Italy!

Last week Chad and I spent some time in Italy. Chad had a conference he was attending in Rome, so I, being the supportive wife that I am, thought that I better go along to support him on this journey.



Before going to the conference, we took a side trip to Cinque Terre where we did a day long hike to all five towns that were all situated right along the Mediterrean

Taking a dip in the Mediterranean in Monterosso

Our hike to Corniglia (one of the five cities)

In the streets of Vernazza

A view of Vernazza (pictures don't even do it justice!)

Our last night in Monterosso...and then back to Rome for Chad's conference

I thought I better throw this pic in just to prove Chad was actually attending a conference

On Thursday, while the husbands attended the conference we three ladies (Erika, Janet, and I) decided to tackle Rome by foot.

We made it to the Piazza de Popolo

and the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

We then caught up with the hubbys and others in the group and checked out the Colosseum

(can you see it was a little windy...I was having a little skirt issue in this pic!)

We checked out the Vatican and St Peters Basilica on Saturday morning

And we did an amazing romantic night walk through Rome (with Chad as our tour guide) that ended up at the Spanish Steps

The group at the Pantheon on our night walk. Nothing says romance like a group of 12!

A Trip to Beaver Stadium

We decided to take Brielle to her first ever Penn State football game this past weekend. But before we took her, there were a few things that had to be done.

#1 - Know your mascot...Check.

#2 - Have the proper attire...check.

# 3 = Show good sportsmanship to opposing teams. (Here we sat Brielle next to our neighbor Lila whose Daddy is a HUGE Notre Dame fan. We figure if she could be cordial to a Notre Dame fan she could make it with anybody.) Check.

Brielle absolutely loved it there. We made it to the beginning of the 4th quarter at which point she decided to take a pooper and stunk up our whole section. We thought that might be a good exit point for us.

We (Chad especially) just loved being able to take Brielle into the stadium. Its an afternoon we will never forget.

Raystown Lake

This past weekend we traveled to Raystown Lake to join up with some friends from State College for Brielle's first experience camping! The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we had a great time.

Brielle had a great time playing in the sand. Her little mini turtle sandbox at home just doesn't quite compare.

Thanks to our little early riser, we took a morning walk to the water. It was really quite peaceful (or it was just me not being fully awake yet.)

Brielle had a great time playing with friends both young...

...and old(er)

Life Lately

Last week my parents came for a couple of days to spend some time in Altoona. Brielle just loves having her grandparents come and visit, so to have Chad's Mom here the week before and my parents last week...Brielle was in her glory!

But since they left, Brielle has just been sitting around, chillin', trying to find any place to stay cool.

But she has still been sweating her little patootie off, so whats a girl to do...

...well why not strip down naked. Careful for those pebbles Brielle! :)

In addition to the grandparents watching Brielle they also helped me with a little painting project. I had purchased an old dining room set last summer with the intentions of painting it at some point. Well fall, winter, and spring came and went and the furniture still wasn't painted so I finally decided with the extra hands around for the next couple of weeks I would try to tackle it. So here are some before and after pictures of the furniture pieces. Thanks for all your help Mama C, and Mom & Dad G!


Before the paint:

After the paint:

She's Walking!

Here's a little video

I can't believe our little girl is walking!

Long Overdue

This blog post is long overdue, so get ready because this post is jam packed with stuffed!

Right now Chad's mom is here and Brielle is loving it (and so are we, of course)!

They've been reading together
Brielle's been climbing on things (yes Kim...we might have a Brookie on our hands!)

And they've been enjoying the pool together (don't you just love those little buns?!)

Over the last month our family has had the opportunity to spend a lot of time at a couple of beaches.

Chad's advisor invited us to stop at their cottage on Lake Erie on our travels back from Michigan.

Brielle absolutely loved it in the water...

...and the sand.

We also went back to Michigan to camp with Chad's brother Jeff and his wife Shawna on the shores of Lake Michigan. Despite Brielle getting a cold and Chad getting sick at the end of the week we had a great time. Here are just a few pics from the week.

In the middle of the camping trip we took a little time to get a family pic taken. Not bad for having a husband who was miserable (he was really faking it in this pic) and and a daughter who was about 5 seconds from being sick of having to sit still and watch people making funny faces at her to try to get her to smile.

Since Chad has been done with his dissertation he was looking for a new challenge, so he decided to tackle our bathroom. For those of you who know Chad, he is not one who really feels comfortable around power tools but he really was excited for this project.

This is our bathroom before Chad went to work...floral patterns everywhere (even the floor!)

He took down the entire partition wall

Just a pic of my hubby by a power tool (I thought I better capture this moment as it might never happen again in our lifetime!)

And the final product...Chad took down the old wall, ripped out our sink, installed new flooring, put up wainscoating, installed new moldings, framed a new wall, patched up our ceiling, and painted. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical with him tackling such a big project for his first time, but he did such a great job. The bathroom looks completely different.