San Diego, day 4 June 20, 2011

Our last day of vacation.  Our flight was the next day but we went ahead and packed our bags this morning so it wasn’t hanging over us as we enjoyed one more day of fun in the sun.  Well some of us packed, others played with their new Disney toys.

This time we ventured north to La Jolla.   It’s a very picturesque town with lots of casual outdoor dining and little snack and diving/kayaking shops and boutiques.  I know because we walked by a mile’s worth of them on our way to the beach.  Maybe Mondays are busier beach days than Sundays?

This time we had a little more time to just chill in the hotel room.  It sounds really boring of me, but it was nice to just chillax.

Trevor fell asleep on the way from the beach to the hotel to make for a perfect, last picture of our trip.

San Diego, day 3 June 19, 2011

This day marked the beginning of relaxation.  We had been go-going so intensely the previous days that we wanted to just relax at the beach.  So we did.  Eventually.

First, though, we had to make a detour.  After another sleepless night and an increasing incidence of inconsolable crying, we decided it was time to take Chare Bear to urgent care.  Sure enough, inflamed throat and double ear infection.  Her first (and second?).  By the time we made  it out of there we were famished so caught some fish tacos at Rubios and then headed for the coastline.

We traveled the short distance to Coronado, passed the famed hotel right on by, en route to the ocean.  I was expecting to fight for parking and walk a mile but we found a spot less than ten spaces away from the sandy shore.

Coronado, named for its golden sand.  The beach was covered in dying seaweed but the sand did indeed have flecks of gold.

And while the sun…

and the sand…

and a certain two year old fascinated by the ebb and flow of waves…

will still take a little out of you, it was lovely to move at a slower pace.  We had made dinner plans with Isaac, Tessa and Clara for this evening.  We arrived at Seaport Village a little early so walked around, checking out the living statues scattered along the harbor walk.  They, of course, “came to life” with a donation.  I think they were both painted completely silver, one was a hip-hop looking dude who moved in robotic style and the other a seventeenth century-esque woman with ringlets and in a ball gown who moved gracefully.  I always wonder how much money they actually make.  We decided to eat casually at the seaside food court.  Clara introduced Charity to hummus, Mom and I had yummy gyros and the rest of the crew ate some pretty good looking pizza.

We wanted to spend the rest of the evening hanging in the hotel room with a bag of popcorn and maybe a movie.  But, geez, by the time bath time was over it was already bedtime.  And Charity was already feeling better.

San Diego, day 2 June 18, 2011

Wedding day.  Andy and Rene and much of the wedding party and family were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel, where the reception was going to be later that evening.  Room rates were a little steep so we were at the Days Inn across town.  We dropped Derek off at the hotel by 9am and hung out in the hotel lobby waiting for the shuttle that was arriving at 11:15 to take us to the church.  My mom kept Charity for the day, Trevor brought his back pack of fun things, Hillary was there waiting with us AND there was a coffee shop so it really was a nice time.

Anytime we see a school bus, or even a city or chartered bus for that matter, Trevor tells me, “I wanna ride a school bus, ma.”  His birthday was just a couple of weeks away at this point and I had been planning to take him on a city bus ride for his birthday.  Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous but it would have made him so happy.  But…come 11:15…mission accomplished.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful.  Andy is one of the greatest guys I know.  It almost felt like I was seeing my little brother get married.  He and Derek have a long history, in fact we joke that they technically have a common law marriage, as long as they have lived together.  College roommates, roommates as interns out in D.C. and Andy even lived with us after we were married for about a year.  He is just a good, stand up guy who will do just about anything for a good friend.  I have no doubt that he will be loving and faithful.

After blowing oodles of soapy bubbles at the couple (and each other) we hopped back on the bus and headed to the cocktail hour.

