It’s snowing and almost Christmas so, basically, the perfect time to post about our summer vacation, no?
When we learned that Andy’s cousin, Julie, had gotten engaged, Andy and I talked about flying out, just the two of us, to attend her wedding. But then she sweetly asked Sophie to be a flower girl, and the boys to be ring bearers. (To illustrate how excited Sophie was with this request, let me just say that she practiced daily—and for months we had loose silk flowers all over our house.)
The rest is my fault.
I Google Mapped the drive from Fort Thomas to Dallas (where the wedding took place) and then decided I wanted to spend a day or two at the ocean (which is not at all on the way). And then I thought about how long it had been since we visited Andy’s sister, Liz, in Atlanta. So I tacked that on. I tried to add on a few days in New Orleans and Memphis, but Andy cut me off.
I’m pretty sure I packed all the kids’ clothes.
All of them.
First stop—Atlanta. We met Liz and Eric for pizza at Mellow Mushroom.
We had ice cream after. We let the kids share one bowl, picking whatever they wanted—which resulted in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with orange ice cream topped with gummy bears. I said I was full.
The kids were thrilled with the hotel room. Considering most nights we have at least one-if-not-two kids in our queen-size bed with us we thought it would be no big deal to all pile in a king-size bed.
We were wrong.
Hotel cuteness.
After breakfast with Liz and Eric, we headed onto Pensacola, Florida. We stopped here for boiled peanuts. Turns out, I don’t like boiled peanuts. I do wish, though, I could capture everything about the man who sold them to us—he has been selling them on the side of the road for sixty-plus years, I think (June was a long time ago now). He and his stories were worth the stop.
Next stop: the ocean!
Turns out, Owen isn’t a fan of the beach. He is a fan of sitting in his beach chair eating fruit snacks all afternoon, however.
Later that day we discovered Quietwater Beach—which was basically a knee-deep, bathwater-temperature haven for the kids.
We wore them out that day.
And then promptly woke them up for a stop at Joe Patti‘s for fresh shrimp.
Andy made the most delicious shrimp scampi that night.
We spent the next day back at Quietwater Beach, this time walking the boardwalk and venturing out farther, which meant life vests.
We stopped for some homemade popsicles at a cute little place and then did one last walk on the beach.
Owen wasn’t a fan of the noise of the waves.
I loved that last walk.
This was our cute little cottage, which I found online.
There were two bedrooms—we packed bed rails, and this was how the kids slept.
Next we had two days of driving, first to Shreveport, Louisiana and then on to Dallas for the rehearsal dinner. We stopped at a high school for a picnic lunch.
We made it to Texas. I’m skipping so much. Details about how we didn’t eat any fast food, choosing instead picnic lunches or roadside diners (with some successes—who knew roadside Thai could be so delicious in Texas?—and some failures). Of will-they-ever-go-to-sleep-in-this-one-room-hotel bedtimes mishmashed with the late-night, slap-happy, all-five-of-us giggling I so very well remember from one-room-hotel vacations as a child. Of colossal van meltdowns. Of the most fantastic family bonding that only happens on trips like this. Of a thousand games of “I Spy.”
But I digress. The wedding was at The Cotton Mill in McKinney, Texas.
It was hot. And beautiful.
Here are the boys practicing pulling their wagon, which held the third ring bearer. I have to admit: When Julie told me her vision (that the boys would be pulling a wagon together, without an adult, down the aisle and that another living being would be in the wagon) I pretty much envisioned disaster. Turns out, I wasted a lot of time worrying. They were great.
Here’s Julie, the bride-to-be, showing the flower girls where to be.
Emmy and Sophie
rehearsing
waterfall watching
my groom
That night was Fourth of July. So after the lovely rehearsal dinner at The Pantry Restaurant, we surprised the kids with sparklers outside our motel room. This went splendidly—until Owen burned his thumb (great parenting, no?).
The next day was wedding day. Aunt Susan made all the bridesmaids and flower girls cute towel wraps to wear while getting ready. And Jill made necklaces for Julie and the entire wedding party.
There was a lot of waiting.
Check out Sophie’s hair—one of the bridesmaids did it! I struggle with putting her hair into a ponytail so I thought this was just amazing.
Julie gifted the flowers girls with pink shimmer dusting powder, which, as you can imagine, was a huge hit.
Here’s Andy fixing the bow ties on our two handsome little boys.
I took a quick picture of the empty reception hall.
James
pink bow-tied brothers (love)
a few more pictures of the grounds and decoration
This is Blair, Emmy’s mom—she made both of the flower girl dresses. Not only can I not do hair, but I also can’t sew. So again—I was in awe.
Sophie, who loves all poof, couldn’t have been happier.
And here she is putting on more shimmer dusting powder—on her feet.
the beautiful bride and her beautiful mom
Aunt Fran (the bride’s grandma) and Jill (Sophie’s grandma)
the boys, waiting
Ross, the groom, built the cross.
I was in charge of moving the wagon and getting the boys back to their seat after their walk down the aisle, so I don’t have any pictures of it (Andy was in line with Sophie). I’m pretty sure I had more butterflies than they did over this simple walk but again, they were great!
the ceremony
Sophie and so-chic Grandma
Next up—pictures! I didn’t realize they had intended for me to be in a huge extended family picture and I missed it. I’d like to say it was for good reason but honestly it was a combination of 90°+ temperatures and Spanx …
fancy dress, glass of wine and a diaper bag
first dance
Of course we had trains at the wedding.
The kids loved loved loved dancing. Blair found lacy rompers for the flower girls to wear under their dresses, which both Sophie and Emmy stripped down to as soon as the reception started.
The reception was great fun and it was so nice to catch up with and meet extended family and friends.
This is pretty much how we all felt once it was over.
The next day we went to Tracy and Jeff’s house (Julie’s parents) for a cookout and swimming before the happy couple left for their honeymoon.
It was a fun, exhausting, beautiful, hard, memorable, completely worth it trip. Thank you, Julie and Ross, for inviting our kids to be in your wedding—it’s something they still talk about, to this day.
I’m already beginning to talk about our 2014 summer vacation. Andy just keeps changing the subject.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” —Helen Keller
