The flower girl and ringbearer
I'm done getting new aunts and uncles for a while now. Uncle Joe married Aunt Kathy this weekend. I got to be the ring bearer and Eliana was the honorary flower girl. She slept through the ceremony, so it was a good thing it was an honorary position. The whole weekend was a lot of fun. From playing with Wall-e in the church at rehearsal to swiming at the hotel, the whole weekend was jam packed with fun!
Mommy and I went by ourselves to the rehearsal because Ellie had a cough. I brought Wall-e so Joe could see how he works, since he gave him to me for my birthday. But Joe was a little busy, so mostly Michael played with him while we waited for the rehearsal to start. Then we practiced the whole wedding. Afterward we went out to dinner at Major's. Michael and I were hungry so we helped ourselves to the veggie tray. Then they brought out some yummy pasta. Mommy and I didn't stay too long because we had to get home to bed. Mommy said it was a good thing we decided to sleep at home because Eliana slept through the night and we all got a good night's sleep before the big day!
The lovely bride getting ready
Saturday was wedding day. It started out with a drive to the cities stopping to pick up my tux. Then we had to change clothes and get pictures taken. It was hard to stand still, look, and smile for the camera - way harder than walking while carrying a pillow! After pictures we went downstairs for some cheese and crackers and wedding pop (which tastes just like trivia pop). When everyone was finally in their seats, it was showtime! Michael and I walked right up to the front of the church and stopped. Then someone reminded us to bow, so we did. Then Grandpa whispered to us to come sit down, so we did! Everyone said we did a very good job. Mommy did a good job walking with Uncle Tommy and doing the reading, too. And Joe and Kathy said all the right stuff and they got married! Grandpa Lanz sang a beautiful song with Kathy's dad on guitar while Joe and Kathy lit the unity candle. The whole thing was pretty special. There was only one little moment of confusion, when the priest prayed for Grandpa Larry... no one remembers a Larry. Soon it was time to walk back down the aisle. With a little shove to get us out of the pew, Michael and I found our way back to the basement all by ourselves!
Whoa! Look at those fish.
After a few more pictures, it was time to go check into the hotel. Daddy, Eliana and I hung out in the room for a while, watched some cartoons and had some down time before the reception at the MN zoo. Dinner was going to be late, so we walked next door to the Dairy Queen and had some ice cream and french fries to tide us over until dinner. Mommy had gone ahead to the zoo with Cory, Joe and Kathy to get some pictures taken. And boy, did they take pictures! Mommy said that arriving with the bride and groom was like arriving to the paparazzi. When we got there, she met us and we walked around the Tropics Trail. Then Daddy and I went off down the dark MN trail while Mommy and Ellie visited with relatives. I had to finish the trail with Pam and Russ because Daddy had to run get food from the car for Ellie. That was an adventure. Russ took the whole group of little boys in the men's room by himself. He was brave! But it went well and I got all washed up for dinner. I got my own special dinner of chicken strips and fruit while the grownups had stuffed chicken and vegetables. There was also an option of pasta for Kathy and other vegetarians. I liked the swedish fish party favors at the tables. I ate several people's. The cake was good, too - especially the chocolate!
Look at those moves!
Then it was time for the dance! Daddy took Eliana back to the hotel to put her to bed, even though she was having a great time dancing with Ivy. She would've been happy to stay and party because she's a real party girl. But she fell right to sleep in her carseat, so she was tired! Mommy asked if I wanted to go or stay and dance. I said I wanted to stay and watch her dance, which was mostly what I did. I danced a little in the beginning before there were too many people on the dance floor. But then the DJ did all sorts of fun dances like the Chicken Dance, Electric Slide and YMCA and I got a little overwhelmed. Lots of people started dancing and I didn't know any of the moves. So then I just watched for a long time (except for the one time Mommy bribed me to do the dollar dance with Aunt Kathy) until the DJ said "last call." I realized it was my last chance to dance. He started playing some cool "guy" music that the big guys were all dancing to. So I got into my "safe box," the rectangle at the edge of the dance floor that was mostly empty of people, and started to pull out my cool dance moves. Before long it was midnight and the bus was leaving for the hotel. The music stopped and we went back to our room. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Gift opening - no home is complete without gnomes
Morning came quickly. We got up and out to the lobby for breakfast by 10:00. We wore our swimsuits so we could go right to the pool. The whole family went swimming in the nice, warm pool. Eliana liked it a lot. It was a short swim, though, because we had to go get packed up. The gift opening was at Kathy's parents' house at noon. I didn't see them open any gifts, though, because I was busy playing pool with Michael. I've only seen the pictures.
On our way home we stopped to drop off my tux and visit Ellie's birth family in Maple Grove. Eliana got to show off her other new tooth - she has two now! And she showed how well she can crawl and stand up next to stuff. We almost left without me getting any magic tricks, but as we were walking out the door I remembered to ask Grandpa Skip to do magic with my smooshed penny that I got at the zoo. He made it go right through Dani's head! I said, "Wow."
Then we were off to Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb's house to get Belle. She had slept overnight with them while we were gone. We got there kind of late because of all the traffic. It was nice of them to hold dinner for us. But unfortunately there wasn't a lot of time to stay and visit. We had to get home to bed! It was a long weekend.
We were woken up this morning to more banging. The workers have been putting up our new siding on our house. Hopefully tomorrow is the last day. The new color is green, my favorite. We escaped the banging for a while and went to the new library! Mommy and I brought Ellie this time. We didn't get to take any pictures, but it was pretty cool. I liked the new bookshelves. I could see all the covers of the books and CDs. I instantly found a couple CDs I wanted and then a bunch of books right in the Bs. It wasn't long before Mommy said that was enough books and we went to see the toy area. It was smaller, but very nice. My favorite toys were still there. We also looked in the bathrooms. They were big and had little toilets for kids. There was even a nursing room for mommies with babies. I really wanted to go up all those granite stairs, so we walked around upstairs a little. Everything was very light because of all the tall windows Mommy said not to put fingerprints on. The only bad thing about the new library was all the waiting. Hopefully it will get better. But there was a line at the book drop because it's an automatic conveyor that you're supposed to put the books on one at a time. Good thing we didn't bring ALL our books back today! And then there was a line to check out. They librarians have to demagnetize every book now and they don't have a much desk space, so it's tricky for them. Hopefully the wrinkles will get worked out and things will go more quickly soon because Mommy tends to get impatient and crabby when we have to wait in line.
Bye-bye!
Tonight Grandma Barb came over for a little bit because Mommy taught her first class. She said it went well. It's going to be different having Mommy working now. I'm sure we'll all get used to it.
Tomorrow I have my first day of school, too. So I'll have lots of good school stories to come. But that was my busy weekend, plus a day. I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did!