Trevor had been snacking on Z-bars and fruit snacks but Hillary and I were starving as it was about 3pm and we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.  Derek and Elliot were all, oh, we had pizza left over on the limo, we should have saved it for you.  We thought that would have been nice.  They were technically not off the hook of wedding duties.  They kidnapped the bride and groom and were taking them to nearby bars (the guys took Rene to one inside the hotel, sweet, we could easily tag along).  First we followed Derek and Elliot up to Gabe’s room for something and so got to check out a Hard Rock room.  They are pretty roomy and chic.  Trevor liked this chair.  He kept saying, It’s a nice chair.  We adults were far more interested in the prospect of unwrapping every overpriced snack in the room and piling it on Gabe’s bed.  Fortunately for Gabe we are way more mature and considerate for that.

We joined Rene and the rest of the guys down in the bar and let Trevor break dance on the loo-oong white couch while Hillary and I tried to stay out of the way and contemplated the feasibility of ordering bar food when the cocktail hour would be beginning shortly and surely they would have h’ors d’oeuvres.

They did.  And we ate as many as we respectably could.  Trevor spent the cocktail hour looking for and following Ashlynn.  Andy came up to us during this time and stated that they had just previewed the reception area and, I quote, I ain’t gonna lie to you, it’s pretty classy.  And it was.

It was very beautiful and the food was excellent.  The appetizer was a plate of elegant grits.  That’s almost an oxymoron but it’s the best we could come up with.  It was delicious and I’ve never liked grits.  Trevor was excited about the wedding favor bags of microwave popcorn.

They had a photo booth set up so the kids had a blast with silly hats and funky glasses and wigs.  Trevor quickly became the favorite of MacKenzie, Andy’s older niece.  She carried him around all night and he loved the attention.

We hooked up with Isaac, Tessa and Clara, another of Derek’s college buddies and his family.  They were a fun group and Trevor was a good buddy to little Clara.

Derek and Isaac were the only attendees from the college days.  They let Dave off the hook because his wife Sarah happened to give birth to baby Isaac on that very day.  Travel likely would not have been advisable for mom and babe.  My mom drove by around 10pm and picked Trevor up so that we could hang out a bit longer.  The evening finished up with a fun dance and the liquor was flowing.  There were not as many guests as originally speculated when they booked the room so they had a minimum alcohol requirement to meet.  Andy and Gabe were encouraging people to drink up so guests began to take wine by the bottles and beer by the armfuls.

There was an after party up in the honeymoon suite so we stopped by for a while.  It was an amazing room with a huge balcony (between the two you could easily fit seventy or more people, comfortably) and a great view.  We didn’t want to hang around too long so we said our goodbyes and exited the building.  Just like Elvis.  Which is appropriate since we were at the Hard Rock.

San Diego, day 1 June 17, 2011

Friday morning we headed back down to San Diego.  We had to be to the rehearsal in El Cajon by 3pm.  We got ourselves completely ready that morning before we left and we ended up with just enough time to pick up Derek’s tux, grab a quick bite to eat and check in to our hotel.  We ran into Elliot and his fiance in the parking lot (theirs is our Pennsylvania wedding).  He had helped us load up our trailer on moving day in Manassas and I hadn’t seen him since so it was fun to meet his fiance and catch up.  After chatting for a while we figured we had better go inside.  So we entered the church and very shortly after Trevor made a friend.  Ashlynn, the flower girl and niece of the groom is three and they were giving hugs and carrying on conversations about water snakes and flip-flops.

As you can see, they got very comfortable around each other very quickly.  I’m sure that Derek and I were way past date number one when we started picking our noses in front of each other.

The dinner was at a neighbor’s of Rene’s sister.  They had a pool that I was terrified of Trevor falling in.  Whenever I lost sight of him my eyes immediately shot to the pool and my mind filled with the dread of seeing him floating face down.  But we all survived the night and Charity had a closer call than Trevor.  She was so unhappy and crying the whole time that I tried to cheer her up by tossing her over my head–and right into a hollow, thin metal frame.  I place great stress upon the words hollow and thin.  Still she went from crying to screaming.  There was not a mark on her head and I know much of the problem was that she was already upset but I still, of course, felt horrible and was totally embarrassed.  We were not able to hang around much longer after that so we went back to our hotel and hunkered down for the night with a very unhappy little girl.

