All Roads Lead to Hershey... A Mini Tinkey Family Reunion

The Tinkey/Jones/Coyle Clan

July 31, 2016

This past weekend, my side of the family all got together for a mini family reunion in Spring Run, PA (we're talking RURAL PA!). One of my father's first churches, Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church, was celebrating their 250th year anniversary and Dad was invited back to guest preach. 

Soo.... Mom and Dad came up from FL, Josh and family came over from Philly, Hope and Family came over from Pittsburgh and we came up from NC... #miracle! The last time we were all together in the same place was when we celebrated Thanksgiving in NC (and little Maggie Pie wasn't even born, yet!). It was extra special to be able to spend some time together!

Thanksgiving 2014

The day after Dad preached, most of the family spent the day at Hershey Park. Rides, Chocolate, Family and Fun... doesn't get much better than that...!!

Katy measured right in between a Reese's and a Hershey Bar. So, we had to take a picture with both.... ;-)

 

Katy and cousin Kayla had fun living it up on the rides! They even got to go on the Super Dooper Looper! #wildgirls #nofear

Kisses and Katy! XOXOXO

Congratulations, Christa and Paul!

Flower Girl Extraordinaire!

White, frilly dress... peep-toe, sparkly high "heel" shoes.... Lil' Miss was in HEAVEN!!

A matching dress for Samantha!!

Katy was just a *wee* bit excited to be a Flower Girl!!

The beautiful Bride and the Flower Girl!

This past weekend, we traveled up to Pennsylvania for my cousin, Christa's wedding. As with all Petruzzi family weddings, there was lots of laughter, GREAT food (When the father of the bride is a chef, there are some HIGH reception dinner expectations....!!!) and general, overall silliness and fun! As one of my other cousin's plus one noted, "...wedding, holiday, funeral or, sporting event.... they pretty much have the same people and the same food involved!!" HA!! I must admit, he did have a point....

It was definitely a fun weekend and we were definitely WELL fed, all weekend long!! Both Ted and I agree that it was the BEST food we've ever had (or will have) at a wedding. Rehearsal dinner, alone, included lots of Italian favorites- meatballs, caprese salad and my personal favorite, eggplant! The reception dinner did not disappoint- between the raw bar, the butlered horderves and the prime rib duet dinner- we ate quite well!

However, this wedding held special significance because Katy was the FLOWER GIRL!! White, frilly dress with layers and layers of tulle.... a dream come true for Lil' Miss!! I'll let  the pictures speak for themselves, but I will say that Katy tossed the petals with viver and thoroughly enjoyed dancing the night away!!We all had a great time!

Congratulations, Christa and Paul!!! Thank you so much for including Katy in your special celebration!! We wish you a lifetime of happiness, laughter and love!

**As a special sidenote, 30 years ago, I was the flower girl for my uncle and aunt's wedding- Christa's parents. That's me on the left in 1985 (slightly younger than Lil' Miss is, now)  and Katy on the right, May 2, 2015. :-)**

***Edited 5/13/15- Here's a link to photographer Sarah Rachel Photography's gorgeous pictures of the wedding! She included some pretty cute candids of our Lil' Miss!***

Merry Christmas 2014- Christmas with the Tinkeys

"Grandma and Pop-Pop Tinkey spent Christmas with us, this year."

"Pop and I had a Vampire tea party with fake vampire fangs found in my dress-up."

"Thanks for my 'Katelyn Grace' Cabbage Patch Kid doll. I've already requested that Mommy make her some more clothes."

"Pop-Pop gave me my first fishing rod- a Princess one! Daddy, Pop-Pop and I "practiced" "fishing" in the back yard, one afternoon during their visit."

"The day after Christmas, we all went to the Speedway Christmas Light show at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"I love pony rides!"

"At the Christmas Village, I was able to do a little stocking craft."

"After the light show and Christmas Village, we watched Frozen on the Speedway's GIGANTIC screen!! Elsa and Anna, larger than life and in HD.... life doesn't get better than that!!!"

(Thanks for my light-up Elsa crown, Jackson and Macy! I just HAD to wear it to movie! Also, I brought my new Elsa Barbie doll to the showing- thanks Auntie Hope and family!)

Merry Christmas 2014

"Let it go.... can't hold it back anymore!" Thanks for the Frozen Boombox, Aunt Julie and Uncle Sushi!! 

(Here's the money shot from today's Christmas gift opening frenzy!!)

Stylin' and Profilin'!

Coveted Frozen Scooter, thanks to Nanny and Poppy Jones!

