September 6th, 2006 was the 60th wedding anniversary of Don & Janet Oswalt, Sam’s Grandparents and Vienna’s Great Grandparents.  We took ten days off and flew to Ohio to celebrate!!  We were blessed with a place to stay, and enough business from siteCoffee.com to be able to attend and spend time with nearly our entire family.  The only persons missing from our immediate family were Dan (Priscilla’s husband, they live in Ukraine) and three of their four children (it’s just way too expensive for it to be feasible for them all to have come at this time.) It was so nice seeing everyone and showing off little Vienna. She was loving being held at all times!!  She didn’t like going to bed at night, I think she couldn’t figure out why she was being put down!!!

The trip started off a little shaky for me (mom).  Eight days before we left I broke out in hives!! They were HUGE welts and really itchy.  I had to go get medication for it.  After the doctor gives me the shot and tells me that I’ll have pills to take and I must take them all and slowly taper off or I could have adverse side effects she THEN tells me the side effects!  Increased appetite (no problem, we’re going to Aunt Beth’s first and she always stocks WAY up!!) Nervousness & Anxiety!! Did I not just tell you I’m getting on a plane in two days with my THREE WEEK old and I”m nervous about it already!?!?!  oh and INSOMNIA, Insomnia!??!?!  Like I”m NOT getting enough sleep already!?!?!?  Oh, and by the way, this can get to the baby and effect her as well…Arrrggg… but  the hives were in fact bad enough that i probably still would have taken the medication over the itching.. as it was I had scabs all over my legs for the whole trip and there were still blotchy spots where all the hives had been, but at least the itching was down to a bearable level!!  At least now it’s all pretty much gone, just a little itchy still.  Wheew.

Our first family party was with the Zeppernick side of my family (that’s my mom’s relatives). Aunt Beth, also known as Vienna’s Gaby (short for Great Aunt Beth) had invited everyone out to her place for a pot luck.  There was so much food!!  I ate way too much.  Vienna got to meet all her Aunts and Uncles on that side of the family and  a good chunk of the cousins as well (though there are SOOOO many cousins on that side, it’s gonna take a while before she gets to meet them all!)  We only had one full day out on that side of Ohio (our families are on opposite sides, mine near Toledo and his out near or in Canton) as we needed to get back over to Canton to see the family in from Ukraine and to celebrate G&G’s 60th.

We had two parties for G&G while we were there. We had a barbecue where Uncle Billy (http://www.unclebillys.com/) made chicken and bbq beans for the whole family… ummm so good!!  And it was the first opportunity that I got to meet some of Sam’s extended family.  Vienna slept nearly the whole time but she was being passed around from person to person.  It was a great event, there was a video from Pris’ family in Ukraine, it was so good, I bawled seeing the kids that didn’t’ get to come… but it sure was nice having Marie here!  She and Uncle Sam chased each other around the tables at the end of the day. I’m not sure who was more worn out!

The second party was a nice family dinner out at Copeland Oaks where G&G live, complete with wedding cake!!  We even had the token “tacky wedding gift” on hand.  Can’t have a “wedding reception” without one!!!  After dinner we all went outside and took a ton of family photo’s.  It was such a beautiful day.  I did still keep Vienna wrapped in the blanket that Great Grandma knitted for her as there was a touch of a breeze going on out there.  I’m so glad we got those photo’s too and that the Lord saw fit to give us a beautiful picture taking day weather wise!!!! Photo’s we will treasure!!

All in all it was a fantastic trip. Such a gift. Just a tad bit short!  Hopefully we’ll get to have another family reunion like that with everyone someday soon, but since we are scattered all over the world… I’m not holding my breath.

Anyway, I’ve babbled on long enough for this entry… will write some more real soon.