Whirlwind Wedding Trip

It is summer in Seattle so what is a small family to do?  Head to Denver where it is even hotter for a wedding.

I don't mind missing the 90 degree Seattle day, and technically we didn't miss is altogether.  We arrived home at 7:30 last night and the temperature was still 87 degrees.  Getting the luggage, the car seat, the stroller, the carry on bags and the baby to the car was enough to equate to a full day outside playing in the backyard.  The temperatures were in the lower 90's in Denver, but that humidity makes for a drippy difference.

Our yard and flowers looked very unhappy upon our arrival.  Except my $4 safeway dahlia.  She's sprung back to life and it seems that she liked the hot weather.   The outside has been watered and the hanging plant has been deadheaded in hopes that it can expend its energy on the blooms yet to come.

Our little journey started early Wednesday afternoon when I met Jason for lunch after a quick blood draw at the doctor.  (We're trying to manage a low iron issue with me.)  We went to the XXX drive in for a nooner.  I'd never been and I give it a solid, "I'll go back someday" but it won't be on the regular rotation of food joints I crave.  First of all it was rather expensive but they compensate for that by giving you more food than one human needs.  I did enjoy sitting outside and it was relatively quick.

We headed home where I finished up some last minute work.  I wonder what it is about hearing that someone is going to be out of the office for TWO DAYS that makes people freak out.  Oh well, I'll get another dose of that quickly as we're prepping for a camping trip in the near future.

We packed up the car and then stopped by "school" to get our girl and off to the airport we went.  The flight was mostly unremarkable.  Lucy did well in spite of not wanting to sit in her car seat.  It was our fault for freeing her midflight and then expecting her to get her back in.  For the trip home, we kept her in her seat the entire 2 hour and 15 minute flight (plus the 40 minutes of boarding time.

We left something very important in the car, so Jason left me in the security line and headed back to our car.  He had more than enough time to board the plane, but wasn't on hand for the get the baby, car seat, carry on  and baby onto the plane experience.  Thankfully, the kid is cute and a kind flight attendant picked her up so I could manhandle everything else.  Lucy wasn't too excited about a stranger picking her up, but she was a trooper.  We were settled in by the time that Jason arrived but were still rather "dewy" from the physical activity.

The car seat on the plane is a nice thing - it is critical to have it at your destination and there is a measure of safety about having your small person strapped in to a seat that keeps her contained.  As far as life safety goes on the plane, it likely only adds value if the plane drops altitude suddenly.  I don't think it would do much good in a crash situation.

The bummer about the car seat on the airplane is that it is damned big and puts Junior in perfect position to kick the shit out of the seat back in front of them.  I did my best to keep the kicking to a dull roar, but it is not reasonable to expect a 17 month old kid not to move around.  I apologized to the man in the seat as we were exiting and he said "thank you, I know you were trying and the fact that you were trying to be considerate was the best part of my day."  Goodness, how bad must your day be to have the fact that the effort we made to not kick his seat was the bright spot?

During the flight home I can't say that the people in front of us were as aware of the efforts we were making.  First of all, we were able to cinch the seat better so Lucy couldn't reach the seat back with her feet - until that "lady" reclined her seat.  So, I did make an effort to remind Lucy not to kick the seat, or play with the tray, I didn't have as much sympathy.   Secondly, 'The Recliner' dropped not one but three things on the floor that she asked me to retrieve for her.

At only one point in the flight home did Lucy have a baby melt down.  I was doing everything I could to figure out what she wanted (other than sleep and her own bed) and the lady in front turned around and asked me if I had water, or a binkie for the baby.   I was icy with my reply.  "I have every thing she needs."  Which, if she was paying attention translated to "OMG Lady, do you really think I'm not trying here?  For *&^%$ sake, she's 17 months old, is tired, strapped into a seat and really really wants to be free."   Jason, reading the situation correctly, put his hand on my knee and gave me the look that said "please don't kill her here on the plane."

I think the thing that bugged me the most was that during the 3 hours we were on the plane Lucy cried once and for about 2 minutes.  Sure, not fun for anyone around us, but we did a great job of keeping her happy, so to offer up suggestions at the 1 minute mark was a bad choice for 10B.  For the record, we considered bringing a pacifier, but since Lucy is 100% pacifier free we didn't think it was a smart choice.

So, with the travel stories out of the way, our time in Denver was nice.  Grammy and Papa (I think these are the chosen names they have finally landed on) arranged for Lucy care and took Jason and I out to dinner.  The place was sort of out in the middle of nowhere, but it was nice.  The food was outstanding and we had a lovely evening.

The wedding was Saturday, and the weather was a cool 85.  The venue was an old steak house with extensive yards and there were two events happening that evening.  The other event was a larger wedding with girls in pink and the military men were in uniform. I didn't get a glimpse of the bride.  Our wedding had black bridemaids dresses, but they were very pretty.  They had a 40's feel to them and were kind of sassy.  The bride wore a strapless mermaid dress that I liked, but could never ever wear. The bride and groom seemed to be happy, but as I'd never met either of them before it was hard to tell if they were having fun.  In a decision that would baffle me to the end of my days the bride asked her mother to take care of all the details.  By details I don't mean "should we have garlic croutons or butter croutons" but wedding location, dresses, decorations, invitations... DETAILS.  Granted, Beth is an engineer and everything was perfectly planned but she admitted she spent more time and energy on this wedding than her own.   The food was great, but the on site catering staff was making Beth crazy.  They seemed a bit disorganized and not really how to handle small things that came up, like the fact that they didn't have enough appetizer plates and folks started taking the dinner plates to transport appetizers back to their lesser mobile folks in the other room.  (That's an issue with a buffet in a location with stairs, those in wheelchairs and walkers can't easily navigate the room.)  Anywho, the staff seemed dazed as to how to deal with a shortage of plates at dinner time.  

The DJ did a good job and was just cheesy enough to keep things moving especially when the grooms father stood up for his dissertation.  It is supposed to be a toast, but apparently he talked for 37 minutes at the rehearsal dinner.  The groom's mother, who is NOT the groom's father's wife anymore was not amused.  I think perhaps at this wedding, the last of their four children she had heard enough from this "blowhard".  Those were not her words, but I did see the MOtG's best friend keeping her calm by offering an encouraging word during the speech.  Thankfully, there were only two toasts, and the dad did keep his to under ten minutes.

I love a wedding and especially the dancing.  Well, I can't say I danced at the country wedding from two summers ago, but I don't think someone who boogied to MC Hammer should ever be expected to shake a leg to "Red Solo Cup".     I didn't take off my fancy wedding shoes while we danced and I'm still regretting it today (Monday).  My thighs are so sore from dancing at an unexpected elevation that going up and down the stairs quickly is painful.  More so in my left leg which makes me wonder if I didn't mildly sprain or pull something.   It doesn't matter, we had a nice time and I really enjoyed the people at our table.

It was a quick, but fun trip.  I'm happy to be home and I know Lucy was delighted to sleep in her own bed last night. Poor little bug was so tired when we got home that I removed her shoes, made sure her diaper was fine and put her to bed - in her clothes.   This morning she had the very unusual am bath, but we'll be back on our regular program tonight.