Fionny Go Braugh

At this point in his young life, our Fionny has experienced a lot of firsts.  First smile, first laugh, first steps, first word ("dada" for those at home keeping tabs).  These moments have all been diligently documented by yours truly on this blog as well as in Fionn's baby book.  What's more, they have also been artistically captured on film by my talented husband. 

However, there is a time in the life of every young Crimmins Little that stands apart from even those aforementioned milestones, important as they are.  It is a monumental occasion.  A rite of passage if you will.

We call it simply the Fest.

The Fest, or "Irish Fest" as it is known to most folks, is a 3-day celebration of Irish culture and heritage that takes place every August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Although none of Conor's actual family members live in Milwaukee any longer, the family continues to attend Irish Fest every year.  Basically, it is your standard family reunion -- bathed in green with lots of Gaelic accents.

Fionn gets a lift from his newly appointed godfather, Colin.

Milwaukee is a beautiful town.  Although it has not been part of their address for many, many years, it still feels like home to Conor and the others in many ways, I think.

View of the water from the grounds

One thing is for sure -- the Fest itself certainly feels like home to the Crimmins family.  For Conor and his siblings, the grounds of Irish Fest are as familiar and comfortable as an old photo album -- and they are similarly chock full of memories.  As a person who never had the great fortune of knowing Conor's father, George, the Fest is a place where I feel his presence more than usual.  It is a time of laughter, fun, and reunion with one another.  And drinking.  Lots and lots of drinking.

Erin Crimmins 

You never forget your first Fest.  My first experience at Irish Fest was back in 2004 -- just 4 months after Conor and I started dating.  It was my first introduction to Irish Fest -- and to his ginormous family of 7 siblings.  For this reason, much of my first Fest is a blur of Irish names, small talk, green clothing and plastic cups of beer.  But there are moments that stand out from the haze of my memory, and they are wonderfully vivid and rich.  Some of these include: dancing with Conor on top of the picnic tables, playing Bingo (and winning!) under a softly lit tent, watching little Irish children break into spontaneous bouts of dancing when the music strikes them just right.  Believe me, I could go on and on.  Unfortunately, Fionn's nap will not, so I will stop there. 

We did not attend Irish Fest last year because we were at the wedding of our dear friends, Jon and Jen, which was (ironically) in Minnesota that same weekend.  So this year was our first opportunity to introduce our boy to the wonders of the Fest.  I have to say that I felt like a kid at Christmas as the weekend drew closer and closer.  I couldn't wait to see Fionn's reaction to the Fest.  What would he like best?  I also couldn't wait to see Fionn with all of his cousins.  EIGHT of them now! 

I have to say that our experience in Milwaukee this year exceeded even our wildest expectations.  Fionn loved the Fest.  Loved it.  I mean, what's there not to love?  Tons of cousins all around, continuous live music and dancing, an enormous playground, and a spray pad.  Oh, and corn dogs.  Did I forget to mention the corn dogs?

I probably don't need to add this, but the accompanying sound to this photo is "Mmmmm..."  Straight from the mouth of my boy.  Corn dogs are pretty much the coolest.

Of course, the playground was pretty awesome too.  It is huge and just heaven to the kiddos.  Our Fionn got to feel like a real Big Boy as he ran across the drawbridge.  Over and over.  And over and over.  Exhibit A:

Looks how growny he looks!  Sob, sob.

No, we are not morphing into Smurfs.  We are just looking through a blue tunnel.  Geez!

Possibly the best part of the weekend was watching all the beautiful Crimmins Littles interact with one another.  I loved hearing the words, "Can Fionn come play with me?" come from the mouth of our godson, Liam.  Even better was Fionn's reaction to Liam.  He is pretty much in awe of his older cousin.  Liam is just too cool for school.  Fionn can hardly even stand it.  He followed Liam around like a puppy dog and laughed hysterically as Liam chased him around the grounds.  It simply was music to my ears. 

Liam helping Fionn go down the Big Boy Slide.