Merry Christmas 2014!! (Can you believe that another Christmas has come and gone?!?!?) Another year, a couple more inches in height for Katy, same house.... life is good!

Christmas at the Jones household was quiet and relaxing. Christmas was brought to us by Frozen and My Little Ponies (Frozen scooter! Rainbow Princess Cadence! Frozen Boombox! Twilight Sparkle castle!). Lil' Miss slept through the night, by herself (a Christmas miracle!) and we took a leisurely pace opening gifts, eating a strata brunch, going out the movies, and talking to family. We ended our day with the traditional Jones Family Christmas dinner.... Chinese take-out (No prep, no dishes- Merry Christmas to me!).

Merry, merry Christmas!!

Cousins- Then and Now

Katy and Maggie- July 2014

Katy and Maggie, November 7, 2014

Always Warm in the Sunshine State!

"Mommy and I went to FL, this past weekend."

"Mommy went to #WowSummit 2014 and I got to spend time with Grandma and Pop-Pop Tinkey!"

"I helped Pop pick pickles (AKA, cucumbers) for the Society of St. Andrew."

"Auntie Hope and cousin- or, "cugina," in Italian- Maggie were also visiting Grandma and Pop-Pop's house. I got to smoosh her a lot. So did Mommy."

"At the end of our trip, I also got to "help" cugina Christa pick out my flower girl dress for her wedding. I LOVE dressing up fancy!"

Cousins

Katy, March 6, 2010- approx. 2 weeks old

Maggie, July 14, 2014- approx. 1 week old

Cousins.... they look alike, don't you think....? ;-P

Welcome, Baby Maggie!

Happy BIRTH Day to my newest little niece, Margaret "Maggie" Caroline Coyle. Until I get official photos of the newest pair of chubby cheeks, I leave you with pictures Katy took of Maggie's namesake and favorite dolly, "Maggie." 

Doll baby Maggie goes EVERYWHERE with us! She's a regular "member" of our family. As soon as we found out the name of the real Maggie, it was goodbye Lukey (former name- after my nephew, Luke) and hello, Maggie!

Maggie, chilling with Daddy.

Princess Maggie

Maggie with glasses.

Can't wait to meet the newest member of the Coyle Family! Congratulations, Hope and Eric (and big sis, Molly, and big bro, Luke)!!

Wordless Wednesday- Cousins That Eat Together, Stay Together

Sentence of the Day- Lost in Translation

Recently, we've had a couple of instances where we've said something and Katy totally takes the phrase literally and it all ends up in a chuckle.

For example;

Last weekend, my sister and her family were in town for Memorial Day weekend. We went to church on Sunday morning. As we were walking into the building, we told Katy to, "....show Molly (her cousin) the ropes (at Sunday School)." Confused, Katy looks around and after careful consideration tells us, "...but there AREN'T any ropes in our class!" Ha!

Also last weekend, my sister and her hubby were kind enough to get some donuts for us, one morning. They got a chocolate sprinkle donut, just for Katy. When I called Katy to the breakfast table, I told her, "Katy! There's a special donut here- with your name on it!" Excitedly, she came running and climbed up to the counter. She took one glance at the donuts and frowned. Then, she said, "None of these donuts have letters on them! I don't see my name!" Double ha!

Too, too funny! Guess we'll need to work on the meanings of social idioms and phrases...

Sentence of the Day- Uh-oh, Pop-Pop!

Katy and I recently spent some time with my parents. My maternal grandmother was also visiting during the same time we were in FL. It's always fun to get four generations together!

One evening, Katy ran up to my mother in the kitchen, with a flashlight in her mouth. She thought it was funny that it looked like her cheeks were "glowing" when the flashlight was turned on and in her mouth. Immediately, my mother told her to take the flashlight out of her mouth- it was dangerous!

Then, Katy ran up to my grandma, in another room, and showed her the same flashlight-in-mouth trick. Once again, Katy was told to take it out- it's dangerous to have a flashlight in one's mouth!

Finally, Katy ran back to the bedroom where I was getting some things together. She showed me her flashlight-in-mouth trick. I immediately told her to take the flashlight out of her mouth- it's dangerous! Germs!

Katy sulked off.

A little later, I found Katy sitting all alone in the bedroom hallway, glum and forlorn. I asked her what was wrong?

With big crocodile tears in her eyes, she replied, "Nobody likes the trick that Pop-Pop showed me how to do!"

Christmas at the Library 2013

Last night was one of those rare occasions where both sets of parents were visiting (Ted's parents are in town for the Christmas and my parents were driving through town on their way to Pittsburgh to visit with my sister and her family). It also happened to be the last night of the Billy Graham Library, Christmas at the Library celebration for 2013. So, we decided to combine families and tradition and go to the Library and have Christmas dinner (a little early).

