Were back...

Well as anticipated we had such a fun filled 3 1/2 weeks back in Peoria that I did not get the chance, or rather have the energy, to get a blog in. We survived the road trip with flying colors, including getting through customs on the way back with all our shopping paraphernalia! They didn't even look at anything and thank goodness because it was 9:30 p.m and we still had an hour left of driving before arriving at the hotel. We made it in Tuesday night and are already wearing long pants and shirts due to cooler weather...no surprise! Our neighbors swear it did get up to the 90's while we were gone...figures we would miss the summer up here. But we got plenty of sun, heat, and humidity in Peoria!

As for a report of the happenings during our trip well I don't know where to even begin...three weeks of no blogging is a lot of material. But to spare everyone a novel and me carpal tunnel syndrome I'll keep it short and sweet! Here is the events as they occurred with the best part of all... pictures:

We started off the first half of the trip staying with Charlies parent's. Charlie unfortunately had business meetings that first week but that didn't keep us from having fun. Aniela loved seeing Granny, Grandpa and Maggie again. She especially loved playing with the tea set and antique cast iron stove that Granny had as a little girl.

Granny also took us to the zoo. It was nice for Aniela to see all the animals we always read about in books.

We transferred over to my parents during the second part of the trip. We are lucky that both sets of parents live close together and we could hop back and forth between houses. Aniela absolutely loved playing with her cousin Tomasz. Only being 4 months apart, they had a blast riding bikes (or as you can see from the pic Aniela hitching a ride), going for bike rides and wrestling with Dzia Dzia (my dad), having a blast playing with paints. Dzia Dzia was especially a sport and let the kids paint his legs. Sometimes kids just need to have messy fun! During our stay we also went with my sister to a career picnic day hosted by Methodist hospital. Aniela especially loved the petting zoo, giant blow up slides, and ice cream!

Throughout the trip I was able to meet up with many friends that I had not seen for some time. My girlfriend Corrie lives in Peoria so we went out to dinner with her and our other good friend J.C. who so happened to be in town from Arizona. April, another girlfriend from college came down for the day and we were able to catch up as well. I also had a wonderful reunion with my Arizona friends Holly and Joelle. We even got the kids together for a little playgroup reunion. It's amazing how big all the kids are and for that matter how many more of them there are. Holly, Joelle, and I even got a girls night out. We had a blast catching up on old times. And believe it or not we even got to see Chelsea, Wyatt, and Dayven while in town! Dayven was in for business so Chelsea and Wyatt tagged along for a week. We hit the pool with Wyatt and Chelsea. Aniela sure can take some swimming pointers from Wyatt..he is fearless when it comes to the water...who knows we may have the next Michael Phelps on our hands!

Our last week in town became quite the family reunion with Charlies sister Susanna coming into town with her family, my sister Ela and her family coming in from Seattle, and Charlies Grandma's 90'th birthday celebration! Aniela had so may cousins to play with she figured by the end of the trip that any random kid she saw was her cousin. I was so excited to finally meet my niece Gabriella. Surprisingly Aniela was very curious about her when she first arrived and I was happy to see Aniela be very gentle as well. She even loved to hold her! During my sister's visit Gabby was baptized and I had the honor of being her Godmother. Ela, Gabby, and Kevin are actually coming up in a few weeks so the goodbyes weren't so bad knowing that we would see them again shortly!


The Baptism: Dan(godfather), Kevin(proud father), my sister Ela, adorable niece Gabriella, and myself

Charlies sister Susanna's beautiful girl, Rebecca, showing the proper technique of how to bat

Rebecca's little brother Patrick...all I have to say is soooo adorable!!
Uncle Eric (Charlie's brother-in-law) helping Aniela collect sticks At Grandma's picnic birthday celebration

Aniela loving up Gabriella

You better get used to this again Charlie!!!

I tried o get in as many pictures as possible. Unfortunatley I did not get pics of everyone or everything we did... I also needed to find time to relax and enjoy my time with family and friends! Thanks for the fun times everyone!! We had a blast and can't wait till our next visit...with another little one added to the mix!