Disney, day 3 June 16, 2011

Let me preface this day by saying that sometimes people who get 0-2 hours of sleep for two consecutive nights can get a little grumpy.  That aside, day 3 at Disney was great.

I was nervous to take T on the teacups but he had a ball…er…uh…tea party.  As he exited the cup, he paused at the wheel to pick up his pretend cup of tea, chugged it, and set it back down again.  Such a big imagination.

Back to It’s a Small World for another dose of sheer wonder.  I don’t think Charity cried through the dark tunnels this time.  I could be wrong.

Trevor was so whiny that morning and our patience was non-existent but we worked our grumpies out on the way over to Toon Town and were a-ok for the rest of the day.  Thank goodness, I’d been beginning to worry it was going to be a day as long as the previous two nights.  I guess there’s nothing like good Toon Town fun to snap you out of your funk.

Derek must have been worried to let Trevor drive.  He doesn’t have his license yet, after all.

Oh, wait, I take that back.

It seems like one day they’re two and the next thing you know they’ve got their license and they’re solo on the open road.

And then again, some boys never grow up.

We then stuck around in Tomorrowland and checked out Innoventions.  It’s a huge rotating building that exhibits the latest technological advances in entertainment, living, and health.  There are a ton of cutting-edge video games including virtual hockey and soccer where you physically play against your opponent on a small virtual field and the Innoventions Dream Home that showcases each room of a home with “futuristic” technologies that really aren’t so futuristic, perhaps just not widely available (or affordable) to you or me.  I thought it was cool but Charity was more impressed by the bag of cotton candy.

Our little Wart.  He really put his back into it…I attempted to tell him that’s not good form and he should really lift with his legs, but he insisted.

Peter Pan’s Flight was one ride I was determined to take Trevor on at some point, regardless of wait times.  We were fortunate to put it off to the last day because we found it with a less than thirty minute wait time.  As we waited in line it became evident that Trevor was beginning to slow down (three days at Disney can wear both big and little bodies out).

We caught the Soundsational Parade one last time on Main Street.

The park was closing at 9pm that night for the last of the grad nights (seniors enter the park at 10pm for a whole night of Disney magic, I did it as a high school grad and it was a lot of fun) and we were planning to stay until that time and watch the Fantasmic nighttime water show.  I think we were all a little tired and exhausted so we decided just to bide our time, snack a little,

stroll around,

grab some family photos,

and then secure a prime viewing place.

Uh…not of Trevor’s discolored tongue…of Fantasmic.  Trevor ran around the tree house a few times and Charity held on to wakefulness by a thread until the show began.  As soon as the ear-splitting sounds  from the booming speakers sliced through the air, she passed out in my arms.  The nightly fireworks erupted just before the show and we could see them above the trees and were even able to catch a glimpse of Tinkerbell as she flew across the sky from her place atop Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.  The Fantasmic show was the same from the last time I was there (1999-2000?) but still great entertainment: Mickey and pyrotechnics, Disney movie/music clips flashed on a wall of turbulent water, a sword fight aboard Capt. Hook’s sailing pirate ship, characters dancing on water floats, a fifty-foot animatronic Maleficent/dragon, and all of this culminating in a display of waving, smiling characters ferried along on a brightly lit Mark Twain’s Riverboat.  Pretty darn impressive.

When it was over and we began to push our way through the exiting crowds Trevor’s sweet little voice was heard as he rested his head upon Derek’s shoulder:

Daddy, that was good, let’s go home now.

