Royal Caribbean Cruise gig! We are going to be performing on a cruise ship from September 2011- April 2012. This means that we will not be able to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years with any of our family or friends this year. Because of this, we decided to take a 3 week vacation to visit all of our family and friends and try to soak up as much family and friend quality time as we could to try and tide us over until April (or whenever they come on the cruise - still keeping our fingers crossed for this one).

    We started our Family and Friends Tour in Moline, Iowa - where Nathan's Mom- Beth, Dad-Mark, Sister -Karen and best friend Eric live! These days were filled with enjoying their beautiful new gazebo in their backyard, eating yummy food that Beth would make for us, and playing games. On Nathan's 25th Birthday, we spent a lot of the day at the doctors office and hospital getting Nathan's physical finished for our new job. He was given a lovely surprise when all the receptionist ladies at the doctors office starting singing him Happy Birthday! Later that night, we went out to eat and painted pottery together. On the next day, we went and saw a performance of 'Gypsy' at their local community theatre, where Nathan used to perform. Afterwards, we ate some amazing ice cream at Whitey's (which is always a tradition).
       While we were in Iowa, we got lucky enough to spend time with our nephew, Cameron who is 2 and couldn't be more adorable. He says things like "Hi!" in this sweet high pitched tone, and he will give you 'knuckles' and if he ever gets frustrated or doesn't want to do something he says "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnno!" - he will hold out that 'n' as long as he can to let you know how much he doesn't want whatever you are giving him. haha! Love him!
Our time in Iowa was so relaxing and restful- it was exactly what we needed.

CAMERON

 Loving the new backyard!

 Cameron waking Nathan up on his birthday

 Beth joined me everyday when I did my P90X videos - she is so fit!

 He is soooo precious!

 Playing on the Meyer's playground. (this is a lot harder than it looks!)

 He is so strong!

 

 

 Nathan's 25th Birthday Cupcakes!

 Our Pottery Peices!

After 5 days in Iowa - Nathan, Beth, and I drove to Kansas City to see Nathan's sister Diane, and her son Andrew. On our first full day in Kansas City we took Andrew to a petting zoo while Diane went to work. It was so much fun because we got to walk around this entire park for free! That night we went out to eat and then watched The Bachelorette, of course! :) On our 2nd day in Kansas City, we decided to go to a water park! We had such a blast! Nathan, Beth, and I rode every slide they had to offer! I'm pretty sure Beth isn't afraid of anything! All of us - Nathan, Beth, me, Diane, and Andrew rode around in their wave pool/lazy river. It moves around the park like a lazy river but HUGE waves come through like a wave pool. We all held onto each other's tubes and laughed so hard the entire time! Andrew's faces were priceless- he was having the time of his life!

ANDREW

 Loving the Water Park!

 An Old School House at the Petting Zoo

 The Ohlson's New Home!

 A candid moment with Nathan, his mother, and sister

After 2 days in Kansas City, we flew to Nashville to spend the night with our dear friend, Regina. We went around to our favorite places in Nashville. We went to thrift stores, ate fresh and unique popsicles, toured around Belmont campus, lounged at Centennial Park with our friends Millie and Jordan, and then ate at Pei Wei! We have some amazing friends, and cherish their friendship! The next morning, we got up early and met our teacher, mentor, and director from Belmont Mrs. Halbert at a coffee shop across from Belmont called Bongo Java. We had breakfast and tried to catch up on as much as we could. It is always a delight to see her!

Getting Breakfast with Mrs. Halbert and Regina

 

 

After one night in Nashville, we took a bus over to Chattanooga where we were greeted by my parents, Fred and Shirley! (They didn't even recognize me with my dark hair...that will be another blog at another time) We spent two days in Cleveland, eating, relaxing, seeing the new house that they are flipping- it is gorgeous, shopping, and playing with our nieces Marley and Ella!

Ella pretending to be a caught Mermaid/ a Lion in her cage:

Nathan reading a story to Ella and Marley

After 2 days in Cleveland, we drove down to Atlanta with our best friends Mica and Joe to spend the 4th of July weekend with the DiPastena family. We went out and ate wings, jumped on their trampoline, played games, grilled out, met some of their close friends, visited their church, played this awesome dance game on the Wii, met their wonderful new adopted son - Caleb, fed some donkeys and cows (ha!), swam at their pool and enjoyed some "Pool Olympics" (oh..they were classic), and finished our trip off with a Braves Game on July 4th (which they won!) and an amazing fireworks show! We love anytime we get to spend with Mica, Joe, and the DiPastena's! They are all lifelong friends.

 At the Braves Game!

One of our "pool olympics" games! hahaha

We then headed back to Cleveland, where Nathan and I got directly in the car with my parents to head to Corbin, Kentucky where my grandparents and uncle live to attend a funeral for my Great Uncle Ray. My grandmother's house is quite literally over the hill and through the woods. This was almost like Nathan's initiation into the family. Granny's house is a huge part of our family! This was the place that I spent every Christmas ever since I can remember. From the golf carts, to granny's garden, her homemade chicken and dumplins and sausage balls, the money tree, "Bonga Bonga Boo", "Spy on the Adults", and the plays my cousins and I would put together that even had commercials for things like "yuk-a-doo shampoo". Granny's house has always been a magical place. I was so excited for Nathan to get to see and experience the place in person! Our Kentucky time was spent celebrating Uncle Ray, introducing Nathan to more extended family members, eating incredible food, and swimming in my Uncle Mike and Aunt Kim's pool that is too beautiful for words. (Let's just say it could be a date night for The Bachelor)

After 2 nights in Kentucky, we headed back to Cleveland where we spent 5 more days. Nathan and I each got amazing massages, went shopping, saw a movie, ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and played with Marley and Ella as much as we could! Marley is shaking her head 'No' and has the sweetest personality. She is SOOO beautiful it takes your breath away. Ella is remarkable. She is so smart and growing up way too fast. Sometimes she would just look at me out of nowhere and say "I love you". She just melts my heart!

 Marley loves her corn

After 3 weeks of soaking up as much LOVE as we could, we flew back to New York City on July 12th where we have 2 more weeks until we leave to rehearse for the Cruise in Florida.

On July 14th, Nathan's sister - Karen came and visited us in New York City for 5 days! (This will be another blog) Needless to say, it was so wonderful!

Thank you to all of our Family and Friends for stopping your lives to spend time with us. We loved every minute of it and we cannot wait to see you ALL again!