PocoDOS! (A Vileation Nation Reunion!)

Yes, that's right, PocoDOS...meaning our second trip up to God's country, the Pocono Mountains. This time our travel partners were other members of the extended Vileation Nation...meaning Kevin's family! We had a terrific weekend, absolutely wonderful. Here it is in bullet form:

• Thursday: Pick up Casey and Chris (the Oklahoma City Viles) at the airport and walk around the Inner Harbor. Stumble upon a FABULOUS Brazilian restaurant and eat like we'd never seen food before. Finish the evening by grocery shopping, eating ice cream, and letting Casey and Kevin get to the business of Guitar Hero. (Pictured below are: Casey and Chris, Brian and Kristin (the Atlanta Viles), Mark and Sharon (the St. Louis Hasemans), and the authors of this blog)
• Friday: Enjoy a leisurely start to the day by baking cookies and sending Casey to Dunkin' Donuts for the obligatory caffeine injection. Kevin transports Luther to Dogtopia. We drive to Albrightsville, PA where we meet the rest of the Vileation Nation. Enjoy a tremendous pasta and meatball dinner courtesy of Chris and then wind down with what else but Guitar Hero.
• Saturday: Begin the day with a pancake breakfast, then walk off the pancake breakfast. Put on our team gear (check out the pictures to understand!) and head off to the fields for some softball action. Come home (kids went swimming), watch the Sandlot, eat more, play Trivial Pursuit, celebrate Mom and Dad Vile (40 years of marital bliss!), and receive our t-shirts for our big photo the next day! Thank you, Sharon! Also, several people topped off the evening with Guitar Hero. HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD VILE!!!

• Sunday: Wake up early and begin the big process of getting a Vileation Nation photo. Accomplish goal and head home to get Luther. Grill out with Casey and Chris, then drop them at the airport. Finish the day by going to bed while it was still light out, we were so tired. So as you can see, it was a wonderful weekend! And thank you for your prayers if you prayed that the baby would stay inside for the big trip, it's still in there!

More Parties for Panda!

It is a major concern of mine that I will never be able to get people to understand how truly grateful I am for them. I just don't know how to express it strongly enough. And after this past weekend, I'm confronted with this issue yet again. How can we ever adequately thank all the Maynard "family" and the Bible Study Girls for the love they've shown us??? I am back to being truly overwhelmed and very, very grateful.

(Because it's boring to just read my ramblings, we've peppered in some nusery pictures here and there. We have a long way to go and there is no real theme yet, but here are some pictures anyway!)Incidentally, so far I totally recommend having children later in life because you get to learn from all the experts who've gone before you! Thank you, ladies, for all your advice and your listening ears...and those of you who said "feel free to call anytime, in the middle of the night, whenever," I would like to remind you that you've dug your own grave. Because I will call. And I will be desperate. So watch out.Click here for some pictures from the Maynard shower...the ladies threw an absolutely gorgeous book-themed shower over lunch last Thursday. Check out the amazing food everyone provided! And speaking of food, not only did I take home such sweet books with personal messages in each one, but we were given a little box full of restaurant gift cards so that we will have sustenance once this baby arrives! What a FANTASTIC gift...the hard part is not spending them now!! Thank you, Maynard girls, for the beautiful shower and the thoughtful gifts, you'll never know how special each one of you is to me, and you'll never know how grateful I am to work with people as loving and generous as each of you. It should also be noted that it is Maynard tradition to offer a company shower, too, so you'll see pictures of that as well. We got to enjoy some cake before a big meeting on Friday. Thanks, Maynard!!! We are ready to go do some wild spending at Target with that awesome gift card and the bath gear for Panda is adorable! Thank you!!!So if you're keeping track, that was a shower on Thursday and a shower on Friday. Kevin is astonished because it is rare that I actually TAKE a shower each day, let alone attend one in our child's honor. But the parties aren't over, because on Saturday the Bible Study Girls (BSGs to those in the know) hosted a spectacular event at Josie's new house. Check out the pictures here and look at how they thought of every detail. The theme was polka dots and even the ICE CREAM in the punch was in the shape of little dots! The vases for the flowers had little dots on them and even the cake carried the theme. The flowers, by the way, were favors and just so sweet and beautiful. And they weren't the only favors...Joanie made personalized chocolate bar wrappers...check it out! Again, it's hard not to be totally overwhelmed and feel totally inadequate when given a shower this beautiful. These girls went to great lengths to have just the right decor and the most incredible food...Joanie even put together a devotional for the occassion. It was just wonderful to see these girls. Thank you, precious BSGs, for an unforgettable day and for your sweet gifts...I've unpacked all of them and I'm ready to use 'em! Thank you!!!

So once again, that is three shower in three days. That also means three cakes in three days! I was in my glory. Thank you, everyone, for making this such a special time for Kevin and me...please know that we love you and appreciate you and respect you so much. We are surrounded by wonderful people and we're going to work hard to live up to all the love you've shown us!

