Indiana {March 2019}

Posted in Family, Travel by Kendra G.

To kick off spring break, we headed up to Indiana for a long weekend. The weekend was full of family, friends, and celebrations before heading back home.

We were so thankful to see so many family members in such a short time, most of which made the trip to visit us.

On Saint Patrick’s Day, we ran the Shamrock Beer Run 5k in downtown Indy. It was our first beer run and probably our coldest run to date. It was freezing! Thankfully the beer stops helped us warm up. Downtown Indianapolis was absolutely beautiful on the brisk day.

We ended the day celebrating Grandma Sue’s 80th birthday! We had a lovely dinner with family to celebrate our special lady.

We also got to visit with several old friends and meet new little friends while we were there! Again, we were so thankful that everyone made room for us during their busy weekends.

One major highlight of the long weekend was the snow! Yes…in March…during spring break…the kids saw snow for the first time! They loved playing outside as the big snowflakes fell to the ground. It didn’t last long, but it was memorable.

We made one more quick stop to visit the birthday girl before heading to the airport.

We had a great, long weekend which was action packed. Needless to say, it took a bit for all of us to recover.

13Mar2018

Indiana {March 2018}

Posted in Travel by Kendra G.

On Saturday morning, I watched the sun rise from an airplane on the way to Indianapolis. I landed around 8:30am and immediately got the day started!

My oldest friend is having a baby and I got to celebrate with her! It was so good to see Lisa, her family, and some friends from high school and IU.

After the shower, we headed back to my parents’ house to celebrate my grandma’s birthday! She didn’t know that I would be in town, so it was a fun surprise!

Michael brought some of his favorite beers and conducted a beer tasting class for us! We ended the night playing the horse racing game with some friends.

After losing an hour of sleep, we headed to Cafe Patachou for brunch, complete with pomegranate prosecco!

After brunch, we headed to Topgolf for an afternoon of golfing. We had so much fun!

We ended the day visiting with Celeste and Meghann! It was so good to see them and catch up!

I hopped on the 5:30am flight on Monday morning and headed back to Orlando. It was weird traveling alone, but it was nice to be able to bounce around the city for two days and see so many people, both friends and family! I am so happy to have been able to celebrate baby Richards and my grandma’s birthday.

Until next time, Indy! Thanks for the great weekend!

10Aug2017

Indiana {August 2017}

Posted in Travel by Kendra G.

The kids and I headed up to Indiana this past weekend. We had an action packed four days in my home state. Brace yourself, there are a lot of pictures!

We arrived on Saturday just in time to help set up for Maggi and Greg’s wedding shower! I am so thankful that we were able to be there to celebrate the happy couple. The theme was a fiesta in honor of their destination wedding. Everything about the shower was absolutely perfect. Abbi did such a great job with all of the little details that made the day so great. It was so good to see a lot of friends and family in one place too!

On Sunday, we got to see my grandparents, aunt, and uncle for lunch and fun around the fire. The kids got to spend some quality time with Arie and took turns taking her for walks. I think poor Arie was ready to be home after the long weekend.

We had a great lunch at BRU Burger on Monday, then headed to the Indianapolis Zoo. It had been so long since I had been there. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we drove by Victory Field so the kids could see where mommy and daddy met!

For dinner, we had a little pizza party with Celeste, Reese, Meghann, and Harper. It was so good to catch up with the girls, though it was short due to bedtimes for the littles.

The kids played at the park on Tuesday, we did a little back to school shoe shopping (what my mom and I do best!), and had lunch before heading to the airport.

I can’t believe how fast four days flew by! We had such a great time, but we were happy to get home to daddy too.

30Dec2015

Christmas in Indiana {2015}

Posted in Family, Travel by Kendra G.

Last Wednesday, we hopped on a plane and headed up to Indiana for Christmas. Our flight was at 6:30am, which made for a very early morning, and, of course, with it being two days before Christmas, the airport was insane. There were definitely moments that we thought we were going to miss our flight, but we actually made it just in time for family boarding. The kids did a good job on the flight and enjoyed the snacks and iPad time. Once we arrived at the house, Kenley and Meemaw got right to work baking cookies for Santa! We relaxed the rest of the day while it rained before heading to the Mexican restaurant for dinner.

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On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed some family time and brunch! Bonus: there were Alex Bakery cookies there, which brought back so many memories from my childhood. They were just as I remembered them! The kids had such a great time playing together at GG’s house, too. It is always good to get them together every chance we get.

