Even though our family is spread across America we remain close. We try to visit everyone at least once a year and if we can't, we try to get everyone together on a family vacation. In the past we have gone to the Bahamas with family and friends, visited Daniel (Dave's youngest brother) & Christine (Jenna's sister) in NJ, visited PJ (Jenna's best friend/almost brother) in Ohio, moved Dad out to live with us and road tripped to Chicago. This year we went to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Miami and the Bahamas again with Dad and Dave's brother, Josh!
We recently started a small gourmet ice pop company and Jenna is leaving her full time job at the end of May to run it full time for the summer. This gives us the flexibility to stay home with our kids and work our schedule around our family. We plan on raising our children in the business and believe that being part of the family business will help our kids have a strong grasp on how the world works and be better students.
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| Jenna, David, & Dad at the Lighting Festival held on Thanksgiving night. |
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| Checking out the local scenery in the Bahamas with part of our family. |
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| Dad at the art museum with Jenna & Dave |
We are very close to Dave's dad. He has always been supportive of our dreams and has truly modelled how to be a great parent. We know that he will always be there for us and tell us how he honestly feels. He lives with us and is excited to be a Poppop.
He was an amazing father and a supportive father in law so we know that he will be the best Poppop that any kid could hope for.
Dad is kind, caring, thoughtful and funny. He puts other people first and is so loving and understanding.
Dad and Jenna get along very well. She counts him as "one of the girls" and loves spending time with him shopping and cooking.
David and Dad talk about everything from religion to politics and have always had a very close relationship.
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| It is WINDY up here!! |
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| Brass monkey...that funky monkey! |
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| Dad walked a friend, Jessica, down the aisle |
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| Dad and the turkey. Dad and Jenna make Thanksgiving dinner together every year. |
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| Dad and Jenna with the stockings they stuffed for a local family. |
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| David and Dad enjoy a baseball game. |
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| Dad and Jenna making duck faces at a ballgame. |
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Dad, Jenna , Dave and a silver pig at the West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio.
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We are also close with Dave's youngest brother, Daniel. Dan has always been fun to hang around and we LOVE having him over. Dan lives in New Jersey so we don't get to see him as often as we like but we keep in touch through email, texts, Facebook and phone calls. Daniel will be a great uncle because he is funny and loves children. He is excited to meet the newest member of our family!
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| Dave and Dan fooling around at home |
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| Dan and girlfriend on the car trip to the cruise ship |
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| Josh is pretty adventurous. That was a pretty BIG fall.. |
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| Josh & David in Nassau, Bahamas |
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| Josh and Dave scale the wall at Del Morro. |
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| The best looking people there! (The rest are dead..it was a graveyard.) |
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| David, Josh, Dad, and Jenna relax after a long SUNNY day in St. Thomas. |
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Don't mess with a man and his steak!
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Josh is David's younger brother but he is older than Dan. (I could have put them in order of age but that would make it too easy!!) Josh lives in L.A. and we haven't gotten to see much of him for the past couple years. He is funny, CRAAAAAZY smart (but not a know it all!), interesting and tons of fun to be around. Josh and Dave are very similar in a lot of ways. They both love to talk politics and literature and when the two of them get on the phone together, it could be a while before the call ends. Josh would be a great uncle because he can make anyone comfortable even if you've only known him for a little bit of time.
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| Jenna & her half sister Christine hamming it up for the camera |
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| Posing in Atlantic City |
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| Dave and his sister in law in Atlantic City. |
Christine is Jenna's older half sister. They are not very close due to the age difference. They keep in touch via facebook and texting as Chris is deaf. Jenna learned sign language at a young age to be able to communicate with her half sister. Jenna and David adore their nieces and nephews and spent a lot of time with them when they lived in NJ.
Jenna doesn't have a large family and her parents have passed away. She is close to her grandmother who lives in a nursing home in Pennsylvania. They keep in contact by talking on the phone and Jenna mails pictures and gifts to Granmom frequently.
Jenna is close to her Aunt Donna who lives in California. Aunt Donna has been married for-EVA and has modeled what a healthy marriage looks like. She is always willing to give advice or just listen and has such a warm, welcoming heart. Aunt Donna is supportive of our plans to adopt and is a wonderful role model to look up to. Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim are loving parents and have two wonderful daughters that are close in age to Jenna. Since we have always lived on opposite sides of the country we haven't been able to visit often. Jenna keeps in touch with Aunt Donna and her cousin, Jamie, via Facebook and looks forward to visiting them soon!
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| Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim |
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| Aunt Donna and Jamie |
