Honorary Parents of the Groom

My oldest son, Ahren has a close friend who recently got married.  

Ahren was the best man in the wedding.  He took his duties seriously and helped make his friends wedding day a special one.

 His friend doesn't have parents and is not close to his family.  Ahren and his friend have been friends for a very long time.  Long enough that we consider him a part of our family.

Todd and I filled in as the parents of the groom.  We felt very strongly that the groom deserved to be represented and to have support from our family.   

Flowers for the (stand-in) mother of the groom.

The groom expressed over and over again how much it meant to him to have us be there for him, not only for the wedding but while he was growing up too. I know Ahren also appreciated us stepping up and being there for his friend.

Ahren's best man speech was perfect. A mixture of sentiment and humor.

He thanked family and friends, the wedding party, parents of the bride and

 "parents-ish" of the groom.

His description of Todd and I got quite a few chuckles.

It was an honor to represent the groom.  A memory I will treasure forever.

Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

Zachary Graduates College

For the last two years Zachary has attended Full-Sail University in FL.  He pursued a degree in Recording Arts.  The accelerated program he completed earned him a Bachelors Degree.

Growing up Zachary preferred to be at home. His friends came over to our house.  He didn't like to go places, he even didn't like going on vacations.  You can imagine how big of a surprise it was to us when he decided to move from PA to attend college in Florida!!

When he first left I cried for days. I was sad to see him go, but I was also happy for him to be getting on with his life. I wanted to see him happy and productive even if it meant him being so far away from me.

His father and I are very proud of him for taking a chance and for succeeding!   We are excited to see where his new adventure begins!!

Gator Crossing

Cape May, NJ has a fabulous Zoo.  It's not huge like some zoos, but it is very family friendly.

Each summer we spend a week in Ocean City, NJ.  Cape May isn't far from there, so we take a day trip to the zoo.  It's one of my favorite places to visit each year.

 Gators creep me out!  They always look like they are up to no good. 

Sneaking up on you, waiting to grab you in their powerful jaws.

I learned a few facts from a report my son had to do when he was in elementary school.

They can live 30-50 years old!  

Zoo's feed them rats.

It is Florida's official state reptile.

Even though some gators were taken off the endangered species list, they are still considered endangered because hunter cannot always tell the difference between the different types of gators.

Visit the National Parks Conservation Association to donate towards endangered species.

 Cape May Zoo 2004

Pictures courtesy of Todd Miller

Steel City Cup Tournament

We drove 5 hours to Pittsburgh for a tournament Brandon's travel team participated in.

I wish we would have had more time to tour the city. 

There were a lot of sites I would have liked to see.

Photo Credit: Todd Miller

Brandon's team played in the consolation game (3rd vs. 4th). The consolation game was on the same day as Super Bowl night.  Todd wasn't happy about going away the weekend of the Super Bowl.

Even though Todd was grumpy about the Super Bowl, he did admit that he had a great weekend with the other parents.
~

During one of the games, Brandon hit his head pretty hard during a boarding penalty (which is a penalty on the other player).  Brandon was having severe headaches. I wouldn't let him play during one of the games and let him sleep.

Brandon is a defenseman and captain of his team.  He was upset that he couldn't play.

I like when Brandon knocks another player over as if they weigh like a butterfly.

 He is really good of helping the goalie keep the puck out of the net,

 and is not afraid not knock a few kids over.

That's Brandon's rear end sticking up. ;-)

 He was not happy with the call the ref made.

In the end it didn't matter because his team won 3rd place!

 ~

As far as the Super Bowl is concerned, we made it home before kick off.  

Me?  I didn't care one way or the other.  

Now if it was the Stanley Cup…. we'd have a serious issue!

My favorite hockey player

is my son, of course!

 No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make this boy budge an inch. 

 

Da da du dum, da da du dum

My baby sister got married!

Tiffani and me.

Tiffani married a wonderful man, Chris.

I know he will make her super happy and cherish her for the rest of their lives.

 

(My husband, Todd took the photos for Tiffani's wedding)

Congratulations to Tiffani and Chris!