Big Fat Irish Italian Wedding (Weekend)

This past weekend, the Altadonna clan met in Avalon, NJ to watch Lindy marry her guy, Sean. (Lindy is my mom's brother's daughter). Sean and Lindy live in San Diego, CA, so when we heard they made their wedding plans on the East coast, we were elated. It's not often that the whole Altadonna clan is together, but when they are, we ooze with love and laughter!

The ceremony was at 11:00am on the beach, and what a beautiful day it was. 

Certainly, sitting on the beach waiting for the bride resulted in a lot of sweat and self fanning, but it was worth the wait. Lindy made an absolutely beautiful bride and the ceremony was just perfect. The entire ceremony was admired by, not only their friends and family, but all of the Avalon beach goers!

 Here, the rest of the bridal party is waiting to walk down the aisle.

 Amy, the maid of honor and next bride. 

 The flower girls and ring bearers were adorable.

 Here comes the bride! Just beautiful.

 Look at the crowded beach!

 Great color combinations. 

Sand ceremony. They mixed the sands from the East and West coasts. Love this idea!

 Exchanging of the rings.

 Exchanging vows. 

 First kiss!

The new Mr. & Mrs. McKinney!

And what wedding would be complete without the details! Since my mom was a part of creating many of the details, I was privy to seeing them and knowing the process of decisions during the planning. Though, no matter how involved you are in making these decisions, it's always relieving to see the details come together this seamlessly. I think my favorite detail of all was the Altadonna wine! 

The reception was full of love and energy. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to capture many pictures because of the low lighting, but I got a couple.

 A table full of (some of) the cousins! <3

 First dance. 

 Michael talking with Memom...

and then riding in her glider. (had to post this despite the blur)

 Father and son! 

 Paul at cocktail hour.

 The next groom.

I cannot ever get a normal picture of my mother!

Safira and Michael

After the reception, Lindy & Sean went down to the beach with their bridal party and jumped into the ocean.  It looked like a blast. I can't wait to see the professional photos!

As if this amazing wedding day couldn't get better, the bride and groom organized a lantern ceremony that evening. We lit lanterns and sent them off over the ocean in memory of those we've lost. It was truly a very touching moment. 

To the Altadonna clan ~ I'm so lucky to be a part of it. I am truly blessed to be around such amazing, funny, loving people and to be able to call you my family. You warm my soul whenever I'm with you and make my heart smile. 

Sean & Lindy, we wish you many, many years of love, happiness and good surf! Have a blast in Fiji! Thank you so much for having us a part of such a beautiful wedding weekend.

Finger Lakes, NY

In the dead of winter, a friend of mine asked if Dustin and I would like to go camping with them to Finger Lakes, NY over the Memorial Day weekend. Without hesitation, Dustin and I were on board. We had never been to Finger Lakes and we've heard wonderful things.

We arrived at Watkins Glen KOA during late afternoon on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

We got in line to check in and much to our surprise, the line was SO long that we were asked to go to our site and to check in later; that was a first! When we were taken to our site, we found that it was quite small and there was a bit of a nervous look from the camp employee. No worries though, we backed our camper right in. Snug as a rug!! Our camp site backed up to a railroad track. Fortunately, we didn't have the train passing through all weekend.

On Saturday morning, we all packed our lunches, put our flip flops on and headed out to the wine trails. Dustin and I had never done wine tasting, so we were looking forward to our first time. Being unfamiliar with the area and the lake, Dustin and I had no idea what we were in for. Following our hosts' lead, we ended up travelling all the way around the lake stopping at several wineries. It was a full day event. Not impressed? That must be because you're not familiar with Seneca Lake. Let me put this into perspective for you.

Travelling up one side of the lake with no stops pobably takes about an hour and a half, I would say. Look at all those wineries! Needless to say, it was a long and memorable day. You'd guess that after such an all or nothing wine tasting experience, we'd be "snobby", but let's face it, I still can't swirl and I still don't discriminate against any wine.

Here are some pictures showing parts of our wine tasting journey.

In true form, we snuck off to do a beer tasting when we found out Wagner had a brewery.

We were pooped by the end of the day, but boy was it a fun experience!!

On Sunday, we set off to hike through the gorge. It certainly wasn't the best day to go; there were hundreds and hundreds of people who had the same plan that day. Regardless, it's always fun to see thought provoking forms of nature. The hike was 1.5 miles up, and 1.5 miles down.

An old railroad bridge.

On our way back down, we came across a cemetary at the top of the gorge.

This headstone was early 1800's and had fresh flowers on it. I'd be fascinated to know the story...

No kidding.

It was an action packed Memorial Day Weekend with some new friends. Can't wait for more summer camping trips!