We arrived in Ohio and immediately went to Grandmpa Pace's house to settle in. Exhausted from our journey, we all decided that we would stay home and sleep that night. JT and I realized later that it was a mistake. That night was Aunt Laura and second cousin Xander's birthday party. Exhaustion was a legitimate excuse, but looking back now we wish we would have just made the choice to attend.
The entire family did not come together until Grandma Pace's funeral. We got to meet all the uncles and aunts: David, Connie, Laura, and Erik. We also got to meet all the cousins and prospective cousins: James, Devin, Xander, Angie, Michael, Josh, Jacob, and Matt. Oh my goodness we had soo much fun with this family! They're all so fabulous it's crazy! Not to mention, there are four sets of newlyweds between all of us!
We all had lunch together and went to Grandma Pace's house from there. That was a lot of people to have under one roof! But we absolutely LOVED it.
Grandma Pace had a wonderful collection of Barbies. She had excellent taste and incredible talent. The individual barbie with the crocheted dress is all her own handiwork!
After a long and busy week JT was out like a light in that recliner! He slept like a bear in hibernation. I don't know how anyone could sleep through all that commotion!
This is Devin, Stephen, and Jacob. They are a really fun group to be around. I never did find out if Devin got her weekend at the spa!
Eric married Aunt Laura earlier this year. He's a lot of fun and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
This is JT's cousin James. They're the same age. With so many people in one house and so much activity, the poor guy's allergies were all in a flurry.
Connie married Uncle Dave earlier this year in an relaxing backyard wedding. The pictures looked like they had a lot of fun and style! Josh has plans to join the military in the future. I guess it runs in the family. Too bad I didn't get a picture of Angela and her fiance Michael. She's a medic in the Army. Like I said, it must run in the family.
Little Xander got attention wherever he went! He's sooo adorable!
For dinner we all headed out to Skyline Chili. I guess it's a staple of Cincinnati. James waited til after we tried the chili to tell us that the ingredients included chocolate! I was glad he did. We really loved talking to the entire family at that table. It was sad when the time came to go. We had the opportunity to have lunch with Dave and Connie one more time before heading back to California for New Years. We are soo grateful for our family. We know now that no matter where we go that we will find a warm family. Yay for roadtrips!!!!
i know! i so wish i could have stayed longer, i was feeling the same way when i had to leave, i wish i could have stayed for like a week... i was saying before i left we need to have like a pace family reunion to get all together again, because it really was so fun to hang with all the family, sunday night was so fun at the house when dave & laura came over.
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