Disney, day 2 June 15, 2011

We started the day early (since we we were already up…see yesterday’s post) so arrived at Disneyland before the park was too crowded and the lines too long.  We headed to Fantasyland to hopefully hit some of our favorite kiddie rides that tend to have longer wait times.  Dumbo’s line did not fail to disappoint and the ride itself elicited pure joy.

Based on a combination of short lines and Trevor’s preferences, we quickly developed a few favorites and somehow ended back at King Arthur’s Carousel once again.

As we waited in line for Storybook Village, Trevor was diligently working to determine our next course.

And Charity shared a few special moments with us all.

Trevor just could not give up that map.

We have enjoyed looking at photos of the trip with Trevor since we’ve returned home.  He is a great narrator and one thing he never forgets to share is that, for our trip on Casey Jr., we rode in a monkey cage and the folks behind us were in the lion cage.  Quite fitting for this little guy with the goofy expressions.

And then, wonder of wonders, on our way to find some grub we ran into Woody and Jessie!  Our first character encounter!  We weren’t sure how Trevor would take to them but he ran up and gave Woody a big hug and got him to sign his autograph book.  Charity stared but didn’t cry so all was better than hoped for.

And then we ate at Country Bear’s.  Food at any amusement park is always pricey and this was no exception, but I was quite impressed with the overall quality of the food here.  For ten bucks you get a decent meal; yesterday for supper it was enchiladas with rice and beans, today for lunch it was seven bucks for a really good burger or chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries that were delish.  I’m a food person, so I thought I’d share.  And speaking of share, that is one thing Charity will not do with her mac’n cheese.

Or her daddy.

T-I-double guh-er?  Or…S-I-double luh-Y?

The Tarzan Tree House, formerly known as that of the Swiss Family Robinson, was one of those attractions we all agreed was pretty great.  Trevor loved running through it at his own pace and we loved that there were no lines!!  From shaky, netted bridges…

and thoughtful spots…

to rope climbing…

and pot-rattling cooking, it was fun for most…

and just plain exhausting for the rest!

We had Park Hopper passes, meaning we could jump between Disneyland and the adjacent California Adventure.  Since this was day two and the middle of our Disney stay we decided to “hop” on over to check out the other park.  But, on our way out, we had to stop and grab some ice cream from the Main Street homemade ice cream shoppe.  We decided to let Trevor have his own huge waffle cone, just for the pleasure of watching him eat it.  It was a warm day and the ice cream melted fast so it quickly became apparent that Trevor would not be wearing these shorts again for the remainder of the trip.  But it was worth it.

Disney’s California Adventure is home to Lightning and Mater so we basically toured the park and hit attractions as they fit into our mission to track down our favorite Cars buddies.

After all that Disney love, Trevor was on a major high.  And to keep that high going strong he got some watermelon cotton candy (blah!) and danced his way along the avenues.  Man, I wished I had our video camera for that.  He truly was a dancing fool.

To end our stay, Derek took Trevor on this really huge ferris wheel.  I was a little nervous that Trevor would freak out, but Derek was confident he would have a great time.  He LOVED it!

By this time, both kids were exhausted and hungry.  Trevor and my mom grabbed corn dogs from the park and we headed back to the hotel.  Mom, bless her heart, kept the kids for the evening and tucked their sleepy little heads into bed so that Derek and I could have a little date night at the Blue Bayou restaurant inside Disneyland.  You can see the tables while riding the Pirates of the Caribbean and I had always wanted to eat there.  It is a very romantic setting and, please don’t think less of me, but I can remember as a little girl longing to share the experience one day with my boyfriend (this was before I wanted to get married because back then I thought only old people got married and it would be way cooler to just have a boyfriend forever…you think less of me, don’t you?).  The setting is the rear veranda of a southern mansion, under an evening sky blanketed with stars.  But without the bugs and humidity because you are, in reality, indoors.  The food was perfectly seasoned (I know because I was never tempted to pick up a salt or pepper shaker) and it and the company (my husband, of course) were worth the wait.

