Wild Wedding Weekend

Late November and it's been in the 70 outside. Wacky! Wish it was like this a few weeks ago when we were all decked out and wearing little dresses while getting our pictures taken for Timmy's wedding. Oh well, you can't ask for everything can you?

Yes, we are back from a wild wedding weekend. Tim has been married off and we officially have another Jen Kepler in the fam. Weird!

We started the week in NY early to get a few extra days of visiting in. We won't be making the trek up there for quite a while now. I'm ok with that since I've made at least three or four other trips up this year. I tried to make the best of it before I am truly home bound for several months.

We were nervous about the ride up since we have a newly-potty-trained kid. We stopped often and had his little potty right next to him in the car. We had to use it too. There was a lot of construction in Jersey and there was hardly a place to stop but we needed to at one point for a pee pee break. We unstrapped Nathan, scooted him over a seat and had him do his business right in the pot. He did well - I think he thought this was super cool actually. And back on the road we went.

Once there, we slipped into life as if we never left it and this is the norm. The uncles love to entertain Nathan and even the little girl neighbors like to come by and see him too. The kid has friends everywhere we go! We got in a visit with Grandpa Truck, Babci, Jay, Kerry and baby Kevin - who is 9 months old. Nathan is cute with other little kids. I like that he gets some practice in.

After a few days of rest and relaxation (and warm weather actually), the madness began on Friday (as did the wind and less warm weather). We left for Long Island, where the festivities would take place, earlier than we planned and good thing we did. Traffic is soooo not fun. We got caught up in traffic at the Throggs Neck bridge - awesome. We made it to the hotel in time to check in and eat super quick. The Marriott was nice, right next to the Coliseum and close to everything else we were doing that weekend (most of it anyway). We had a great room too, right next to Greg, Danielle and Lily. Our rooms connected and they had a huge corner room that afforded the kids lots of room to run around (and make a mess). It was ideal (except for the hoodlums across the hall the first night. Security took care of that).

The first stop for me and Danielle was a trip to the nail place. We met the Plummer clan there and enjoyed a relaxing few hours while Leo watched the kids and Greg went to get the tuxes. I got the good end of the deal, huh? We had some time to relax before going off to the rehearsal dinner at a nearby Italian place. Fortunately we were able to stuff into Dads van. Unfortunately, there was traffic getting there. I forget this is what LI is! Traffic! The dinner was nice though. Tim & Jen were so good about saying something special and thanking everyone. Jen was very generous with her bridesmaids gifts, giving us each a necklace, cute flat shoes that fold into a purse, an additional black purse, a red shawl to match our dresses AND a gift certificate for the salon for hair and makeup. I'm still in awe of all she did for each of us. She was dead on with all her gifts - they were all perfect! The families get along well and it was fun to see Tim's friends again, who were in the wedding party. The only stressor for me was out little monster, Nathan. Being confined isn't his favorite activity, and although I'm glad he was there to be with us, it just wasn't the ideal situation for him. He didn't eat much and preferred to play in the carts and stands the waiters use to serve food. His uncles took turns taking him out to run around and go to the bathroom though. Between that and crawling around under the table, we made it through the night. But I was tired and wished I could have more than a small bit of wine to help me relax!

Something that kinda made up for Nathan's 2-year-oldness was when he was chanting J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets in front of everyone. Tim was about to thank everyone, so the room was quiet. Nathan got up on a chair and somehow the Jets came up and Nathan was all over it. He chanted several times until we had to tell him to cool it. He was so cute though. He made mommy and daddy so proud.

Saturday started early. I left Nathan and Leo in the room while Danielle, Joanne, Mom and I went off to the salon. We were expected to be there at 9. Grumpy and hungry, our moods changed when we were offered coffee and bagels in this large, swanky and very busy salon. I had never been in a place like this and it ended up being a lot of fun watching everyone get transformed. We spent many hours there and made some new friends in our stylists. I got the one pregnant hair stylist and we had a nice time talking babies. Someone was sent to get lunch at a local diner (ahhhh, diners!) and back to the hotel we went.

The next part of the day was going to be tricky - how to transition the kids over to the sitters. Thankfully there was family around to help out. Aunt Denice and Uncle Glenn from Colorado took Nathan outside to run around with cousin Kiley for an hour or so. Boy did that kid need it! We were able to get in a quick introduction to cousin Jamie and her friend Danielle who would be watching all three of the kids in the hotel room during the wedding. It was hard to make the switch with confidence and balance getting dressed and being where we were supposed to be. But it worked. The kids were fed and well-cared for all night and didn't have much to worry about. Again, the potty training part made me nervous but Jamie handled it like a pro.

