WEDDING. The gist is that we took an 8-hour trip up to MN for the wedding of a buddy of mine from jr.high and high school. Alicia and I have been bestfriends forever and ever and it was so wonderful to be a part of this very special 3-day event. We all stayed at Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake, where my friend and her now husband CATERED for all 100some guests the whole weeked. Ambitious AND crazy, I think you'll agree. But the food was amazing, as were the views, the friends and fun, and the sunshine. We had weather in the 70s to boot so it was just a gorgeous weekend all around. Jack stayed at home with both sets of grandparents and had a blast, which gave us time to give Benj the experience of being an only child for a few days, and me a chance to ride in the backseat with him and keep him happy(er) for most of the drive.
We tried and tried the pacifier as a way to get him to sleep without being held or nursing so he could stay in the carseat more happily. It worked a couple times, but for the most part, not a taker.
The wedding couple rented a pontoon boat, which we had tons of fun with both Friday and Saturday. We watched an aquatic plane land on the water not too far from us.
Party cove?
Bridget, Alicia and I have been friends since the akward jr. high days (the 'rebels' crowd, to refer to a previous posting). I know they are both occassional readers of this blog but are not commenters, so some of you may not know of them. But they are two of my closest friends and have been for the past 17 years. Friends like that are hard to come by and I really miss living in the same state as each of them! For that reason, this wedding weekend was especially great to just hang out and catch up.
The wedding ceremony itself was on site at the resort, in a grassy area overlooking the lake. It was a gorgeous area, a beautiful night, and a wonderful dinner, ceremony, and after party/bonfire. I loved the ceremony because it was non-traditional. We all had a long and leisurely dinner. They started the ceremony with their first dance. Then their friend and officiant (dressed in Olympic garb as it was 080808) told some funny stats on the significance of 8s in various cultures. They did a presentation to the groom's 13-year-old daughter, which was beautiful. They read fun vows to each other that rhymed and made us laugh, then had serious and loving words for each other after. It was short, non-predictable, and not boring at any point. It put Mike and my (somewhat) non-traditional ceremony to shame! Loved it.
Benjamin's best friend for the whole weekend was 13-yr-old Asia, the groom's daughter. She is the most adorable, sweetest, selfless, good natured and confident 13-yr-old I've ever met. And she loves babies. Mike and I got a lot of breaks from baby-holding and were able to eat meals with 2 hands because she wanted to hold him every chance she got. She lives with her mom and doesn't get to see Scott and Alicia much, so they asked her what she wanted to do on her last day at the wedding extravaganza so she could spend it how she wanted, and she said "Play with Ben." I wanted to take her home.
Saturday was spent relaxing on the beach and pontoon. The resort had free carriage rides pulled by Clydesdales and I was so pumped for that, but it interfered with the wedded couple's dinner and slideshow, so this is as close as I got:
After a wonderful 3 days, we cut our drive home in half by stopping in Minneapolis to visit friends Sage and Brennan and their 2 daughters, Hailey and Dana. It was a nice relaxing day and evening of catching up and watching the Olympics.
Nearly 4 yr-old Hailey tried out her photography skills:
(Isn't Dana a little doll? She just got off her half-body cast from hip dysplacia surgery 2 weeks before and was already up and walking again! Quite the go-getter.)
Okay, I lied. I have no energy left in me to sit and write and upload photos on Blogger's painfully slow uploading tool. I'll have to leave the rest till later and go watch the Olympics now. To be continued...
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