And the romance continued as we headed back to the hotel room…to a screaming child.  Ok, so she wasn’t screaming when we got there, but she woke up pretty shortly after.  Derek was the hero of the night.  We got the story the next morning.  He took her for a drive.  She would not fall asleep.  He sat in the SUV for four hours with a baby who refused to cease crying and give in to sleep.  I woke up once and went looking for them in the parking lot but couldn’t find them anywhere.  I hesitated to call Derek’s cell because, with times like that, it seems you always catch them just as the baby falls asleep.  So I went back to bed feeling both guilty and slightly relieved.  And really not very well rested.  But who am I to complain?

Disney, day 1 June 14, 2011

This is a big year of weddings for us: Minneapolis, San Diego, Pennsylvania and Lincoln.  That means three vacations this year, one for each of three seasons.  Spring in Minneapolis, check.  Fall in Pennsylvania, to come.  Summer in San Diego, double check.  Midway through the trip, at the end of yet another really fun but very long day, Trevor summed up our trip nicely.  Daddy that was good, let’s go home now.  We had a blast but it’s always good to a semblance of normalcy.

The fun started with an early morning flight out of Omaha.  It was basically uneventful.  The only turbulence we encountered was caused by a pistol of a sweetheart within the plane and most of that was in our hotel room long after we had landed.  But more on that later.

We arrived in San Diego at 9:15 a.m. and quickly claimed our fifty-two pieces of baggage, rented our vehicle, and headed on up to Anaheim, home to the happiest place on earth.

We thought to stop for lunch sooner rather than later (because it was about one-ish according to our internal clocks) but apparently Southern California doesn’t have food signs on their interstates and you can’t see what’s over the next hill until you’ve passed the exit.  So finally, after successfully discovering and devouring some tasty In-N-Out burgers, we made it to our hotel for an early check-in–and then headed off to Disneyland!

The place was a zoo.  I don’t know how many times my mom told us she had never seen such a line for It’s a Small World.  Derek is very impatient when it comes to waiting in lines so if we saw a ride with a 30 minute or less wait time, we would jump in.  Needless to say, we never made it on any of the bigger rides like Splash or Space Mountain, Star Tours or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We did catch Indiana Jones with a less than 30 minute wait time but the ride of course broke down and we waited it out for the hour plus that it took.  But I digress.

Upon entering the park, we pushed through Main Street and veered right toward Tomorrowland.

There was a new (to me) ride featuring Buzz Lightyear with a fifteen minute wait time.  Score!  You ride around in cars and shoot your laser gun at both moving and stationary targets throughout the ride.  Trevor moved through the ride, handling his gun very slowly and methodically.  He was in severe sensory overload.  In a wonderful way.

We stopped in the adjacent gift shop after the ride (you really have no choice, it’s the only way out) and Trevor continued target practice.

My mom told me multiple times in the months leading up to this trip that she has had her eye on a particular Buzz Lightyear toy for over five years.  She was giddy upon finding it at this shop.  Perhaps even more so than Trevor.

We hit up Fantasyland next and saw that Snow White’s ride had a short wait time (do you see a developing trend?).  Trevor decided that Snow White is a little scary but King Arthur’s Carousel is awesome.  He loved picking out his horse: I want a blue one, no a orange one…

After passing up the other rides with longer wait times, we headed over to It’s a Small World and there created my single greatest memory of this trip.  Trevor went through the entire fifteen minute ride with his mouth hanging open, a look of sheer awe and wonder never leaving his pretty little face.  It was magical.

By this time, the evening Soundsational parade was about to start.  We found some fairly prime standing room and the magic continued.  Every time the Soundsational theme song played, Trevor started moving and grooving.  He waved excitedly to all the characters, from Mickey to Aladdin, Goofy to the Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins and the chimney sweepers, dancing monkeys accompanying a huge mechanical Simba.  He loved them all.

