Family in Florida

My brother Vince, Me, my sister Dawn, my grandma, Mom, and Elijah at my Uncle Roland and Aunt Colleen's house, Saturday night, December 27.

Our original plan had been to go only to Ohio for the holidays. We only had about two and a half weeks and we weren't sure how Elijah would handle all that flying. But my family just couldn't wait to see Elijah, not when we'd be so close. They asked us to fly down to Florida for a few days, and offered to pick up the cost of the airfare. We agreed, and I'm so glad we did. Elijah turned out to be a very agreeable traveler and we had some really nice time with my mom, siblings, and extended family from December 27 to December 30, 2008.

Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because our camera batteries died and we didn't have a chance to buy more while we were there. However, my sister took a lot of photos and when she sends them to me, I'll add them to this blog and to the Elijah blog.


Nona and Elijah. (My mom is going to by "Nona" which is Italian for grandma so that Elijah will be able to differentiate between his two grandmothers. We're not Italain, but what the heck. . .)

Both of my uncles came up with games to play for our little family gathering Saturday night. Uncle Roland had us do list Christmas related items beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Whoever matched what he had on his list earned a point for each match. He seemed to take a great deal of pleasure in informing us that "NOBODY had what was on my list!" Uncle Robert had has play a game (pictured above and below) where a blindfolded person had to guess the identity of a person by feeling them with wooden spoons. Above, my sister's fiance Jim got stuck with my grandmother. I'm not sure who I felt more sorry for! Awk-ward!

My cousin Nicole tries to guess her dad, my Uncle Roland.

Hanging out at the Thomsons: Vince, Elijah, Babs, and Mom

On Sunday, December 28, Veronyka Perez, our kindergarten teacher from last year drove up from Miami with her mom to visit Elijah (and also us). Vero was arguably Elijah's biggest fan (I know Amy will dispute that one) from well before he was born and it was so sweet of her to drive all that way just to see him. We had a nice breakfast at the Cheesecake Factory and then hung out at Dawn's house for a bit before taking some pictures before they headed back to Miami.

It was so nice to see you again, Vero. Thanks for being a great "Auntie" to Elijah!

Vero & Elijah

Elijah's smiles are plentiful but hard to catch on camera. Vero managed to draw a few out.

Vero's mom joins us for a photo.

On Sunday evening, December 28, my Uncle Slimen Saliba got remarried. (My aunt passed away about four years ago). We all went to the wedding, which was a simple, lovely affair at a restuarant, Hot Olives, in Winter Park, FL. Uncle Sy's new wife, Caroline seems like a wonderful woman and I hope we'll get to know her better in years to come.

Picture-wise, once again, there's not much. We left the camera in the van during the ceremony and later on when we got it, the battery was on it's last legs and died after only a few pictures. Again, hopefully Dawn can help me supplement these photos later.

Elijah, Nona, and "Granny" at Uncle Sy and Caroline's wedding. We will have Elijah call my grandmother Granny, which is what we used to call her mother, our great-grandmother. Since she's passed away, we figured it was appropriate that Grandma inherit the mantle.

Dawn and my cousin (Sy's daughter) Yvette taking photos at the wedding reception. You see her taking photos folks, so hopefully some of those pictures will end up here!