roadtrip part one

so here's a bit of a summary of our roadtrip in photos...i wish i could say i took a lot of pictures, but to be quite frank with you, i was rather preoccupied keeping cadence occupied...but here are a few of the highlights...

i think i already mentioned that we stopped in lancaster,pa on the way to new jersey...and this flower basket was hanging at the corner where queen street meets chestnut in downtown lancaster...denison's former apt (where he wrote some of his songs including 'dain' from whence come the lyrics about queen street meeting chestnut) is kiddy corner across the street...lancaster was a lovely little city, and ted already wants to move there...we partook of central market, which has one of the oldest farmers markets in the country (since the 1700s)...we saw a lot of amish and mennonites, and they were some of the loveliest people you'll ever meet...

so we made it new jersey, and we had a lovely rehearsal dinner with all the relatives...we were pretty beat though from all the driving, so we were happy to relax by the hotel pool on saturday since the wedding wasn't until 3pm...here's cadence all decked out in her pool outfit looking like she knows she's da bomb!

...it was cadence's first swim out of the womb, so it took her a little while to get used to the idea of being in water for a reason other than bathing, but once she caught on, she loved it!

...it ended up being really nice weather for my cousin ben's wedding, which was a relief because it had rained cats and dogs the whole day before, and we were getting tired of the rain...the wedding was lovely, although we saw most of it through the window on the doors to the chapel because cadence was being a LOUD baby...she was probably REALLY tired...overall, though, she was great and we got through the reception just fine...

more later...

"where queen street meets chestnut one block west of you..."

for those of you who are wondering what the significance of this intersection is, well, denison witmer refers to it in his song 'dain' on his 'safe away' album...i made sure we visited the site as long as we were in lancaster, pa on our roadtrip to my cousin ben's wedding in new jersey...

on the move...

...well, it's official...we've got a mobile baby in the house! cadence began maneuvering herself around the room pretty well since her very first crawls at grandma and grandpa's house this past sunday...it's still kinda awkward looking, but she's definitely gaining ground, and we are so screwed because we're just not ready for this...actually, we're beaming with pride at our little one! she'll be walking before we know it! *sniff* sniff* sniff*...

...so we're leaving in the morning for a roadtrip out east...first stop will be the rock 'n' roll hall of fame in cleveland...gotta pay homage to woody, ya know?...then on to pennsylvania dutch country to lancaster, denison's hometown...gotta go see where queen street meets chestnut, like in his song 'dain'...then we're off to the main reason for our trip, which is my cousin ben's wedding in princeton, nj, which is saturday...then off to josh and lielle's in CT and hopefully we'll get to see the rest of our CT posse (caleb, kathy, audrey, todd, pierre)...we'll only be in connecticut for like 24 hours and then we have to head back to chicago because i work on wednesday...

...alright...back to finishing up packing...

happy birthday to me!

...yes, today is my birthday, and my dear friends connie and cousin kris took us out to dinner at deleece...it was a yummy night and great to spend time w/ the ladies, as well as with my family...

skater baby

...cadence had her first ride on her skateboard yesterday...this was a christmas present from her uncle, my cousin inho out in san diego...she looks like she's ready to do a grab already...ollies are next!