Vacation? Part two

Saturday

Saturday was the wedding day so we didn't really do much in the morning except get ourselves ready for the wedding. We did have some real New York pizza, grease and all, for lunch before the wedding, so I was happy with that. The only thing I didn't like was that they used the little pepperonis and not the regular size ones. I don't know why it matters, but it does.

After hours of getting ready for the wedding (remember, Jen, Beka, and I are in the wedding and Raymond was wearing a "cute" little suit), we finally leave to meet up with the rest of the wedding party. We did need to drop the rental off at the reception sire because we get to ride in the limos to the wedding. How cool is that! The groomsmen all got into one limo at the best man's house to ride to the church. Unfortunately, my nightmare was realized: I am in a tuxedo, there is no air conditioning in the church, and it's quite possibly the hottest day ever in the history of time in western New York. So thankfully I came prepared with a handkerchief to mop off the profuse amounts of sweat pouring off my forehead, neck, etc. The ceremony was great and very beautiful. Beka did so well as a flower girl and I was so proud of her. Raymond even did well with someone other than Mommy, Daddy, or Grandma holding him (Thanks Fran!). But he seemed to be as hot as I was! Eventually, the wedding was over and it was picture time. After about 2 hours of pictures not only at the church, but at various other places across Rochester, we arrived at the reception site.

The reception was a lot of fun and we were able to eat, dance, and be merry. They even had a photo booth where you could take funny pictures. Of course, Beka, Jen, and I had to partake. The food was good, but the dessert table was awesome. Candy and cookies galore. It was enough to keep me awake after a long day. Beka had a great time with her cousins and Jen and I were able to catch up with some of our favorite relatives. We partied into the late night, which for us was about 9 PM or so and drove back home to the hotel where we promptly put the kids to bed and passed out.

Sunday

On Sunday, we took our time getting up in the morning, after our big evening the night before. We got to meet some good friends for breakfast at Cracker Barrel who we don't get to see very often. It is always a fun time when we get together with one of my old college roommates, his wife, and their son. I am glad we have such a connection with them, even though we don't visit frequently. The late breakfast was great, not because of the food (which was great) or because of the service (which was awful), but because of the company. We made plans to get together the next day, since Monday was the only day we didn't really have a ton of things to do. The original plan was to go to the pool at the hotel, but as you'll see that didn't really work out.

After breakfast, we met my mother-in-law to drive together to Syracuse for a baby shower for one of Jen's cousins. I was thrilled to be going (not). Apparently, the shower was at 3 and Jen thought it was at 2. So we got there more than a little early. We did get to set up though. I thought about going to one of my uncles' house, but decided against it since I wanted to play video games at an arcade like I hadn't in years. As Jen says, "it's a waste of money", but you could say the same about any hobby really. While at the arcade, I had a couple tweens challenge me to some motorcycle racing game, since I was continuously winning and getting free games at it. I warned them not to bother and really waste their money. There was no way they could actually beat me at since I'd been playing for a good while and hadn't lost, even though I was playing at the hard level. Needless to say, I beat them handily and then they finally left me alone. So after spending a couple house wasting money, I headed back to the shower. Jen had texted me telling me when the other husbands would be back. I get back to the house where the shower is and no one but the wives are there. So, I turned on the TV and watched some football. After everyone else showed up, I got to talk with some of Jen's relatives and catch up some more with them. It ended up being a good day all in all.

Monday

Monday started off with us taking our time in the morning and getting a message from our friends that their son was being a little fussy and they didn't really want to take him out that morning. This was cool so we just went to the pool with the kids ourselves. The pool wasn't heated and I was cold in the water so I didn't last very long. Raymond was also cold (as evidenced by his blue lips) so I took him back to the room and put him down for nap. Eventually, Jen and Beka come back and we decide to hit up the Strong Museum of Play, a literal museum of things that you play with. I probably don't have to tell you Beka was in her glory. She couldn't get enough: running around, playing, yelling, etc. They even had a mock grocery store where she could shop, ring up her purchases, and bag them herself. There was even a small section for Raymond-size babies. Insanity. So, a few hours later (we planned on being there maybe an hour) we get into the car and head over to out friends house for some dinner and good conversation. We didn't want to leave, but our flight was taking off very early and we needed to get back to the hotel and pack.

Tuesday

So we get up so early on Tuesday morning I can't even call it the crack of dawn because it was even earlier than that. We get the kids all ready to go, check out, get to the airport, turn in our rental car, and make our way to the check in counter at Delta. Lo and behold, our flight was cancelled due to weather and changed to that afternoon. Yeah, after having been up at 3:45 am, that's what I want to hear. So we sort through our options and decide on trying to get the rental car back (since the place wasn't even open yet and we still had a whole day) and hanging out in Rochester for an extra day. Doing what, you might ask. We didn't know either. We were all hungry for breakfast so we got the rental car back once the place opened up at 6 am. We couldn't even get through security because our flight was more than 6 hours away and we can't get boarding passes. Also, we only had enough baby formula for half a day since we were supposed to be home by mid-day. So for breakfast we head to Denny's. This was a HUGE mistake. We ordered food, but didn't really eat much of it since it wasn't good at all. But Beka ate, so that was good. Jen and I then went to Dunkin Donuts to actually eat. It was after 7:30 am by this point so we had the idea to see if our friends were home. Thankfully, even though my old roommate was at work, his wife was going to be home most of the morning so we could have a place to hang out. This was a life saver for sure. We're so grateful to have such good friends.

After being there for a few hours, we drove back to the airport and boarded our flight home. The flight home was fairly uneventful, actually, but we wanted to be home already. Our poor dogs had to stay at the doggy hotel for an extra day because we didn't get home soon enough to pick them up. The perfect end to the trip: finding out that the tropical storm that we had here actually knocked over a tree in our yard and destroyed a section of our fence. Fun!