This past weekend my brother got married in Indiana and we had a great but exhausting time. Who would have ever thought that taking a weekend trip to see your brother get married would be so much fun but even more exhausting?
Well this was the kids first airplane trip and they enjoyed it! We left Thursday evening after Daniel got home from work to drive to Houston so we could fly out from there on Friday morning. We ended up getting to Houston around 9:30 p.m. and didn't get to bed until 10:30 and we had to be up at 3:45 AM on Friday to catch our 6 a.m. flight. I couldn't sleep Thursday night for fear that I would miss the alarm clock so I tossed and turned all night. Plus we were all pretty excited so that made it even harder to sleep. I was thinking the kids would wake up pretty grouchy at 3:45 but to our amazement, they were up and excited and ready to go. They didn't even go back to sleep in the car! When we got to the airport, I realized we had a few pitied eyes looking at us and people making comments like "Wow you have your hands full." I guess it hadn't seemed too bad yet, but of course we still were walking through the airport towards our first plane of the day. Fortunately we made it through security, even though it took us a while longer than all of the other single business people headed out at that time of day. We managed to grab some good old Mcdonalds for breakfast and made it on the plane just in time to get the car seats loaded up, our carryons situated, and our bottoms seated before the plane took off.
Amazingly the kids did very well on the flight and didn't really cry at all, thank goodness. We had a 1 hour layover in Atlanta and then did the same thing over again for our flight to Indianapolis, IN. From there we rented a car and drove 2 hours to Fort Wayne. We ended up getting to Fort Wayne around 3:45 p.m. or so and the rehearsal started at 5. Daniel was the "stand-in" best man in the wedding because both of my brother's friends are serving in Iraq and were unable to make it to the wedding. Also Katherine was the flower girl, so both she and Daniel needed to be at the rehearsal. So we had just enough time to take baths and get dressed and get them out the door. Matthew and Christopher stayed with me in the hotel and took a nap and then we all went to the rehearsal dinner at a nice place called Biaggi's. The food was fabulous and the portions were huge! They had lots of nice wines, appetizers, several salads and entrees per table, and then dessert! We definitely went home full and slept wonderfully that night! We had a great time of catching up with family and meeting new friends. It was a nice elegant evening!
The next morning, before the wedding at 3, my parents were kind enough to take the kids to a Botanical Conservatory across the street from our hotel and the wedding cathedral.
It had lots of beautiful flowers, dress up clothes for the kids, grocery store play toys, talking trees, etc. The kids loved it and it gave Daniel and myself a few minutes to rest before the wedding.
Afterwards, we got all dressed up for the wedding and Katherine absolutely loved wearing her flower girl dress. She just gave herself a big hug and just loved prancing around in it.
And then we were off to the wedding! Katherine did great walking down the aisle and gave a beautiful bow when she got to the front. It was so cute! This is Katherine's third wedding as a flower girl and every time I see her walk down the aisle, it always makes me tear up. I don't know if it's because I'm envisioning my only little girl 15+ years from now when she'll be walking down the aisle herself or if it's just me being an emotional mom, but it always puts tears in my eyes.
After the family pictures at the Botanical Conservatory and trolley rides with the bridal party, we were off to the reception.
The reception was a blast! The food was great, the atmosphere was elegant, the people were there to dance, and the band was great! I have never seen people dance for so long at a wedding! The kids stayed for a little while and Katherine played with her new best friend of the weekend, Sloan. They had a blast together dancing and playing. They almost looked alike too!
Fortunately, Alison was kind enough to provide us with a local sitter to watch the kids at the hotel so after a while we took the kids back and they all went to sleep, and Daniel and I snuck back and enjoyed the rest of the evening! It was lots of fun. The dancing went on from around 7:30-midnight! And even at midnight the crowd was chanting for an encore so they could dance some more. Earlier that evening, my brother got up there and at the spur of the moment sang the Top Gun song "You've lost that Loving Feeling" with a buddy and it was very fun to watch. Alison looked beautiful in her dress and all of her accessories were perfect...she's so stylish! It'll be fun to have 2 sisters now:) It was kinda funny seeing Will in a tux rather than an Army uniform, but it did him well. They both looked so happy together:) Overall we had a blast, but around midnight, we headed back to the hotel because we had a busy day ahead of us of driving and flying.
On Sunday, we got up at 6:00 a.m. and tried to drag our feet out of bed on a cold, rainy day, drive to Indy, and make it to the airport. Fortunately we made it to all our flights, but before our last flight, I started getting the chills and wasn't feeling well. On our last flight to Houston, I know we all looked pitiful because we all slept with our mouths dropped open the entire flight. We were so tired! I know the guy sitting next to me must have wondered if we were all drugged because he just kept staring at me. Hey, what can ya do!? By the time we got to Houston, we were ready to crash, but we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to Austin. The weather was so crazy too...from being in the 40's cold and rainy that morning to the 80's hot and humid that afternoon. Fun fun. So we peeled our eyelids open and somehow managed to make it back to Austin by around 9 p.m., gave Katherine a quick bath and sent her to bed for school on Monday.
Little did we know that she would miss school all week...
Sunday night she woke up with an ear infection and Monday morning Daniel and I woke up with fevers and chills. So we all spent a fun family day on Monday at the doctors offices from 11-4. It was quite fun. Katherine had an ear infection and Daniel and I had caught the nasty virus that Matt had the previous week.
So....now it's finally Friday and we're starting to feel better. We've seen the doctor 6 times in 2 weeks, which is enough for me for 2 years! But at least our deductible was met a while back so we haven't had to pay for any of these appts. Matthew did get an ear infection on Thursday but has started meds. And now we're hoping and praying that little Christopher steers clear of this nasty virus so we can all enjoy some nice juicy turkey, stuffing, and all that yummy Thanksgiving food next week. Ahh, it's just so nice to be back to normal somewhat and to be able to see and swallow and hear. I'm definitely thankful for my health, good sleep, and fun family weddings, even when it means you won't get much sleep or you'll get sick from them. It's amazing what things we take for granted!
Enjoy your weekend!
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Talk to you soon!