After last year's long wait to just get into the parking lot, we made sure to leave extra early in order to be there in time for our 6PM dinner reservation. As luck would have it, we ended up getting to the Library in record time and pulled in shortly behind my parents (who drove in straight from FL- what luck is that?!).

After we parked, we took in the Living Nativity, the singing and the Library decorations. Then, we took the shuttle back to the dining hall and enjoyed our meal. Even though Lil' Miss was a bit wound up, she managed to pack away some ham and mashed potatoes (and one measly carrot)! Katy was slightly disappointed to find not one chocolate offering on the dessert menu (We tried to tell her that the red velvet cupcake was just a chocolate cupcake dressed up for Christmas, but she wasn't buying it! She later told me that she didn't like the "Christmas chocolate."). Nonetheless, the rest of the adults found the meal- and desserts- delicious!

It was fun!

Turkey Day with the Tinkeys 2013

Hail, hail the gang's all here!

How many turkeys do you see in this picture? ;-P

Custom Thanksgiving outfit sewn by moi!

THE FEAST!

What do you get when eight adults, five children ages five and under, one house and one RV, lots of food and mayhem gather together for one whirlwind holiday weekend? Why, you get a Tinkey/Jones/Coyle Thanksgiving, that's what you get!

Everybody arrived at our house on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Thankfully, the Coyles were able to beat out the winter storm that was supposed to dump inches of snow in the PA/WV area. After some holiday traffic, the Tinkeys made it safely to our house, as well.

Thanksgiving dinner was a feast! For appetizers, we had deli spirals, brie bites and a crudite platter. Our dinner included Turkey, stuffing (the good kind!), sweet potato casserole, hashbrown casserole, butternut squash soup, Caesar salad, ravioli, meatballs, antipasta, cranberry sauce and sweet potato biscuits (with butter that the girls shook up). Oh, and we topped off our decedent feast with pumpkin pie, chocolate chip pecan pie  and cherry pie! Needless to say, by the end of the day we were stuffed!

Thanksgiving night, our house observed a first- there was football on our TV! The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Baltimore Ravens and our family of die-hard Steelers fans had to watch.

On Friday, we took all the kiddos to Romp n Roll to jump out some energy. I believe it's safe to say that all of the kids had fun! We mostly had the place to ourselves for open gym and the girls lasted the longest for a good couple of hours. Since the weather was nice, we walked there and back (gotta work off that turkey dinner, somehow! ;-).

Friday evening, we all drove through the Speedway Christmas lights. Katy and Kayla rode the ponies and Molly did the big bouncy slide. After some holiday cheer- in the form of funnel cakes and hot chocolate- Kayla, Katy and Molly spent the night with Grandma and Pop-Pop in their RV. Apparently, according to the grandparents, the girls were little angels and slept through the night (!!!). Regardless of the reports (true or false, you decide), the girls had fun eating popcorn, decorating a gingerbread house and reading stories. The parents, on the other hand, enjoyed a nice, quiet night of sleep.... :-)

Everybody departed on Saturday after a fun-filled weekend. Whew- I'm beat!

Until the next time...!

Bathing Beauties- All Grown Up!

Myrtle Beach Bathing Beauties, August 2011

All Grown Up! 

August 2013

Myrtle Beach 2013

Smiling Cousins!

Myrtle Beach 2013 Pictures

On our latest "Mommy/Katy adventure" (as I've started calling my solo road trips with Lil' Miss), Katy and I met up with my sister, Hope's family and her in-laws in Myrtle Beach, SC. Hope's in-laws own a place there and they were gracious enough to share part of their vacation with us (thank you!)!

It took us just a little over four hours to drive there on Saturday. As soon we pulled up, my niece, Molly, declared it to be beach time! Apparently, she had been chomping at the bit all day to go to the beach, but kept being promised a visit as soon as various family members arrived (we were the last to roll in). So, we literally slathered sunscreen on the kids, pulled on our suits and hit the beach a whole fifteen minutes after arriving!

On Sunday, we were able to hit the beach early enough to beat most of the crowds. The girls dug around in the sand and ran around. Luke was less sure of the whole "beach" concept. After awhile, though, Luke went down for a nap while Hope and I took the girls to the pool. 

Since our last visit to  Myrtle Beach, two years ago, the community that we were staying at installed a nice, new kids' area- complete with a big splash pad and kid-friendly wading pool. The girls LOVED it!

