e's first vacation: love & honor

 

before leaving ohio and heading for indiana, we decided to make a pit stop at our alma mater, miami university. we thought it was the perfect time to go and show ellery where her parents met and fell in love. it's so fun that kyle & i's story started there, and the campus is filled with so many memories. i can't believe it's been 5 years since i graduated - 6 for kyle! we had a wonderful afternoon reminiscing as we wandered around our favorite spots on campus, remembering fun nights uptown, study dates at king, stir fry at bell tower, and many many more memories! to be honest though, the campus didn't look as pristine or picture-perfect as we imagined it. maybe our standards weren't as high back in our college days :) but it was still such a pretty campus.  and as we walked, students loved seeing ellery in her stroller - and she loved it, too! though, it did make me feel just a tad bit old. i just wanted to shout, "i know you're worrying about finals, but look! in 5 years this could be you - very very happily married to an amazing man with the most adorable baby girl! it flies by, people!" 

lunch at one of my oxford favs - fiesta charra!

showing e where we really fell in love - late night talks on the drive outside maccracken hall

so, ellery got to see where our love story began. we gave her her very own private campus tour. it was a pretty good one, so i wouldn't be surprised if she ended up going to miami one day. and who knows, maybe she'll also become a miami merger, too :)

we also got to sneak in a few visits with friends who live around oxford. first, we made a stop to see my sweet friend kelly and her adorable daughter mabel. though too much time goes by between kelly & i's visits, i treasure her friendship so much, and love how real and comfortable i am with her. and plus i loved seeing our "girls" together - though ellery mostly just did a lot of staring at mabel :)

we also got to grab froyo with sean, one of kyle's fraternity brothers. he's one sweet dude. kyle actually lived with him and pat while he stayed at oxford the first semester of my senior year. kyle's relationship with sean is another one of those special friendships. it was so great to catch up!