Seeing the Wilkinsons

In Pennsylvania, we were able to see my family and spend a couple days with them. In honor of my dad's b-day, we went to Kennywood which is a theme park he and my mom went to as kids. My brother and I also went there growing up. It was fun to take the kids there and for them to ride some of the same things we rode years ago. The day ended with hoagies from Danny's (one of dad's old school favorites) and they were stinkin' awesome!! My family can put down some serious hoagies! :-) It was an amazing day with the whole family together! I loved it! Sorry there are so many pictures, but I couldn't narrow it down!

Here's the whole gang (minus me)! Can you find the crying baby??

Look out, mom's driving!! Glad these cars had seat belts!

Chris looks very focused and a bit frightened.

Okay, maybe it's Tessa that looks frightened!!

Great pic of Jim & Tessa.

I love this shot of our niece, Livi.

This is one of my favorite pics of mom and dad. GREAT pic!!

This was Tessa's 1st time to a theme park. Kennywood has a section called Kiddieland with rides suitable for kids to ride on their own. Most of them were for the older kids, but there were swings for Tessa's age. I was so nervous!!! I didn't know if she was going to cry the whole time, but she did so great! This sounds cheesy, but I was so proud! It was one of the first things she's done on her own. What a big girl...look at her!!

First cotton candy...

First time driving. This was the first and last ride we went on. She was much more in to it at the end. Look at her face. She looks like she's having so much fun!

Me and Chris. What a cutie (Chris not me)!

Livi, GG Dobbie, and Chris

Pap pap and Tessa. What a sweet picture!

Sorry about the picture quality, but I couldn't leave this one out. It kinda sums up the Wilkinson family...

Missin' the Beach

Over the 4th of July we were in Destin, Florida for the 1st ever Forrester Family Vacation. This trip was planned by Jim, his sister, Melanie, her hubby, Chip and I a long time ago in honor of Martha's (Jim's mom) 60th birthday (which was in February). You still with me? Well, we all had a fabulous time and it was great having the kids together. Tessa got the biggest kick out of her cousin, Cole. All she had to do was look at him and she would just laugh and laugh!! It was really cute! Hopefully, we'll be able to do this more often. Here are some pics...

These are family photos we took. Don't you like our 'uniforms?'




This is Cole after he caught a little fish close to shore. That fish cost me 10 bucks!! After 2 days of trying to catch one it paid off...literally!


I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity. Look at that cheek!


Jim catching a wave. We had a lot of fun boogie boarding!


Jim and I parasailing...how cool!!


There was always time for Rock Band. Especially after all the kiddos went to bed!!


Some random beach pictures.

In Memory of My Grandpap

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind. My grandpap, Walter Douglas Fairfax, passed away on Thursday, July 2, 2009. It was expected, but still very tough to take in. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure years ago and things just went downhill from there. He was 94 when he died.

We were in Pennsylvania about a week for the visitation and funeral which were held on Monday, July 6th. Family and friends had the opportunity to share stories or memories about grandpap...that was the part I liked best. I found myself wishing I would've taken advantage of the time I had while he was around. In my mind, I came up with lots of questions to ask him; questions about him growing up and what life was like, questions about my mom as a kid. There was so much I didn't know about him. Even though I know I can't go back, I do have fond memories of him. I've listed some below:

*Going to flea markets with him. One man's trash is another man's treasure! He loved going to these things and usually knew everybody there!

*Seeing him on his tractor. Nothing could come between grandpap and his tractor. I'm convinced he's in heaven riding around on one of those babies!

*Going to Long John Silver's...his treat (with coupons). Nothing beat their fish dinners! We had no choice...we HAD to get the fish dinner!

*I loved how he said what he thought. At Jim's and my wedding, grandpap made a comment about a friend of ours wearing shorts (if you know this friend, you know this is how he 'dresses' up). Our videographer caught grandpap's comment on video and it's hilarious!

*I will miss the smell of the air at his place. It had such a sweet, fresh smell; one of those smells that you associate with a particular time in your life. From time to time I get a hint of that sweet air here in Tennessee...it takes me back to days visiting my grandpap.

Here we are in 1999 or 2000, I think.

This one was taken in August of 2008. This was Tessa meeting her great-grandpap for the 1st time!