Meanwhile, we had to get to the brides room to assist in the getting ready part. Danielle and I watched her mother, sisters and friend get her ready but it was fun to be part of it anyway. Much the way Jen was there for our weddings but not actually in them. It's cool the three of us could share in that.

Then the limos arrived and off we went. The Swan Club was beautiful. Right on the water, fall flowers and fountains everywhere. I would love to see this place in the spring. Pictures happened right away and started with Tim turning to see his beautiful bride all dressed up for the first time in front of everyone. The long picture session went from there and seemed to take an eternity, but only because the wind was so chilly. Our feet were killing us and we were already hungry. And the wedding was hours away! We settled into the bridal suite for a while and waited for everything to start. The bus carrying the wedding guests from the hotel was delayed which pushed everything else 20 minutes or so, but it didn't matter once we got to the room where the wedding was taking place. (I was even able to forget about the fact that the strap on my dress broke twice in the hour we were waiting. The third time was right after the ceremony and I just tucked in into the dress.) the room was amazing - all romantic with white gauzy material and soft lights. It was long and narrow, thus a long aisle walk. But Leo was right beside me. We made a cute threesome all dressed up - Leo, Me and Baby Trend #2!

The ceremony was nice....and interesting. The officiant seemed to forget Jen's name and pronounced Kepler as "Klepper" but we made the most of that and had some giggles to break up the tears of joy that threatened to mess up our professional makeup!

By the time we got through the cocktail hour and into the reception I was more than happy to take off my fabulous but painful heels and into those cute little flats I had in my new purse. Oh relief! I wish I didn't have the extra worry of carrying a baby all this time. I enjoyed the wedding, and it was fun to show off the bump, but it definitely made me tired and longing for bed when I would normally have danced the night away with the rest of the cousins. But, still we all enjoyed ourselves. The best part being the photo booth. It was a fantastic idea that everyone really had fun with. No wedding should be without one! Another highlight, Greg's best mad speech that went on a little long - Tim had to tell him to wrap it up. But he did well for someone who doesn't like public speaking. And the wedding cake - canoli cake is the way to go!

The new couple were so cute together and were really enjoying themselves too. Once again they were very gracious and thanked everyone - when they were able to wrestle the mic away from 'Tank' the MC. Let's just say he was very Long Island.

The old me would have loved to join the stragglers in the bar after the wedding but the current me was more than happy to get into bed next my sleeping boy, as well as be in charge of a sleeping Lily if she needed me. Everyone else went to the bar.

We had a little breakfast before hitting the open road back to Rockland for a few days. Ha - no traffic!

The fun family time continued as the 'Kleppers' filled my Dads house for hours. As usual it was a nice easy day to just be with one another. I got the good old baby name book out and begged for suggestions for Baby Trend. My Dad chose Samuel George. Nice try Dad. Leo and Nathan went to Grandpa Trucks for the Jets game and I enjoyed a night of quiet; panning to read for hours only to be asleep by 9:30 I was so tired.

The next day, there were still several people in town for us to hang around with. It was our last day up there as well as the day Matthew would be leaving for boot camp. The kid went and joined the Army! Dad gathered the family into the living room on Sunday and presented Matt with a little something to go away with - a squished penny with the image of the statue of liberty on it. We all handled it before Dad said a few nice words about him being proud of Matt. He was teary eyes of course, as was I. It was hard not to be.

Monday we hung around and enjoyed the weather that had once again turned warm. The kids enjoyed the giant leaf pile in the street. Joanne made us an apple pie to take home with us. We got last minute pictures of the kids together. A nice relaxing end to a long week.

Tuesdays' ride home was mostly uneventful until the last hour when I thought Nathan was going to lose his mind. Well, maybe he did. He thrashed like a mental patient when he had enough. We finally came up with a game to keep him busy in the last 20 minutes or so. It was the longest hour of my life! But we made it.

Now here we are home bound for a while, surrounded by holiday decorations. Goodbye leaves and pumpkins, hello tree lights and snowflakes. Yet, it's unseasonably warm again so it feels more like spring. No worries. The cool weather will catch up with us this week, along with December fun.