I have to add my notes still but our trip to Illinois was fantastic! Here are most of our Chicago pictures- from the W hotel on Lakeshore, Art Institute of Chicago, Gino’s East for deep dish pizza, fireworks cruise on Lake Michigan, Shedd Aquarium, mani/pedis with Grandma Sharen, Ryan & Jill’s wedding, family hanging out ones, the window getting busted and more. I still have to add the pictures from meeting and petting the penguins behind the scenes at Shedd Aquarium. Most of the aquarium and artwork photos are Hayley’s photos.
I love this photo of Hayley dancing with her cousin Ryan.
And this video of her nailing him leaving the church to head to the reception. Ryan was about Hayley’s age at our wedding and nailed us leaving too. Revenge is sweet!
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It’s been a busy week! Hayley wanted to go to the NC Museum of Art so we headed over there to wander around since we hadn’t been since the renovations. She took lots of photos of her favorite stuff, mostly Egyptian and modern stuff. Good warmup for our big Chicago trip and visit to the Art Institute there!
I took this one photo of her but the rest are hers:
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Then this week Hayley and I went to see Rent put on by Broadway Series South group in Raleigh. First time I’d seen it on stage and it was wonderful. Hayley was transfixed by Angel – it was a raucous intimate setting in the Fletcher Theater so she had fun hooting and clapping. I think we would have stayed after for autographs but Hayley was in a very cool movie making camp over in Durham all week and morning was going to come early!
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Hayley had a soccer tournament down in Wilmington this weekend in May and we had such a great time!! I’ll post more photos later!
We stayed down on Wrightsville at the Blockade Runner and made sure to hit a lot of old spots I love from my years in Wilmington. We hit the Oceanic with Nicole, Trolley stop for hotdogs, the Fish House for a fantastically fun team dinner and then Elijah’s so I could get my crab dip fix. Funny to be outside Elijah’s with Jeff and Hayley – brought back a lot of memories of the gang down there. I ate lots of crab and buffalo shrimp, heck I think drank more this weekend than I have in past two years combined.
The games on Saturday were tough – long story but the kids still had fun that night at dinner (the parents had more fun). In the first game Saturday, Hayley’s team played a team with several kids she played three years of rec soccer with from ages 6 to 9. Then on the next field over was another child from that same team too. Getting to see those three kids and their parents was really neat for us. TThank goodness Sunday’s soccer was much better and a nice solid win to end the season for the kids.
We had to go back to the beach after that last game and I’m glad we did – three dolphins showed up on the beach and Hayley was just beside herself over it. She’s getting older and those moments of rare unbridled joy of childhood are getting less frequent.
We made Jeff a great rainbow cake for his birthday a few weeks ago. Super fun to make, it turned out cute and tasted awesome. We had some good Chinese at Red Bowl that night too so I randomly took some photos of that. What can I say, I like pretty food.
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We had a great Easter with our friends. We did eggs with the same gang we have for years and then we did our joint hunt that Easter morning with the Renfroe family next door. We are really lucky to live in a neighborhood with friends we love! We worked in the yard some, went to a lacrosse game.
I love this photo of Mason and Hayley, 2010:
Especially compared to them years ago:
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Poor Jeff, we just keep dragging him to more sporting events where UNC kicks VT’s butt. The times VT wins (and they definitely do – outside of last year, they’ve whipped us in fball most of the time) we just seem to be elsewhere. Hayley was a ballgirl for UNC women’s lacrosse last week and of course UNC won 19-3.
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Hayley is learning to rollerblade. The process just cracked me up so of course I had to snap a few photos and videos with the iphone while we were outside. At this stage, she reminds me of the colts at the stable, just all long skinny legs. Almost 12 and she’s barely 64 pounds.
I love this video clip – she’s lucky to have a good dad and uncle to help:
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We had our 5th Gingerbread Demo Derby after Christmas – we had more friends involved than ever in the creation and destruction. Christmas Eve we had family and friends over for Chinese food and the construction of the Gingerbread House, which was one big deluxe house, one small house and one little leftover kit so it was more of a Gingerbread Country Estate. I simply don’t care how they look, what I care about is having fun and the kids being silly (ok the adults too).
If you don’t know the background, we discovered that no one actually liked gingerbread despite making houses yearly. My brother-in-law and I came up with the idea to smash them with remote controlled cars and we’ve been doing it each year ever since! So once the gifts are opened and the Christmas food consumed, we drag the Gingerbread house to the cul-de-sac, the kids get 30 seconds to grab candy they want and then we rev up the cars to smash it up. Oh and anything left standing, the kids get to jump up and down on.
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And yes I’ll get back to posting photos soon. I’m still taking them, just haven’t felt like posting them. Nothing is wrong, just busy with life. Yes I’m about three months behind.
Edna Bell Miller, age 90, of Amboy, died Friday January 8, 2010 in her home. She was born in China Twp., Lee County, August 15, 1919 the daughter of Lester and Hazel (Virgil) Reid.
She had farmed with her husband for many years in the Amboy area.
She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Amboy and the Lee County Farm Bureau. She was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.
She married Howard Hillison September 28, 1937. He preceded her in death December 16, 1949. She then married Howard Miller in Amboy on September 6, 1952. He preceded her in death July 20, 1997. She was also preceded in death by a son Reid Miller and a sister Ruth Underhile.
She is survived by 2 sons Dr. John (Sharen) Hillison of Blacksburg, VA, and Rory (Kathy) Miller of Amboy; 4 grandchildren Jeff (Michelle) Hillison of Cary, NC, Jay Hillison of Roanoke, VA, Ryan Miller and Kelsey Miller both of Amboy; 1 great granddaughter Hayley Hillison of Cary, NC.
Funeral services will be held on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 11:00 AM in the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Amboy. Burial will follow at Woodside Cemetery in Lee Center. Visitation will be held on Sunday January 10, from 4:00 until 8:00 PM in the Mihm-Jones Funeral Home in Amboy and also on Monday from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM in the church. In lieu of flowers a memorial has been established to the Lee County Farm Bureau Scholarship Fund and the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Amboy.
Edna Bell Miller, age 90, of Amboy, died Friday January 8, 2010 in her home. She was born in China Twp., Lee County, August 15, 1919 the daughter of Lester and Hazel (Virgil) Reid.
