Midwest Trip (Part 3 of 3): Wisconsin

Our travels next brought us up to Wisconsin for Tyler's graduation.  We are so proud of his journey and we were excited to cheer him on as he received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.

Tyler's on the big screen :)

Part of the graduation cheering crowd.  So happy Uncle Tom and Aunt MaryKay were able to make it.

Hooray Tyler!!!

Gotta love that they had this posted on the school wall!  Yes!!!!!

Tyler and proud papa!

Time to celebrate - yum!

...a baseball cookie!! The grandparents "scored" with this one...haha.  A funny Jameson story: during our 9+ hour drive up from Pittsburgh, which we decided to do from 5:30pm Wed-4am Thurs, Jameson woke at 12:45am and spent the next 1.5 hours shouting about big trucks on the road - all in good spirits and proud of himself when he shouted "softly" about one so as not to wake Ava.  Sweet brother (right?! I guess you take what you can get!).

Thank you Aunt Alecia and cousins Katie and Olivia who offered to watch the kids while we attended the graduation.  We love you (and so do the kids!).

Katie and Natalie enjoying some baby blanket play time with the girls.  I think Penelope is wondering why I'm not joining them on the blanket - lol.

Fun with daddy :)

The celebration continued the next day (Sunday of Memorial Day weekend) down at my Aunt Kathy's house.  All congratulated Tyler and we added a few birthday celebrations into the mix as well.  Here's a picture of us cousins (missing just two of my cousins and their respective families up in Canada - miss you guys!).  All the aunts and uncles couldn't get enough pictures, thus we are never all looking at the same camera!

Having fun horsing around with Sara and Gunnar.

Jameson makes dog friends everywhere.  PJ won Jameson over after showing him her softer side.

Aunt Alecia and Ava :)

Rob and my cousins Eric and Amanda's little girl, McKenna (the newest great grandchild in the family).

Glad we had the opportunity to take pictures of Opa (my grandpa) and his great-grandkids.

Oh, Aunt Natalie....you're always full of surprises!  We are so excited that you're expecting your next little one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She shocked us with announcing that she's pregnant and due right around Jameson's birthday in early January.  As of now gender will be a surprise (as it was with Penelope), but we'll see if they can wait :)

The perfect baby cheeks - love them big sista!!!

This is Ava's attempt to reach out and grab a water bottle which is attracting her attention.  She gets her butt up in the air and balances on feet and hands, but then realizes she doesn't have the strength to stand up and walk.  You might ask, "well, why doesn't she just crawl to it?"

Well, that would require crawling - which she refuses to do.  Can you see the defiance on her face?  She WILL NOT crawl.  We've tried everything.  All she wants to do is stand and walk - she just doesn't have the strength to make it happen yet.

Midwest Trip (Part 2 of 3): Pittsburgh

We were so excited to finally make our way out to Pittsburgh to catch up with our dear friends Finn and Clare (not to mention meet their sweet daughter, Tess)!  It was so much fun getting the kids together as they are the same age.  Last time we'd seen each other, Clare and I were both pregnant... boy does time fly!!!  How different life now is.

Having a lot of fun at the park close to their house.

Loves swings.

A trip to the zoo never disappoints.  The Pittsburgh Zoo was the perfect size and had some very cool exhibits.  Here, Jameson is staying cautiously weary of the tiger on the other side of the moat (no glass wall here, and it felt freakishly close)!

Dads on toddler duty.

Cute Tess :)

Both kids had a blast at the zoo and enjoyed story time at home.

Underwater viewing of polar bears (pictured) and sharks - pretty "awesome" according to Jameson.

Snatched this shot before leaving at 5:30pm for a 9+ hour drive up to New Berlin, Wisconsin.  We tried grabbing one with Ava, too, but let's just say Ava wasn't feeling well - and you know how that goes!

Midwest Trip (More of Part 1): Ohio

These pictures are courtesy of family and friends passing along additional pictures to us...thank you!  A family pic!!!!  (And yes, a pretty accurate depiction.)

Ava's first bite of ice cream (all in the name of Dave, of course!)

The graduate and his proud siblings :)

Cousin Laura and Ava.

Cousin Faith and Ava.

Aunt Heidi thought of it all...what two year old doesn't like bubbles?!?!?

Reading stories with Grandpa "papa" in the Cape Cod room :)

We took a fun day trip into Kent, OH with Dave, Alecia and Rob's parents.  It's a college town with a modern and youthful vibe, while maintaining some of the old town charm.

Uncle Dave checking in on Ava while the others were exploring the train.

All aboard.

Jameson loves to jump - off most things!

What a fantastic shot of Jameson and Uncle Dave!!!  Right in front of the statue of the black squirrel (popularly found in and around Kent - including a walk we took together with Jameson in Aunt Heidi and Uncle Pete's neighborhood in Hudson).

Ava pretty happy and content in Alecia's arms :)

Loving Uncle Dave, too!