Christmas morning started at 6:00am! We got to see what Santa brought and took our time opening gifts. We spent the rest of the day playing with our new toys and playing games. The weather was warmer than usual (though, we still thought it was cold), so my dad built a fire and we took Arie for a walk a couple times.

On Saturday we actually got out of our pajamas and headed out for another Christmas with extended family. As it approached nap time, the kids started to meltdown, so it was a short stay. Thankfully, they slept the whole way home!

Sunday morning we packed and packed and packed. We decided to spend the afternoon at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis before we had to go to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 10:00pm, so we had a while to play. The museum was awesome! I was very impressed with each of the exhibits we saw and we didn’t even get through them all. We will definitely be back in the future. After the museum, we met my grandparents for dinner. We boarded our flight around 9:30pm and were pushed away from the gate before schedule. The kids slept the entire flight and were only a little whiny when we were waiting for all of our luggage to come off the carousal. We were home and in bed around 1:00am on Sunday night/Monday morning and the kids slept in very late on Monday morning. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to get them back on schedule, and have even been sleeping in this week since we’ve been home.

Traveling with kids can definitely be stressful, but overall, they did a great job and we had such a good time celebrating Christmas in Indiana!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

5Jul2013

Our Wedding, Five Years Later

Posted in The Story of Us by Kendra G.

Five years ago today, I married the love of my life.
I am still amazed by the way God brought this Long Island boy and homegrown Hoosier together.
I am excited to share our special day with you.

All festivities were held at the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel & Suites.
We loved having everything in one place, especially for the many
out of town guests who were new to the area.

The day started bright and early for pictures.
Greg and I had our moment seeing each other before the ceremony
so we could get rolling early and get pictures out of the way.
This allowed us to have more time during cocktail hour to enjoy ourselves and mingle.

Flowers by Bo Kay Florist // Bo Kay Florist

We took pictures at various locations in Indianapolis, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art
and the Soldiers & Sailors Monument on Monument Circle, just a block away from the hotel.
The weather turned out to be beautiful, even though I’m sure we both were sweating.

Hair & makeup by Rachel // Beauty Anywhere

The ceremony was officiated by my pastor growing up and was short & sweet.
Cocktail hour followed, then everyone headed up to the ballroom for the reception.
We ended the night dancing and drinking with our most favorite people in the world.

Wedding cake by Heavenly Sweets // Heavenly Sweets

Entertainment & music by Dave & Rae // Dave & Rae Band

Photos by Cory Bracey // Footprints of Grace Photography

4Jul2013

4th of July circa 2008

Posted in The Story of Us by Kendra G.

To celebrate our five year wedding anniversary tomorrow,
I thought it would be fun to take a look back, five years ago.

During the wedding planning process, we originally avoided 4th of July weekend since it was a holiday,
but we finally decided that having it that weekend was absolutely perfect.
Everyone had a three day weekend already and some turned it into a longer weekend.
We also thought it would be fun to have fireworks each year we celebrated.

We welcomed guests throughout the day on the 4th and got to catch up with so many people.
Our rehearsal was held at our venue mid afternoon, followed by our rehearsal dinner.
Some would say it was nontraditional, as we enjoyed the evening at
Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians (Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates).
We chose Victory Field for a number of reasons.
If you know us at all, you know that we both love sports, especially baseball for Greg.
The Indianapolis Indians always host the 4th of July game against the Louisville Bats,
so we know first hand that it’s a great evening filled with tradition, plus a great view of the downtown fireworks.
The field was just a few blocks from our wedding venue and where all the guests were staying,
so no one had to mess with driving to or from the game, especially great for out-of-towners.
Most importantly, this is the very place that Greg and I met just two summers prior.
There is no doubt Victory Field will always hold a special place in our heart.

We hosted our guests on the Third Base Terrace, located on suite level.
Everyone enjoyed great seats for the game, yummy ballpark food, and the best view for downtown Indy.
If you know Indiana weather at all, you’d think that it would be hot and humid in July,
but to our surprise, it was very chilly… freezing I would say.
I distinctly remember people buying sweatshirts because we were not prepared for the cold.

There was a small window following the end of the game and before the start of the fireworks
where there were some on-field promotions. Four members of our bridal party got to participate
in dizzy bat on the field. Let me tell you, it is still funny to think about to this day.
Michael, Maggi, Joe, and Jeff definitely provided entertainment to a sold out crowd.