Friday, May 30, 2008

Much Has Happened in May 2008

As is so often the case, another month has come and is nearly gone. Our schedules have slowed in some areas, but picked up in others.

Mel is finally enjoying a well-deserved summer break from doing a wonderful job of directing the 1st - 5th grade choir at church. The regular church choir is also switching to the summer schedule, which I think means they won’t practice every Wednesday night. Hopefully, Mel will find a little more time to relax, at least on Wednesdays.

I, on the other hand, have begun to step up my workouts in preparation for at least three triathlons, four cycling-only races (on the test track at the BMW performance center...how cool is that!?!), and probably a few running races, as well. Speaking of triathlons...congrats to Catherine Maum on finishing her first full-distance Ironman triathlon (2.5 mile ocean swim / 112 mile bike / 26.2 mile run) in Panama City, FL, near the end of 2007 and to Jennifer Timmis on completing her first ever tri, which happened to be a half-Ironman event earlier this month!!! Very impressive!!!

Much has been happening with members of our extended family, as well. Congrats again to Justin for graduating from medical school at the beginning of this month!!! We still hate that we couldn't make it to Mobile to see it in person. Double congrats to Kenneth on graduating from law school, moving from Lexington, VA, to Brentwood, TN, and getting married...all within the span of two weeks!!! Congrats, of course, to Meg as well on her recent marriage to Kenneth. And, last but not least, happy first birthday to Harrison!!! See below for pictures of some of these events. Oh yeah, there might be a few random pics of Bailey mixed in, as well. I know you're surprised and disappointed.
A Spring Picnic Lunch at Falls Park in Greenville
Recently, the boy scout troop at our church had a fundraiser in which they provided smoked chicken lunches to everyone after church. So, we decided to bring a change of clothes, a blanket, and our camera and have a picnic since it was such a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Bailey pulling up on my knee with one of the support towers to Greenville's one-of-a-kind arched suspension bridge that spans Reedy River Falls in the background.

Close-up. She still has those amazingly beautiful eyes.


Bailey and Melanie at the park.

Bailey and Melanie playing the head-bonking game.

Bailey is just realizing that part of her is not on the picnic blanket anymore. At the time of this pic, she hated the feel of grass and would do anything to avoid it. She's getting better now, but she's still not a big fan.


I think this time we intentionally set her in the grass to see how fast she could crawl back onto the picnic blanket. It didn't take her long.

Snack Time for Bailey

Bailey waving to dad after just having finished a Nutrigrain cereal bar.


She found another bite stuck somewhere on her bib.


"Do I have anything in my teeth?"


Kenneth's Graduation

The second weekend in May was Kenneth's graduation from the law school at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Yes, Kenneth is now a lawyer (let the jokes begin!!!)!

Kenneth with his juris doctor diploma and his W&L walking stick. I was definitely jealous of the walking sticks.


Kenneth and Meg immediately after graduation.


Kenneth, Paul, and Paula after graduation in front of a really old building on W&L's campus. (As a side note, THE Robert E. Lee is buried beneath a chapel somewhere on campus at W&L. Pretty cool...if your a Southener.)

Kenneth, Meg, and John and Barbara Spain (Meg's parents) after graduation in front of the same really old building.

Ahh...now for the really good-looking folks. Kenneth, me, Melanie, and Bailey after graduation in front of a different, but equally old, building on W&L's campus.


Kenneth said it best when he told Bailey that she was playing with a $100,000 tassle.


Kenneth's and Meg's Wedding
Two weeks after Kenneth's graduation we headed over to Brentwood, Tennessee, for Kenneth's and Meg's wedding.

Picture of the sanctuary at Brentwood United Methodist Church in Brentwood, TN, in which Kenneth and Meg were married. You can't tell it from this picture as much, but the pulpit on the left was enormous! We joked that had this been a baptist church they probably would have had the baptismal pool up there, as well.


The altar at the front of the sanctuary.


I was surprised at how small their pipe organ was. Yeah right...this thing was so big the Phantom of the Opera would have wet his pants!

Kenneth, on his wedding day, getting his corsage pinned to his jacket by the wedding coordinator.



Kenneth and Meg, BEFORE the wedding ceremony (tisk, tisk), getting pictures made in front of the church.


From L to R: Mimi (Paul's mom), me, Bailey, Melanie, Meg, Kenneth, Paula, Paul, and Ms. Dinning (Paula's mom)


The bride's cake. It was decorated even more during the reception. I took this pic early in the day.


The groom's cake, of which I personally did not partake b/c of the Alabama "A".


Bailey and Melanie walking down the hall of the hotel on their way to the rehearsal dinner.


Harrison's Birthday and Bailey's Quasi-Birthday Parties
The day after Kenneth's and Meg's wedding my family had a birthday party for Harrison (it was his actual birthday) and a quasi-birthday party for Bailey (her birthday is not until June 16th but there were members of the extended Williams family who won't be able to make it to the real birthday party in Greenville and they wanted to give Bailey her presents).


The birthday kids wearing their birthday cake hats (complete with a single candle on top to represent their ages).



Harrison's cake.


Bailey's cupcake butterfly cake. We didn't actually give a cupcake to Bailey b/c we are going to wait until her real birthday to let her tear into her first cake.

Harrison opening one of his presents. This one is a drum with plenty of musical instruments inside.



Jackson (Harrison's other and slightly older cousin) giving Harrison instructions on the correct way to open a present.


Bailey opening one of her presents.

Bailey got this great lawn chair for her birthday. She enjoys sitting in it...as long as one of us are feeding her while she sits there. Otherwise, it's not long before she's off in search of more toys to play with.


Bailey camping out in the den kicked back in her lawn chair with one of her favorite toys...one half of a plastic Easter egg. Go figure.