Q*bert

During a google image search for a picture of a cinnamon cake doughnut, a sadly undermade and underoffered delicacy of modern America that I now crave daily, I managed to stumble across an image of Q*bert.

If you were a kid in the 80s, you can stop reading as all further information will be well known to you. This was absolutely one of my favorite arcade games, and I took my task of turning all the little blue triangles yellow quite seriously. I do apologize for Coily the Snake's absense from this image.......we was a worthy adversary much deserving of representation. But worry not. I did manage to find both he and Q*bert memorialized in a pair of earrings.

My Christmas list is now complete.

Labor Day festivities

We had a very exciting weekend here in 'lanter. My mom and Allen were in town for some shopping and big city adventures. Though we sadly did not make our way to Dragon*con (next year or bust!), we certainly had much more fun at the Decatur Book Festival. JK. Actually, with the weather finally giving us a break, there couldn't have been anything finer. Sunday night we all headed to Burk and Heather's for a yummy bbq to celebrate Labor Day in proper fashion. Harrison was the clear winner of the "Cute with Bubbles" Award.

Peter proved his father with camera capabilities with this auto-timer pic of everyone as the night ended. What's with that giant belly on Ash? Hmm...anything going on there?

To wrap up the weekend, Thomas arrived to begin the 'lanter recolation project. Per their blog, we should have them settled in by October, but not without herculean effort. We'll be so happy for them to be here, but even happier for them to be here and finished with their month of mayhem. I think Carter's opinion on the subject shows in this picture ;)

book club

All the muchachas from book club.

the wedding.....after hours

A couple of snipits from the end of the night.

the actual WEDDING

Saturday, July 28th!

We had a mostly relaxing day, little hiking, little eating...the good stuff :) Then it was time to get ready for the big day!!!! The wedding took place in the amazing backyard of Shannon's grandparents "cabin".

At last! The moment arrives!
Mike and Jill busted being extremely cute :)
Trip won the travel award. His flight out of Baltimore was delayed, making him miss his flight out of Denver. He ended up with a hotel 35 miles away, instead of the 5 miles he had been told. The following morning, in classic fashion, his flight was cancelled. He made it to the wedding with about an hour to spare.
They were being sweet and cute there for a second, but really just didn't seem right. We all agreed this was much more fitting.
Even WeeCarter made a guest appearance!!

Marc & Shannon's Wedding

At long last, my blog laziness is at an end. We actually have so much to tell, but I can't let another day go by without sharing pix from Marc & Shannon's wedding in South Lake Tahoe. I've explained the story previously, but to sum up, this was my cousin Shannon's marriage to my brother-in-law's best friend. Surprisingly, none of them are Southern ;)
We shared a "cabin" with my mom & Allen, Thomas, Elizabeth & WeeCarter, and Ron & Bronwyn. We filled our days hiking along gorgeous lakes and mountain trails, then spent the evenings celebrating with the family. Needless to say, it was a BLAST!!!

Our hike along Echo Lake

Shannon (aka bride) with cousin triplets Jefferey, Allen and Clayton, with Jeff towering above.

I know it's blurry, but this picture of Lynn, mother of the bride, and Vivian, mother of the groom, was too adorable to pass up.

Thomas and Elizabeth charting out the tale of our wacky relations and how Marc & Shannon got together.

Our near-cabin mates, and Thomas & Elizabeth's other best friends, Rob & Rachel.

Murph!

A quick post to welcome our newest member of the household, Murphy! He is the most awesome cuddle chunk. The Murph-man could not be resisted. I saw a poster in the hallway at work describing a roommate situation that was requiring them to give up Murph instead of the roommate.....an arrangement that would have gone the other way in my house.

We arranged a meeting, and it was truly love at first sight. He a true love monkey, and of course reminds me of Cheesecake (aka Best Cat Ever in Universe). He has swirly stripes like Miles, is soft like Flounder, gives looks like Panda, is goofy like Ollie, and is chunky sweetness like Weezer. But he is definitely his own man....well, cat.

fun wedding pix

Yes indeed, much fun was had at the NC wedding, so I thought I'd share a few more.

