Buzz Graduates!

This month my brother Douglas graduated from NYU's Tisch School for the Performing Arts. Here he is moments after the Tisch Salute at Madison Square Garden.

Doug is ten years younger than me, which means that I am now ten years removed from college. Holy schnikes!

A Few Candids from Beau's Wedding

Katie Jane and Virginia hanging out with Emma Bear in the Omni lobby.

Aunt Lynn, Mee Maw, and Wormy having a dance party at Liz and Dave's place.

Mee Maw and Virginia practicing their favorite. "How Big is Virginia?" "So Big!"

Virginia temporarily forgets her policy of not allowing Papa, or anyone else who is not named Mommy or Daddy, hold onto her at family events.

Virginia at the gift shop in the Charlotte Airport, trying on the cool bomber jackets with me. And unwittingly about to try on a space helmet. I still think I should have bought her that bomber jacket.

Beau's Wedding

My cousin Beau married his wife Jessica this month in Charlotte, North Carolina. The whole Mack family came down for the celebration. Funnily enough, all of Leslie's family members were in town not simply to see us, but because they were independently invited.

Long before I had even seen a picture of Jessica, Beau and Jessica were already friends with my sister-in-law, Liz, and her husband, Dave Fetzer. They met them when Liz and Dave were just moving to Charlotte and Beau was kind enough to show them around the neighborhoods for house shopping. In various visits to Charlotte once Liz and Dave had moved in, Leslie's parents also had occasion to meet Beau and Jessica several times. And it also happened that Leslie, visiting Charlotte on business for a patent case, met up with Beau and Jessica a few times for dinner. All of this well before I finally met Jessica in person at the wedding itself. So it fairly may be said that the Neelands had a stronger lock on an invitation than I did.

As a groomsman and an unofficial egger-on at Beau's bachelor outing the day before events began, I have many great photos from the weekend. However, the solemn bonds of attorney-client privilege prevent me from posting many of them here. So let me present a few images from the ceremonies and festivities.

Beau and his best man, Chris (aka Christo), awaiting the shuttle to the church.

Wormy and I goofing around outside the church.

Beau and Jessica, the moment their marriage became official at the signing of the North Carolina marriage license.

The von Eulers at the welcome reception, doubtless responding to one of Biggie's impressions of Dad. (Not dad's joke about the Murphy twins.)

Wormy, putting on a Cheerio-eating clinic at the reception.

Family Time

Baby at the Beach

Wormy got in a lot of good beach time at the Isle of Palms. She especially liked playing with the sand toys from Uncle Dave.

Marching on Sumter

Sailing to Sumter

One of our big trips into town was a tour of Fort Sumter, the flashpoint of the Civil War. From the downtown harbor we took a short cruise to across the bay to the weathered brick gates of the old fort.

Virginia had a grand old time. She spent most of the ferry ride flirting with our fellow passengers and amusing everyone with her newfound interest in freeze-dried bananas. She urgently scarfed down half of the container, continually practiced her baby sign for "more," and toddled from one person to the other to gain her sea legs.

At the fort itself, Virginia decided that it was time to do some exploring. She has been learning to walk over the past few months. Since her first step at 10 months, Virginia had only increased her production gradually, having taken no more than 7-8 steps together by the time we started the trip. Well, at Fort Sumter she decided to blow that record out of the water.

Once we reached the top parapet with the flagpole and grassy hill, Virginia set her little legs in motion. Perhaps the windy conditions and knobby little hill emboldened her with the sense that, if nature was going to batter her around anyway, she might as well get in some walking practice at the same time. She toddled all over that little hill, back and forth, over uneven terrain, for the rest of the tour. We think she got 20 or 25 steps in together at one point. We were able to capture some on video (coming soon).

Charleston

This month, my brother Douglas graduated from college in New York and my cousin Beau got married in Charlotte, North Carolina. For many months we planned multi-leg trip to attend the festivities. Since we were going to be all over the east coast anyway, we decided we would extend the stay by taking a much-needed vacation beforehand. Just before Beau's wedding, we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for some beach time, family time, and sightseeing.

Virginia had a great time on the horse drawn carriage tour.