Monday and Tuesday were mostly a repeat of Sunday- including pool, splash pad and park. Katy was loving the pool and she was quite the little swimmer- paddling and jumping. I believe the only time I put her "poolies" on, was when we went to the beach (everybody should have a healthy respect for the ocean). 

On Monday, we celebrated Molly's third birthday a little early. Hope baked a cute beachy-themed cake and Molly opened her presents. All the kids had fun playing with Molly's birthday loot!

We had fun and Lil' Miss was more than a little sad to leave on Wednesday morning. She did great on both the car ride there and back home. She's quickly become quite the travel companion and I am loving her sense of adventure when we explore new places.

Wordless Wednesday- Mom's Birthday Purse

St. Augustine, FL with Grandma and Pop-Pop Tinkey

El Galleon Spanish Ship

Beachin' it with the Grandparents.

Just call her, "Fisherwoman Katy."

Pretty Girl in Nature.

This past weekend, we met up with my parents in St. Augustine, FL. They wanted to try out their new RV and we just tagged along for the ride.

We arrived in St. Augustine Friday evening- just in time for dinner. FL welcomed us with a torrential rain storm as soon as we crossed the state line. (Must be something about Jacksonville.... ;-) We ended up taking a short break at the FL welcome center because visibility was limited. Oh well- free OJ!

However, things cleared up enough for Lil' Miss to take a dip in the pool after dinner. Katy was able to swim off all of that pent-up energy she had from sitting in the car, all day. She also did a bit of showing off as she displayed her swimming and jumping skills (unassisted!). Guess those swimming lessons are paying off....

Saturday, we went into the historical part of St. Augustine. We met up with our family friends, the Meyers, and toured the city. We rode the Red Train from Ripley's Believe It, Or Not! all around town. We enjoyed a bite to eat at PizzzAlley in the nice, cool AC. (St. Augustine in July is HOT and HUMID!!!). After lunch, we had the opportunity to tour the El Galeon ship that was only in town for a short while to commemorate St. Augustine's 450th anniversary. 

After a hot and sticky day in town, we dropped Mom, Dad and Katy off at the RV while Ted and I got the chance to meet up with our friends, the Nolands, for a child-free dinner (Hurray!). We met them at the A1A Ale Works and enjoyed a nice, leisurely dinner catching up with old friends. We took our time eating since another torrential rain storm came through (notice a theme, here?) while we were inside. After dinner, we walked around town. Then, of course, we ended the night with some ice cream from Kilwin's- Yum!

Sunday morning, we woke up and hit the beach. The sky was overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. The beach wasn't very crowded. Katy enjoyed digging in the sand, building a sand castle with Pop-Pop and hitting the waves with Ted.

After the beach, we decided to go to the pool. Katy really is getting better at swimming. It doesn't look pretty, but she's getting quite adept at the doggie paddle an treading water.

After the beach and pool, we went back to the RV and got cleaned up. My Uncle Jonathon and my cousins Derek, Hannah and Joseph came down from Jacksonville for lunch. The Meyers also joined us. We all enjoyed a nice lunch before yet another rain storm forced us inside.

Ted, Katy and I left the lunch party and headed to the St. Augustine outlets to do a little shopping.

Then, when we got back from shopping, Pop-Pop gave Katy her first fishing lesson. While they didn't catch anything, Katy really seemed to enjoy herself (go figure- my child would like the beach, camping AND fishing!). Katy also really enjoyed feeding the ducks that wandered the campground.

After dinner and fishing, we finished off the trip with some campfire s'mores- yum!

We packed things up and left on Monday morning. Other than an emergency stop on the side of I-26 because Lil' Miss was desperate for the restroom, our car ride home was uneventful. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us, Mom and Dad Tinkey- we had fun!

A Rootin' Tootin' Good Time- Happy First Birthday, Luke!

Baptism Boy, Luke.

Birthday Boy, Luke!

*To view more party pictures, go HERE.

Katy and I took a quick trip up to Pittsburgh, this past Memorial Day Weekend, to help my nephew, Luke, celebrate his first birthday. In addition to celebrating his birthday, my father also did his baptism (cowboy wear, and all).

The birthday theme was "cowboy" and there was plenty of fun to go around! There was food! There was cake! There were presents! There were lots of themed decorations and games!

Happy First Birthday, Lukey! We love you!

Easter 2013 with the Cousins- Easter

Easter morning with five children under the age of four only means one thing... CHAOS! (good, funny, memory-making chaos, that is!)

Checking out the Easter Basket loot.

Easter Morning Cousin Picture (trust me, this was the best one of the lot).

Grandparents and Grandkiddies on Easter Morning 2013.