Pat & Anna's Wedding in NC

Sorry for the shamefully late update on last weekend's wedding, but we forgot our camera. Enjoy the pirated pix, compliments of Deuce.

Pat is a buddy of Park's from college, who met the most incredible woman in the world a couple of years ago. We could not have been happier to celebrate their big day with everyone. As always, Chad delivered a memorable and unique ceremony by which our two pirates were joined to share their eternal journey to the buried treasure.

OK. This is a hideous picture of me, but everyone else looks good. We are the witnesses/accomplices/pirate crew...

a cape town accomplishment

We made it to the end of the world twice during days in Cape Town. The very tip of Africa ends in a little U-shaped cape. On one tip is the Cape of Good Hope, where we ended our 2nd day, and Cape Point, where we ended our last day. Cape Point is really interesting because it actually has a big rock formation that jets out into the Atlantic, which of course we could not skip walking out to the end to see. We were dodging squalls and slippery rocks on our not-so-short hike, but it was sooooo worth it!

Just a few work photos

In the craziness of being away, plus the ridiculously slow connection, many posts that I had wanted to do just had to wait. I just want to share a little more of my time in Malawi. And don't worry, there will be many more of Park and I on our vacay!
my guys: Andrew & Edward, or as we lovingly call them, Adverse Events :)

Baby scale
OK. I'll admit it, we staged this one. But really only because I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to catch Edward talking on the phone and coordinating at the same time with someone else by CB for real!!!

Weekend in Brooklyn

While Park was Medieval Times-ing with the boys in Chicago, Shannon and I ventured to Brooklyn for some quality girl and wee Carter time. And, ok, before Park shoots, they also went to the Cubs-Padres game at Wrigley and did other man-stuff. We focused on girl-fun...basically hanging out in Prospect Park, a little shopping, fun dinner and lots of chatting! The wee-Carter time was amazing. He is the sweetest little nugget in the world, though technically not so little. Apparently, he's so tall that Eli occasionally has to reassure people that he's only ~13 months and that it is still natural for him not to be walking and talking. Seriously, the kid was TOWERING over another boy 4 months older than him at the park.

Gratuitous nudie shot

And yes, he is already almost taller than Aunt Ashley

Pensacola Weekend

Spent this past weekend in Pensacola to celebrate Allen's XXth birthday. We definitely had a blast hangin at the pool with Lori, Adam and the girls......sorry no photos while poolside. Hung out with Lisa, Pete and Adam Friday night.


yes, that is a krispy kreme cake with 60 candles in it. Oh, oops, did I say 60?

South Africa!

It's not all Elephants and Lions in Africa, you know! They have beachfront property, and oh yeah, the South Western most point on the continent.

Images below.... enjoy!


Cape Town


The gondola that takes you to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town.


The view from another side of Table Mountain.


Us atop Table Mountain.


We drove down the coast to get to the 'end of the world' and stopped to have a drink at the Mariner's Wharf in Hout Bay.


Further down the coast is Boulder Beach, where a famous colony of Penguins live.


Ash makes a friend.


Made it to the end of the world - the Cape of Good Hope!


Here is the other side at Cape Point - lighthouse and everything. Next stop, Antarctica.


We also made a small tour around South African wine country - Stellenbosch. Here is the view from our room overlooking vineyards.


At one particular vineyard, they had Cheetahs... yes, Cheetahs at a vineyard. We'll explain later.

Looking forward to showing all the pics!

-Ash & Park

More Images from Africa!

We made it back safely and wanted to post some more photos of our time in Africa. Below are more shots from the Zambia/Safari portion... will post up some Cape Town/South Africa shots shortly.

Enjoy.


The 8-seater from Lilongwe, Malawi to Mfuwe, Zambia (hour long flight) - piloted by David Lee Roth.


Giraffe and Puku.


Our Lion and Lioness.


Beautiful sunset on the first night drive.


A sign of things to come for some unlucky buffalo.



Ash standing on a rare open plain in South Luangwe National Park.


Monitor Lizard.


The 4-seater back - the pilot and my shoulders were touching - it was that small!

More to come.

-Ash & Park