squishyel: All about family

What a busy Memorial weekend we had! Whenever we go home there never seems to be enough time to do everything or see everybody. This weekend was definitely all about family.

Sister Reunion (check out Isa's fingertoes)
We didn't arrive till friday evening and had to skip out on Kathleen's rehearsal dinner. Darn, I would've love to have had some of the seafood newburg. Instead we had dinner with Erick's parents. As always they cooked up a feast. I couldn't even taste everything before I got full. Saturday was especially nice. Before going to Kathleen's wedding we took Erick's family out for lunch in downtown Charleston to celebrate his birthday.

The day was gorgeous! We took a stroll through Waterfront Park and had a prelunch dessert of Italian ice.

Isa relaxed and finally let her grandparents hold her without crying.

We were able to take some wonderful shots of the family.

It was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves. The day was so nice we were almost tempted to skip the ceremony so that we could walk around with the family and see some of the arts from the Spoleto Festival which happened to also be going on that weekend.

We vowed to come back before going home Sunday. Kathleen's wedding was lovely except we had to watch it behind glass in the cry room.

Hangin' out with Isa and Lal in the cry room

Lovely Wedding Party

Mommy stopping the procession to pose

Lovely bridesmaid Emily

In due time Isa
My cousin looked beautiful and so young.

I didn't recall Erick and I looking that young when we got married.

The Happy Couple I can't believe she was getting married already. It seemed like only yesterday when they had arrived from the Philippines. Her reception was at Cypress Gardens which I had never been to before. The garden had a quaint and tranquil feel to it. The reception was filipino style with a whole lechon and the traditional filipino dance with the candles. The bride however wasn't the only one attracting attention. It seemed like everyone wanted to hold Isa and she wasn't going to have any of it. She cried throughout most of the reception whenever someone tried to hold her. Poor thing, I thought she was going to get dehydrated from all the tears that was spilling out of her.

Kristi and Isa
Sunday was spent with just our little family. For his birthday, Erick just wanted to walk around the Piccolo Spoleto Festival and take pictures of downtown. It was much warmer on Sunday but we were still able to have a nice family outing and take some decent shots.

Marion Square

The fountain at Marion Square

Two Meeting Street Inn

Shady lane of trees at the Battery

Yellow House on the Battery
Isa seemed to enjoy walking around the Battery and feeling the cool sea breeze on her face.

I even got a little taste of Charleston before going home with my favorite Low Country Saute from Vickery's. The icing on the cake was being able to see my family one more time before heading back to Florida. Lal, Joe, Ron, Emily, and my mom joined us at Erick's house for his "cake cutting" ceremony.

It was nice to share some laughter with the family again. The best interaction I saw out of Isa yet was with my brother. In his cool way he was able to make Isa laugh and she totally wanted him to hold her after that.