Ode to the Blog Readers from PSU

At Jason's 30th birthday party I (Kevin) was proud to learn that at least 2 of my friends had taken the time to read the Vileation Nation blog (or at least admit to it). To show my appreciation, this is my segment to them: Ode to the Blog Readers (both of them)


Blog Reader #1: KYLE (he got to go first because he actually left a comment...once...)

Kyle grew up in Honeyoye Falls, NY, a suburb of Rochester, NY. He was raised on Cheese Factory Road, however, don't be fooled - the Cheese Factory had shut down years before. While we were roommates in college, Kyle once came at me with a baseball bat. Fortunately, he later met his wife Sherry, who decided to do charity work and marry Kyle. They now have a wonderful family of 4 (Kyle, Sherry, Teague, and Brody).



If you want to meet Kyle you can often find him at Penn State football games. You can find him by looking for the guy who walked a mile carrying a bag of pork.



Blog Reader #2: ANDREW (he is second because he only can 'claim' to have visited the blog)


Andrew is another Penn Stater who is more commonly known as Lights, Camera, Butville (lucky I can no longer find the link). Andrew and I went to high school and college together. Andrew is married to a saint named Jodi and they are expecting their first child in November (congrats!).


If you want to find Andrew I would suggest trying NYC at a bar that has a beer pong tournament.




Thanks for tuning in (or at least scrolling to the bottom of this post) to read Ode to the Blog Readers, the Kyle and Andrew edition.




And finally, here is the real test....will Kyle and/or Andrew leave a comment?

PocoYES!

Who knew that the Poconos could be more than champagne glass shaped jacuzzis and hunting lodges? Well it turns out that it is much more...in fact, it's a beautiful region of the world. Just ask Heather and Jeremiah as they were stranded about a half-hour outside our rustic retreat and had to enjoy sitting on the side of the road, taking it all in. I hear they found a wonderful place called "Dairy Queen" while they waited.

Anyway, truly, the weekend away in the wilderness was fantsatic. When I say "wilderness" I am saying that the road we were staying on was essentially unmarked and unpaved. After that, we had all the modern amenities, which is the only way I "camp." We were only 5 miles away from a grocery store but we were reminded of the Blair Witch Project every time we set out to find it. In a good way. In an exciting "we're on an adventure" way.

So it was a great time. Sawyer and Aaron (the newest babies) got to meet each other for the first time, and big brother Joshua (Aaron's big brother) definitely set a fantastic example for the other two boys. Poor little Joshua had fractured his tibia shortly before the trip, but it didn't slow him down one bit. He was so happy and playful and sweet and CUTE. It seemed pretty evident that Aaron and Sawyer plan to follow his lead...I'll tell you, the children of the GCC girls are real lookers.

Check out a few pictures from the weekend here. Everyone earned the title of "Guitar Hero," too ...you'll see everyone rockin' out to the tunes. Watching Dog and Jim was like actually attending a concert, they were movers and shakers. Literally. Next step...purchasing "Rock Band."

It should also be noted that we watched the space shuttle Discovery take off...courtesy of JC who is a big fan of the NASA channel. I had no idea there even was a NASA channel, but now I'm a little hooked.

And a very special "thank you" to Susan, Heather and Amanda for the absolutely spectacular photo book for the baby. I'll have to figure out some way to scan a few pictures into the blog, but this thing is amazing. Honestly, the book is so professional and beautiful, we still can't get over it. Thank you, girls! I read and re-read the book all the time! Also, I'm finally getting the hang of the alphabet, so thanks for doing the whole "a is for...b is for...c is for..." theme. My favorite is "n is for napping...that means you, baby." I still don't know where you found all those crazy pictures from our past, but I'm so glad you did.

Stay tuned for another Pocono posting as Kevin and I will be traveling back up there next weekend for the Vileation Nation family outing. It will be the first time Kevin's entire family will be together in a LONG time. Years. Since his three siblings are all affiliated with the military in some way, they seem to spend a lot of time serving our nation in foreign countries. We're just so glad they're not in some desert right now since it is a miserable 100 degrees in Maryland today.

And by the way, we're into week 35 of growing this baby, so I'm hoping that this heat wave is not labor-inducing in some way! I could use just a little more time to get ready for this person...

Kevin is a saint

Being the husband of a nagging hormonal bully is tough.

Here's Kevin mowing the lawn after incessant nagging.

Here's Kevin making a milkshake for himself and then sharing with his obnoxious wife who wasn't satisfied with her own dessert.

Here's Kevin with his beloved Mountaineer right before we took it to Saturn to trade it in for something more fuel-efficient (and consequently less manly).

Here's Kevin patiently tolerating Infant Care class. I'm glad he looks so happy since we're going back for Part II this week.

I sure do love this man.