Sarah's Wedding/Hello Elizabeth!

Let's just call it the summer of quick wedding trips.  I guess I'll take any excuse I can get to hang out with my dear friends that I just don't have an excuse to travel to very often.

BONUS: If we fly up for the wedding, we get to meet BABY ELIZABETH!

And so we went.  Pull Sam out of school after attendance on Friday morning (yes, he had perfect attendance in kindergarten!) and flew to Chicago.  Then we waiting in a rental car line for 1.5 hours because they didn't have any cars to hand out.  Then we drove to South Bend in peace and quiet, two kids passed out in the back seat.

Gommy and Papa scored a adjoining room at the hotel, still clutch with kids who go to bed earlier than 10pm.  But I tell you, my kiddos rocked the hotel.  They shared a pull out sofa bed that I'm not sure was even as wide as a full-size bed.  Only once during our two night stay did we hear a peep from them, and that was only because Annabelle had inched her way onto Sam's pillows and was more or less sleeping on his head.  He wasn't even mad - just asking her to move!  (Sorry, the picture was taken in the dark with a phone!)

 The kids loved Elizabeth immediately.  I mean, we all did, of course.  But it was awesome to see them attach to her so quickly.  When she would get upset, they would both hurry to bring their own lovies to her, certain that the treasured possessions would soothe the overwhelmed two-month-old.  We all loved on her as much as we could those two days, but totally understood why mom and dad left her with Aunt Chrissy for the reception.

The wedding was fit for a magazine.  Yes, my children struggled a bit through the ceremony and I did go through every last emergency snack and set of restaurant crayons I had in my purse, but I think the "party" made up for it.  Not only were there yummy drinks and food, there were lawn games and big open fields and other kids to play with.  By the end of the night Annabelle had made besties with one of the flower girls (Adam's daughter.  He and I got married in my basement once.) and there was a bit of a sad hug goodbye.

There was lots of dancing.  I was able to coax my husband and daughter out onto the dance floor, but not my son.  Annabelle and I did some couples dancing and she also dominated the Cupid Shuffle.

And despite our best efforts, we did not set ourselves - or the wheat! - on fire with either the paper hot air balloons or the sparklers.

On Sunday we were able to enjoy Father's Day brunch with my family (minus the Stegmillers) and then hang out with the Fergusons and Len and DeLisa's for a bit before heading back to the airport.

It was an insanely quick trip, but I don't regret it at all.  And did you know that Southwest not only provides wifi on its flights now, they'll also give you a free beer if you're flying with your kids on Father's Day?