Aruba

We were lucky enough to go on a second vacation this summer, and this vacation was to Aruba!  We got up extremely early on a Sunday morning and returned extremely late the following Sunday, but it was totally worth it!

 

I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

 

This was our resort at the Marriott Surf Club in Aruba.

 

 This picture was taken from our room.

 

The beach was a few steps past the pool area.

 

 Here is the same view at sunset.

 

While we were walking downtown one night, we found this sign, and while they are dark, we took them anyway!  They turned out great!

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Gary and Sue

 

 Jason and I

 

 Original Kelly Family

 

 Aruba was so Americanized that there was a Hard Rock Café downtown!

 

 

We spent one day exploring the island of Aruba and we saw many great places! 

 The lighthouse in Aruba

 

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Sue and Ethan

 

Jason and I

 

 I loved these gorgeous flowers!!

 

 The breathtaking view

 

The trip wouldn't be complete without these pictures...

 

 

 

 The church in Aruba

 

 Gorgeous sea cliffs (yes, that's the Science teacher coming out in me)

 

 Caught the water just right

 

So pretty!!

 

 This was at what was called the Natural Bridge

 

 Ryan, Felicia, Ethan, Jason and I

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Jason with the money he won at the casino!  He was one happy camper!

 

 So Americanized that they not only had McDonalds restaurants, but locations dedicated solely to dessert.

 

Our last night there, we went on a Sunset Cruise, which was a lot of fun, and to answer your question: no, none of us got sick!

 

 Crazy wind, but on the cruise

 

Ryan and Felicia

 

They even had seagulls!

 

How cute is he?!?

 

 All of us on the boat, the guy who was running the cruise insisted on taking our picture

 

 As much of a sunset as we got that night because it was overcast.

 

 He loves ruining my pictures...

 

 Three brothers

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Felicia enjoying the cruise

 

 This one is blurry, but I still had to share it.  The guy running the cruise was so good at his job, that he even got a conga line going at the end.  Everyone enjoyed it!!

 

 Until next time, Aruba!!!  We had an amazing experience!!



Kadence Jae Foundation

For the past couple months, Jason and I have been working collectively with a small group of people on forming a foundation in Kadence's memory.  We have been having monthly meetings and have officially filed the paperwork to be a tax-exempt organization which is a huge step.

 

One of the members of the foundation had a friend make the logo for the foundation, and it looks awesome!

 

One of my main jobs has been the Social Media end of the foundation.  The first thing we started with is the Facebook page, which can be found here

 

The next step was to create a website.  Who in the world knew how hard that was?  I bought the domain name and that was about as far as I could get without some help.  After many, many, many hours followed by many more hours, the website has been launched.

 

Felicia is still working on Kadence's official story, but the majority of it is complete!

 

I encourage you to check out the website and spread the word!  The foundations purpose is on the site, and one of the main purposes is to spread awareness about HLH since she did suffer from such a rare disease.

 

You can find the website here

Ocean City, New Jersey Trip

As I mentioned before, each year, my family on my Dad's side takes a trip together to Ocean City, New Jersey.  We have gone from needing two houses to now three, and next year it will be four!  As the family grows, so does the need for space.  While we are then separated between houses, it's that much more exciting that we need that many houses because there are that many people down there with us!  When we missed the annual beach trip in 2011 due to the wedding, it was very sad, because this trip is one of the highlights of our summer!

 

This year, there was a "kid" house that we stayed in.  This house had four bedrooms that were occupied by Jason and I, my sister Meghan, her friend Steph, my cousin Tyler and my cousin Brie.  Being on our own time schedule was definitely different, but it was nice to be able to stay up late playing Cards Against Humanity and not worrying about waking up other people in the house.

 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the beach itself from the trip:

 

 

 

While I was in New Jersey, I met up with my friends Colleen and Ashley for lunch in Atlantic City and we had a great time!!

Later that night, we went out for our yearly dinner that Grandma takes us out for

The group at dinner 

  

Here are some pictures from our trip to Cape May one night

 Had to include this one since Jas is trying to ruin their picture

 

Made it in time to see the sunset

 

And the funniest moment of the trip?  Playing L-C-R while drinking out of the Pick Your Nose Cups that Aunt Amy brought... they provided many laughs!! 

We had a great time and I am already looking forward to next years trip!  I'm sure all of our future children will enjoy the trip just as much as we do each year!!

Anniversary #2

Today Jason and I celebrated anniversary number 2. We had a relaxing morning, watched our favorite show The Price Is Right together, and then had a great lunch at Heritage Hills Golf Resort. Other than Jason leaving his credit card there (love you honey) the day couldn't have been more perfect.

Speaking of perfect, I really did marry the guy who is perfect for me. He loves me unconditionally, even when I don't deserve it, and he truly is my best friend.

We started the tradition when we got engaged to take pictures in an old Photo Booth in Ocean City, New Jersey so I thought I would share those pictures in honor or our anniversary.  We plan on taking the pictures every year we are down there on vacation and adding any family members that join the Kelly family throughout the years.

For your enjoyment...

Our Engagement, 9/26/2009

Sorry for the split up pictures, we scanned them in individually for a project for the wedding

 

Year One of Marriage, June 2012

 

Year Two of Marriage, June 2013

 

And many more to come!