There ain't no party like a family party, because a family party is mandatory

So, I'm sure you're all wondering what we've been doing for the last several weeks.  And I'll tell you that we've been using the first few weeks of our vacation from school to rededicate ourselves to relationships with old and dear friends.

 

Yes, yes, the fact that none of our "friends" are real people did make us feel a little lonesome and pathetic.  Fortunately, in May we scheduled time for some sisterly bonding.

Alas, these Sisters were cancelled in 1996

So, we spent a week back in Philadelphia bonding with the Helimetses...Helimetsi...Helmets...My sister's family. 

The Smelimets Family

Alas, the euphoria...okay, mania (see above)...of seeing Molly, Tiit and Chloe was somewhat dampened when poor little Chloe fell ill.  Nothing too serious, thankfully, just fever and what I'm guessing is some pretty severe edema. 

Baby bloat

Mercifully, Chloe had drained and de-fevered in time for us to attend the bridal shower of my step-sister, Sarah, in Greenwich, CT. 

The food was delicious, the bride-to-be was lovely, and only once during lunch did Chloe look up from her plate to urgently declare "POOPING!"  Sadly, Nicholas did not provide the same warning and that brought the swimming to an untimely end. 

And then we came back to Cleveland and spent more time hanging out with our friends (See above). 

This weekend Nicholas and I drove from Cleveland to Morgantown, West Virginia, Morgantown to Nellysford, Virginia, and then back to Cleveland.  You might say that's insane...I would tell you that during a week when the headlines included "Police Shoot Naked Man Eating Another Man's Face", calling me crazy is a tad bit hasty.

Our primary suspect for that whole face-eating thing...

So when you consider the fact that everything is relative, I'm really a polygon of sanity.

Editor's Note: She almost certainly means paragon and not polygon.

No really, we went to Virginia for a very good reason.  Shelley Schwartz got married! 

The ceremony was lovely and the reception was a lot of fun. Stan gave a wonderful talk during the reception: 

Toast entitled "The Keys to Managing High Blood Sugar"

And Joey and Nicholas spent the whole time together corn-holing.

What? Not what you were expecting?

In the end a good time was had by all...

...Except by the person whom we forced to take this photo for us.