St. Louis & Sara

Sara came to visit us.  Yea!!  For the first days that she was here, we didn't do anything too spectacular.  We ran some errands (which are strangely fun when you have someone to go with you!), wondered around ASU campus and went to an ASU football game.  We enjoyed having her around and Eric even warmed up to her after about 30 seconds.  It was a fun time!

Sara, Jeffrey & I at the ASU football game.

So, when Sara bought her ticket to come to Arkansas, she Pricelined tickets to and from St. Louis, since there is a REALLY cheap flight from St. Louis to Jonesboro.  Only problem...she bought her tickets to return on Saturday before realizing that there are no flights out of Jonesboro on a Saturday.  So, since she pricelined the ticket, there was no way to change it, and no other way to get her back to St. Louis other than to drive her there.  Time for a fun family trip!  We have been thinking we should go to St. Louis since it's only 4 hours away and what better time than when Sara is with us?  We drove up Friday, got a hotel where we got to go swimming, which we loved (except for Andrew, who acts like he's being tortured when he's in the pool.  Weird since he was born in Florida and went swimming every day in the summers when we lived there).  After dinner, Dan & I went to the temple while Sara kept the kids, then the next morning we drove to the Arch.  I've driven by it a bazillion times on cross country trips, but never stopped.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day - a warm 70 degrees and so fun to see the big city.

Caitylyn, Sara, Jeffrey & Andrew in front of the barge go down the Mississippi River.

Dad & Eric in front of the St. Louis city line.

Dan & I by the Arch.

Jeffrey & Caitlyn - I LOVE Caitlyn's shirt, but she NEVER wears it.  Since I do the packing, she had no choice :) I had to take lots of pictures while she was wearing it.

Jeffrey & Caitlyn by the Arch.  It was SO WINDY!

Sara - got to check off something from her bucket list:  Visit St. Louis Arch.

Inside the Museum - the kids had the camera and took a million pictures.  

Inside the Museum.

The fam ready to go up in the egg-shaped tram to the top of the Arch.

All well and good until you start moving.  They got a little nervous.

Fun times!

Eric was hungry and grumpy, but when we started moving he became very calm.

Mississippi River from the top.

Andrew & Eric liked looking out the little windows.  Cute little bums.

Jeffrey - 630 feet up!

St. Louis from the top.

Up in the Arch...check.

Grumpy child - love it.

A coal train went right by on our way back to the car.  Really cool.

So - moral of the story.  Check flights before you assume you can fly out of Jonesboro, but enjoy the adventure when it presents itself!  Thanks for coming Sara - we loved having you here!

Here, there & everywhere (part 4)

Okay, after this post, I will officially consider myself caught up...although it's not really true, since we've had several months since the summer, but whatever.

The last part of the crazy summer (other than the buying of a house...) was the Leckie Family Reunion.  We've all been together several times, but this is the first year that we rented a cabin.  We were going to get a smaller place in Gatlinburg, but 2 days before check in, the cabin we were supposed to get had potty problems, which worked out great for us, because we got moved to a significantly bigger and "nicer" cabin, for no extra $$.  Awesome.  It was a fun week with lots of people and lots of kids, but we had a blast.  Here are a few highlights...

We got to the cabin on August 6 and checked out on August 10.  In on my birthday, out on my mom's birthday.  So the first day there, we had a little combined birthday party.  With a yummy Publix cake :)  This is the first time I remember my mom and I sharing a birthday party.  It was fun!

I turned 33 and my mom turned 63.

Modeling my new running shoes from Dan.

There was a fun theater room, which we manged to squeeze a lot of people into!

Rylee really loved to chase Eric.  Every now and then she'd catch him.

No vacation would be vacation without food for Dan.

Eric thought it was fun to help feed Rylee.

Start of our "Variety Show."  Pretty much everyone participated with one random act or another.  

Nathan seemed the obvious choice for the MC.

Grandpa Leckie relaxing on the deck.

Andrew wanted to swim in the hot tub nearly every minute.

Eric found and emptied the chip cabinet by carrying each bag one at a time to Aunt Sara.

Andrew, Eric & Rylee finding fun in the cabinets.

Sara & Jared orchestrated a game for all to play.  Only minor casualties, so it was a good time!

Derek, Megan, Jeffrey, Brandon & Kate.

Brian, Caitlyn, Andrew & me (I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm not texting as it appears).

Andrew got a little wet - which he loved.

Pretty view from the deck.

Gotta have pictures!

The whole crazy gang.  30 people in all.

Original Joe & Betty Leckie family.

Here, there & everywhere (part 3)

 July: When the crazyness really begins...

We had planned to leave our home in Springville on July 18.  We were throwing a bridal shower for Sara in Springville on July 17.  On the 17th I left with Sara to go to her shower, came home and we finished the cleaning in our house and left at midnight that night.  Not exactly what we had planned, but it worked out.  So we left at midnight (and somehow missed taking pictures in the madness) and drove straight through to Topeka, KS.  It was a LONG night, but thanks so Sara & my dad driving the Penske truck, we made it.  

Sara's briday shower at her friend, Jen's house:

In our hotel in Topeka.  Everyone was plum tuckered out....

Jeffrey & Andrew

Poor, tired, Eric

Caitlyn & Sara...who were supposed to be up and rolling by now...

Dad got caught sleeping too, but jumped up and put on a happy face :)

Making sure we knew where we were going before we left that morning.

 And we made it to Arkansas...hallelujah!  We stopped by campus to see where Dan would be working.

Caitlyn, Andrew & Jeffrey sitting with the Arkansas State Red Wolf.

So we put our stuff in a storage unit in Jonesboro, looked at the one house that we hadn't taken off the table as an option, and put an offer in.  Then we left for SC and Sara's wedding!  Yeah!

Eric helping Sara play piano.

Sara with Eric & Rylee.

So Sara wanted a 'simple' reception.  Guess she thought that blowing up a thousand balloons and hanging them from fishing wire strewn across the gym was simple.  At least she was willing to help out in assembly line that we had going on.  Good thing we had a lot of manpower!

Sara's wedding day!  They got married on a HOT day in the Columbia, SC temple.

How better to celebrate a wedding than with a formal luncheon?  Or...Rush's fried food?

Even the bride and groom got in on the greasy action.

The reception that evening in Greenville:

 

The finished balloon ceiling and decorated gym.

Why not get a family picture when you've got everyone together and a brother with a nice camera?

Cutting the cake.

Dancing with dad.

What would a family gathering be without a few tears from mom?

Cute Andrew.

The crazy kid room.  Better not to see the wild children in there!

Leckie side family that came to the reunion:  Uncle Leon, dad, Genaidi, Thelma, Uncle Lonnie, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Gary, Aunt Betty & Jane.

Leaving through a cloud of bubbles.

Driving off into a beautiful sunset.

As soon as they were out of the parking lot, we armed all the young children with sharp objects and cut down the balloons.  Sounded like a war going on in there.

Amazing how fast things come down, compared to how long it takes to get them up!

Okay, so I was going to finish up July, but I can't get the pictures to add where I want them, and it's late.  So looks like it will be a 4 part 'brief' summary of our past year.  Next time:  NC & Leckie Family Reunion...for real.