By this time we were all pretty exhausted from the early start to our day accompanied by all of the excitement.  We grabbed a bite to eat, wandered a little more, scarred our children by taking them on the Haunted Mansion ride and then sent them to bed with nightmares, I’m sure.

And that brings me to the first Uuuughhhh! segment of the trip.  I’m not sure whether to include this little bit in today’s or tomorrow’s account.  Where does two a.m. fall when you’ve already gone to bed and are continually attempting to get more sleep?  Charity, in general, does not travel well but, once you get her to sleep she usually sleeps well enough.  Not that night.  I honestly don’t remember exact times (Derek might, the horrors seem to be imprinted upon his very soul) but she was up very early and would not go back to sleep.  Derek and I took her for a ride in the rental and she finally drifted off once more, but it didn’t last long.  She was not crying, but so so fussy.  It was a long night.

Congratulations, Jason and Irina! May 14, 2011

Jason and Derek used to work together.  Before we moved to Nebraska.  Before they moved to New York and then on to L.A.  And here we meet again in Minneapolis to witness their vow renewal on their first wedding anniversary.

But we, of course, had to make a mini vacation of it.  Derek was traveling back to Omaha from D.C. on Thursday night so the kids and I planned to meet him at the airport, van packed and ready to go and then take off from there.  We figured we’d get to Des Moines around midnight or 1:00 a.m. and then have a short day of driving the following day which would give us all of Friday afternoon to do something in Minneapolis.  Things didn’t quite go that smoothly.  Double Shot (my new blog name for Trev; maybe it will catch or I may just end up realizing it’s dumb), Charity (still working on one for her) and I went to my aunt and uncle’s for dinner that evening.  We were all ready to leave for Omaha from their place but just as we were heading out it started pouring.  Pouring.  By the time we got the kids in the van we were all completely drenched.  I hopped on the interstate, dreading the drive, and headed for the big O.  Lightning was bright, thunder followed closely and each time a semi passed me (do they really never slow down?), for as little visibility as I had, I just as well have closed my eyes, gripped the steering wheel and prayed a Hail Mary.  When I felt the hair stand on my arms at one point I totally panicked.  I’m being charged, I thought, we are going to die.  At that point we were just approaching the exit we take to our house, so I took it.  I sat on the couch with The Weather Channel on, watched them air a shot of the interstate exit I had just taken and waited for Derek to call.  He was frumpy at first (you’re really not in Omaha?), but came to see things from my perspective.  The storm had passed Lincoln by that point and we had a decision to make.  Have him head home and leave the next day or take off now only to run into it later, down the road.  Being the brave (or stupid) souls that we are, the kids and I left for Omaha.  We caught the tail end of the storm system by the time we met Derek and then hit some rough spots but fortunately missed the epicenter as we headed east toward Des Moines.  Needless to say, it was a late night, but we were all safe.

We had an uneventful drive on Friday and reached the Mall of America in time for an afternoon and evening of enjoyment.  We roamed through the Nickelodeon theme park.  All of Double Shot’s favorite Nick Jr. characters had their own rides.  He is at the perfect age; he is just as content to marvel at the rides from afar as he would be to ride them.  He enjoyed walking through the park so much that he refused to leave.  As we were exiting, he sat down with a pout, and faced away from us, toward the park.

We hit the Lego store (if he heard me say that, DS would reply, it’s not nice to hit) but weren’t too impressed.

There were some larger-than-life character reproductions constructed of Legos

and some tables set up for guests to build with Legos.  There were computers as well where you could play some games that you could just as easily access at home from Lego’s website.

The Rainforest Cafe was a major hit with DS.

He has never been so entertained (and well-behaved) in a restaurant.  We didn’t have to worry about having crayons and other things for him to do.  And I enjoyed their white peach sangria.  Yum!

In a daddy moment, Derek caved and bought him a toy alligator to end the evening with a bite.