 Of course, the playground was only the place to be until we introduced Fionny to the spray park.  Then it was pretty much Spray Park Or Bust for our boy.  But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yeah, I'd say it was a hit alright.  There are so many, many more wonderful memories from the Fest.  But I'm afraid that I'm running short on time, folks.  My plane leaves bright and early tomorrow morning for Florida where I will be for the Labor Day weekend with my Mississippi girlfriends.  And, is my custom, I have waited until the last minute to pack and make other preparations.  In other words, I have miles to go before I sleep.  That, and I am also preoccupied with the combination of excitement, guilt, and anxiety I am currently experiencing about being away from my boy for 5 whole days.  I know he is in capable hands with Conor, thank goodness, but I just hope I don't miss him too much.  Oh, my heart aches at the thought of being away from him for so long.  I will update you guys upon my return.  In the meantime, I leave you with a final pic from the Fest.  I call this one "Mr. Clean."

Happy Labor Day weekend, friends.  Until next time.

It's a Shore Thing

Howdy, strangers!  Folks, you will have to excuse me for being so far behind in my posting.  Our August has been pretty crazy so far -- jam-packed with travel and filled with all kinds of adventures.  And it's not over yet.  I am about to head out again this weekend for a bachelorette party (sans the little guy, of course), so this post will be a bit abbreviated and perhaps not quite up to snuff as far as a blog narrative goes.  For this reason, I thought about waiting until things calmed down before trying to catch you up on some of our adventures.  But that might be awhile.  And I desperately wanted to post SOMETHING about our wonderful three nights in Cape Charles, Virginia last week.  It's already been a full 7 days since we returned from this fabulous trip, and letting more time pass just simply won't do.  So I will recount a bit of the Cape Charles trip now, and then I will save my post about our recent Irish Fest adventure for next week when I have a bit more time.

Okay, so back to Cape Charles.  About 10 days ago, Fionn and I headed away from DC and made the 4 hour trek to the Chesapeake Bay.  Upon our arrival, we met up with 4 of my good grad school friends for a few days of sun and fun.  We stayed in an adorable little beach house just 5 blocks from the water.  There were no co-parents (a.k.a. husbands) on this trip, so it was a little chaotic at times to say the least.  But a good time was had by all.  A BIG thank you to Anne Zalubowski for arranging the whole thing.  We had such a blast! 

I never know exactly where to start when describing a wonderful trip.  I mean, how many times can I talk about how much I love my friends?  Boring, right?  So I'll talk about the weather instead.  Hehe.  The weather during our stay was just ideal.  Sunny but not too hot.  A slight breeze at times.  The water simply sparkled in the sunlight, and it was just magical at times watching the beautiful children of such dear friends frolic in the knee-deep surf together.  They were making memories that they might not remember in a few years, but we sure will.  Amelia and Caroline (our Big Girls of 5 and 6, respectively) created "Dance Island" on one of the sandy banks, and we were all cordially invited to attend the show.  It was quite a spectacle indeed.  Yoga poses by Caroline, sweet singing by Amelia, and Jay...well, I'm not quite sure what you'd call the interesting tricks he was pulling out of his sleeve -- perhaps breakdancing?  Regardless, it was a fantastic show.  Fionn enjoyed it quite a bit as well, although not nearly so much as running wildly to and fro on the sandy beach, chasing down birds. 

I have to admit that my picture taking over the few days that we were at Cape Charles was pretty poor.  I made a conscious effort to try to enjoy the magical moments instead of trying to capture them on film.  As a result, they are heartily ingrained on my mind's film strip, but not so much in a form that I can easily upload to this blog.  Of course, I wasn't completely empty-handed at the end of the trip.  I did manage to take SOME pictures.  I do have a blog to maintain, after all, people (sheesh!).  Just please pardon the lack of artistic arrangement or any sort of skill set regarding picture-taking.  Without further adieu, I will leave you with the following photo montage which will be entitled "Cape Charles: A Visual Narrative."  Enjoy!

Pic of the matching girlies (me, Campbell, and Caroline) in our white and navy outfits

Nola and Jaybird

Fionn giving William an aggressive display of affection.

Anne and Campbell, sparkling in the sunshine.

Anne, Sarah, and their kiddos, chatting in the lovely water.

Fionn and William were both captivated by this yellow and silver pinwheel.

How do you get Fionn to pose happily for a group photo?  TOOTSIE POP!

Prince William and his beautiful Mum.