My wonderful cousin Andy and his beautiful bride Yuliya gave us all a great excuse to get the Rice side of our family together this summer. They were married in Green Lake, WI at the Heidel House Resort on August 30th under the perfect afternoon sun with the sparkling blue lake as a backdrop. Yuliya is originally from Belarus and they met in Baraboo, Wisconsin where they both work and live. I am so happy for Andy. He is one my 7 cousins from my mom's side and we all grew up together and still see each other as often as we can, usually for weddings and family reunions. As we were growing up, my grandparents made sure our families got together often, so we all have strong, lasting relationships with each other ~ it's one of my grandparents' greatest gifts. To see Andy so happy with someone who clearly loves him so dearly... it was beautiful in every respect.
Kiera, Kendall and
their cousins all had fun jumping off the dock at the lake. We also enjoyed renting jet skis and swimming in the pools. Andy and Yuliya could not have picked a more beautiful spot. We got there on Thursday the 28th after a fun trip on the train. We left Nantucket early Wednesday with my parents and the Milesi family, took the ferry to Hyannis, then a van to Boston. We got the on the Amtrak train and headed to Albany where we boarded another overnight train to Chicago. Ian and I really like to travel by train, thanks mostly to my dad who is obsessed with them. I honestly think he knows the schedule of all Amtrak trains on any route, by heart. The girls LOVE to go by train ~ we got settled into our room and headed to dinner. When we got back our beds were made up and they giggled together in the top bunk, reading, until I forced them to turn out the lights and watch the scenery go by as they fell asleep to the rocking of the train.
The above picture is me and my fun, loving cousin Heather. She is 10 years younger than me, but we've always had a special relationship ever since she was a toddler. I always love seeing her because she brings such warmth and a smile to my heart and we're always laughing at one thing or another (usually ourselves). I feel so fortunate to have such a great extended family. No matter how much time goes by, the closeness between us is still there.
This is mom sitting with my Grandma Rice. She and my grandpa are two of the most special people in the world to me. My grandma is 91, and we unfortunately lost my Grandpa six years ago. I admired him so much, and I still can feel his gentle love smiling down on us when we're all together.
After we got off the train in Chicago, Kiera and I went with my mom to pick up Grandma and bring her to the wedding. Grandma still lives in her beautiful old farmhouse in Barrington, IL. It is a gorgeous piece of property with a horse barn, silo (which was featured on the Post cereal boxes a few (many?) years ago!) bull barn (where my mom held high-school dances!), tackroom, cow barn, pond, and acres and acres of land to run around and play. My brother, sister, cousins and I spent countless days here when we were growing up, and it probably could be rated as one of the best places to hold a game of "hide and seek". I was lost in memories while we were there, and it was so fun to show Kiera all the secret doors and ladders that zig-zagged throughout the large barns (which made it virtually impossible for anyone who was "it" to actually catch anyone). I was showing Kiera the lower part of barn in the above photo ~ she's standing next to one of the stalls, all which still have the names of my grandparent's past horses on them. Zarbour, T-bar, Wizard, Misty, Star (I learned to ride on Star), and this one is Sonny-Boy which is the horse my mom rode when she was young. It was incredibly meaningful for me to share this special place and it's memories with Kiera. She didn't want to leave, and neither did I.