Saturday we ventured to St. Paul to attend their Science Museum.  I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as San Francisco’s Exploratorium but we had a really fun time.  Double Shot was able to man a tug boat,

simulate the release of dammed water and its effects on the riverbed,

see plenty of dinosaur bones and even some fossilized dinosaur eggs (which he has been very into since Easter), and who nose what else?

And Charity, I am pleased to report, tried her first pickle and liked it.

Sort of.

Trev was definitely diggin’ the chocolate and m&m dipped waffle cone.

We made it back just in time to get ready and make it for the ceremony.  Two boys around eight sat in the same row as us and at one point they were kind of pointing and laughing at Trevor.  Derek looked down to see why and discovered Trev was sitting there picking his nose.  During the cocktail hour following the ceremony, Trevor watched the boys from afar but within a half hour, they were chasing each other and playing and dancing together for the rest of the night.  It was a beautiful hotel and was so nice to have the ceremony, reception and our own accommodations in one building.  We made multiple trips to our room and back for one thing or another.  We didn’t know anyone other than the bride and groom (most people were, in fact, from either California, New York or Romania) but we sat at a table with and got to know Irina’s former dance coach and one of the boy’s mom along with his grandmother.  The older lady spoke only Romanian and a little French, which happened to be a little more French than what I speak these days.  We exchanged a few words but my French is beyond rusty.  I felt bad for her sitting there so isolated.

Charity, who is antisocial and normally cowers at the sight of other people, actually let another young lady hold her a couple of times while Derek and I got a few dances in.  I don’t remember your name, but thank you, you provided a breath of fresh air!  They had a “photo booth” set up with some props and the adults and kids alike had a blast getting some fun shots.

Here is Trevor helping Jason and others spell out I love you, Irina… in Romanian…with Hershey’s Kisses.

They then proceeded to make Jason perform the Evolution of Dance as the last of three challenges required to get back his bride who had been kidnapped.  It was quite hilarious.

Second only to Jason and Irina,

Trevor was the dancing hit of the night (along with his new alligator buddy at his feet on the dance floor).

He was cuttin’ a rug until 11:30 p.m.–and still going strong.  I was a little saddened because he refused to dance with me.  Anytime I came near he would push me away, no, ma.  I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt.

California Revisited…part V July 17, 2010

The big day was just around the corner.  The boys took over my brother’s house so mom, Charity and I slept at my grandparents’ place.  I hadn’t spent the night with them since high school, probably.  Grandparents’ homes have a different feel right before bed, so serene.  It was nice.  I felt like a kid again.

We woke up early the next morning and spent most of the day getting ready.  It’s a complex process, you know.  Then the girls met up at Nichole’s mom’s place for a fancy limo ride to the wedding gardens.

We drank champagne in the bride’s room and helped Nichole dress.  Andy and Nichole met each other privately at the altar before the ceremony so the rest of us continued to hang out and drink Arnold Palmer tee and/or champagne.

The ceremony was short and beautiful.  Considering it was 105 degrees we were thankful for the “short.”  And since it was my brother and the woman he loves, it couldn’t have been anything but beautiful.

The reception was great.  Trevor was in love with Rylee, the flower girl.  She is adorable, he has great taste.  They danced…

and hugged…

and held hands.  I think she eventually grew weary of his affection.

Here are the bride and groom in their first dance.

Charity slept most of the day.  I think it was the extreme heat.  She was sure worrying her great-grandmothers.

Trevor was eyeing the cake from the start.  This is the piece that Andy and Nichole cut for each other.  He just couldn’t wait until the cake was served and they were nice enough to share.

The newlyweds and the longest married couple, our grandparents.

Four generations of handsome men.

My new sister.

and Charity’s new aunt.

Congratulations to my brother and his lovely wife!

Welcome to the family, Nichole!  We love you and are glad you are a part of our lives.  My brother’s a lucky guy!