Aunt Mary Comes to Vsit

A few weeks ago, Aunt Mary came to visit before she went off on her fantastic voyage to South America. She hadn't seen Hannah since her christening in April, so we all wanted to make sure Hannah and Aunt Mary got reacquainted.

Hannah had a great time with her aunt, and she even wore her "I Heart My Auntie" onesie to show Aunt Mary how much she loves and appreciates her.They'll get a chance to see each other again in a few weeks when Mary returns and we all attend the yearly family picnic.

Mary arrived in Paraguay earlier today for a fabulous vacation and visit with her bestie, and Hannah says this: "Have fun, Auntie Mary! I love you! Bring me back a present!!!"

Mary's Graduation

A few months ago, my sister (-in-law) Mary graduated from college. This was a big one, not just for Mary, but for all of us, especially me. I realized that I've been present for all of Mary's graduations: Eighth grade, high school, and now college (And I crashed her high school graduation ceremony, too!) So I missed her Kindergarten graduation! Big deal. I was probably in second or third grade at the time and couldn't have spelled "Graham" if I tried. Thankfully, I didn't have to try.

As always, Graham and I had the camera. We're big picture takers--mostly of other people because they're more interesting than we are. But this was a special event, so naturally we had the camera, and darnit, we were gonna document these memories if it was the last thing we did! A little late, but here are some photos of the weekend.

Mary entering for the baccaluareate service. A little dark, but she's the one in the yellow sash.

The creepy new Lincoln statue at IC. Look at that face! Tell me that's not super creepy.

The book he's reading has actual text from an actual textbook from the 1840s. The story goes that Lincoln was supposed to attend IC but didn't after his girlfriend died. The statue shows him reading a book that he "would have" read at IC in the 1840s or so. The college also likes to share that he got an IC education by proxy through his friends who attended. Don't know if that's true or not, but it's a neat thing for them to say.

Creepy Lincoln wanted to graduate, too!

Those eyes!!! Ack! They shiver my timbers. ::shudder::

Onward to graduation! Mary's standing up, ready to get her hard-earned diploma. ::sniff:: MY BABY'S ALL GROWN UP. Oh, wait....not my baby. Heh...carry on.

We didn't get a great photo of Mary actually getting her diploma, so the best we've got is Graham and Mary with a favorite college professor: Dr. Rellinger-Zetler. Funny story: Mary was studying for Dr. R-Z's final when we told her she was going to be an aunt. She didn't expect to do as well as she thought she'd do on the final, so she told her professor that Graham was going to be a dad, and the professor squealed. Then Mary broke the news that her final might suck, so she wrote, "Little Graham babies!" at the top of each page of her final to remind the professor that she got a little distracted during her study session. And Mary still probably aced that final. She's a viking like that.

Creepy Lincoln and I got into a staring contest. You win this time, Creepy Lincoln, but I'll be back!

Robyn and Creepy Lincoln got along swell.

Mary with her favorite siblings. (Note the hoodie, Mac friends.)

The whole family, plus Mary's boyfriend Josh.

Graham and Mary with "the swing". It's some sort of IC tradition or something. Always a big hit with the kiddos.

Mom-in-law's birthday: The Big 5-0

My mom-in-law celebrated the end of 2009 by turning 50! What a way to say goodbye to the decade, huh?

Now that Graham and I have been together almost ten years (ACK!) I'll never forget that he told me after one of our first dates that his mom was about to turn 41. My jaw dropped because my own parents were in their mid-to-late 40s, and I couldn't believe how young his mom was! I didn't know at that time that we'd still be together 9 years later and celebrating his mom's next decade.

Because the whole family was in for the weekend, we made a bigger deal out of her birthday. Brian and Robyn came up to spend a late Christmas and Mom's birthday with us, so we all took Mom out to dinner at Chi Tung. If you're not from Chicago, let me say this: Chi Tung is the best Asian food you'll eat this side of China. That is a promise. It's deeeeelish.

Some photos of the evening:

Me enjoying a mai tai. Note the straightener fail.

The Fam.

Something was funny enough for me to make this face and for Graham to document the moment.

Discussing the finer points of....something.

Hokay, so after dinner we went back to the ILs' home for cake, gifts, and game playing. I had ONE BITE of a cookie. ONE. And yet, I still broke a dining room chair. Obliterated is more like it. If I hadn't planned on making a New Year's Resolution to lose weight, this would have sealed the deal:

We decided to play Seven Deadly Sins. Do NOT play this game with your church-going, Christ-y friends. Or your parents. Or your grandparents. Or your siblings. Or if you plan to run for public office someday. It's racy! (I can't believe Santa brought this for Brian! Santa's a perv.)

Game face: On.

To get a piece of Sinner Pie, I had to make a puppet show out of dirty sweat socks. We decided it was going to be about Mary's life after graduation. It was melodramatic at best.

On one of Brian's attempts for pie, he had to go into his host's closet and find the most revolting outfit they own. We knew it was going to be good when we heard him say, "JACKPOT!"

Graham got to impersonate the Wicked Witch of the West. He even found a monkey!

For reasons unbeknownst to me (thanks to Mr. Mai Tai, and later on Mr. and Mrs. Wine Cooler), everyone except me and Robyn got to be comatose until their next turn.

Brian doesn't make a good coma patient.

Thankfully, it didn't last long.

Still coma-ing.

Mom even had to play!

More coma.

Also comatose, but Pops wasn't playing the game.

Mary retreated to the hood. She really didn't want to play this game with her family.

We took a cake break.

Singing and caking.

And then there were presents! We got Mom a picture puzzle. Then she can frame a picture puzzle of all of us at Brian and Robyn's wedding.

Brobyn got her some nice, fluffy towels in earth tones. I rubbed my drunk face on one. (Sorry!)

Once we were done, Brian put his game face back on.

To get some Sinner Pie, Robyn let us give her a makeover.

Preeeeeeeeeeeeeetty!

I don't remember taking this photo.

Mom wanted an updated picture of us before we went away for the night. Mary wanted some companionship, too! It's a tough contest, really. Mary's partner loves to cuddle and keep your feet warm. Mine has better breath. The grass is always greener, right?

Columbus Day Camping Trip a.k.a. G Family Palooza!

Over the Columbus Day weekend we went camping with Graham's parents and siblings and sibling-in-law. It was the first time the family had been on a vacation since before Graham went to college...8 years ago. And, it was the first time that Robyn or I had been invited along on a family trip/vacation (again, because 8 years ago Robyn wasn't part of the equation, and I was still Graham's high school girlfriend).

The "seed had been planted" months ago. Mary realized that her birthday would fall over the weekend and it was her first available birthday weekend since she entered college, so she was really hoping that the whole family would be able to go camping to celebrate, especially since she's graduating from college this year and who knows where she'll be next year? At the end of the summer, Clinton Lake was the chosen campground since it was between Mary, Brian, and Robyn in Jacksonville, and Graham, me, and parents-in-law in Chicago. We all made the effort to be there, and I'm so glad we went. It was a fun weekend, and I really hope that we can all do it again sometime. Since there are so many photos, I'll try and let them do the talking and interject as little as possible.

Obligatory photo of Graham driving.

Awesome sunset as we were leaving.

We finally arrived...

Nike is cold and confused.

"Yo Mary, this CD is good and I'm gonna let you enjoy it, but Beyonce had one of the best CDs of all time."

Graham likes to wake up early and take pictures of nature.

There were deer all over the campground that weekend.

All the spaces in our camping area were reserved, but we were the only ones brave enough to actually show up.

This is my preferred method of fishing.

The honeymoon suite.

Nike gave up on walking, so Graham carried her.