Sunday, July 27, 2008

in St. Louis: at McGurk's



Victoria and Dan's son Colin was baptised this afternoon. Avery was sleepy and too cranky to sit still in the church for the service (as you can see, he did sleep in the car for a while, wearing a new, adorable fishing-themed outfit) but he perked up in time to meet everyone afterwards at McGurk's pub.

Colin with his grandma (and Carolyn's aunt) Pat, and Avery with his grandpa Don:


Avery with his uncle Donnie:


Carolyn remembering what it is like to hold a small baby (in this case, it's baby Madison):


Carolyn with her aunt Joan, and Victoria (and also Madison):

Avery being entertained by Carolyn's aunt Peggy:

With Gogo in the gardens:



Avery hugged Carolyn's cousin Connor for a long time! He just rested his head on Connor's shoulder. It was very sweet.


Waving "bye bye" to Pat and (the younger cousin) Connor:

in St. Louis: Graduation Party!


It's been a great visit. We're ready to head back to New York (and see Ruby after about 2 whole weeks away from her!), but it's been great seeing so many wonderful relatives (including many new babies), many of whom we rarely get to visit with. Some of them said they enjoy looking at Avery's pictures on this blog which makes me realize more people look at this than we think. Thanks!
It's our last night here and we just heard about the UU church shooting in Knoxville, which is perhaps why I'm unable to sleep. Updating the blog is a fun distraction from some awful news. So sorry to be a "Debby Downer" -- we had an awesome time at Melanie's graduation party and as you can see, Avery seemed to enjoy himself as well:


Avery with Na Nay, Carmen and Tricia:

Playing with Carolyn's cousin Cody in a fun tunnel:

Yay for Aunt Mel; no more high school for her!:

Cody, Ava, Avery:



Colleen and baby Zoe:

Baby Party!:


Carolyn with cousin Victoria and her son Colin:

Connor and Avery: BFFs

Avery has a new best friend and favorite cousin (technically 2nd cousin or maybe 1st cousin once removed -- that is all way too complicated, so we just refer to everyone in the same age group as "cousins"). Connor lives in Arizona, but hopefully we'll be able to get together in St. Louis occasionally so the boys can play together! Connor was born in January 2007 which makes him 6 months older than Avery. They bonded by playing the piano together and then having a living room floor "slumber party." We all joked that they were "BFFs" who had formed a tight bond:









in St. Louis: at Joan and Jeff's house

Here it looks like Avery is playing the piano and folks are dancing to the music!:

Happy Birthday to 3-year old Olivia!:

Baby Zoe with dad Robert (Avery crawled up to Robert to give him a big hug -- so cute!):

Zoe's mom (and Carolyn's cousin) Colleen chatting with Mary and Meagan:


Mama Cathy (Colleen's twin) with son Connor, husband Greg, and baby girl Madison:



2 football players: Avery with Carolyn's cousin Rob, one of the few folks able to easily hold our 30-pound baby with one arm. Avery did immediately head for the football in Joan and Jeff's backyard, by the way. Ever since he was just a tiny baby, everyone has said he looks like he's got the build of a football player.


Avery climbed into baby Madison's carrier and we appeased him by pretending that he was just an "itty bitty baby":