Cold Spaghetti

Will running around the courtyard before Amy’s wedding

Friday was a big day.

WAKE-UP: 4am

DEPARTURE: 7:08am for direct flight to Washington Dulles. We got drugs in Will early enough to help him sleep through the flight and be groggy during baggage claim… yippie!

RENTAL CAR: Although we paid for an upgrade from what we had in Detroit, using the same car company (Alamo), we ended up with an older version of the same car (Chevy Malibu). Apparently, car types are not consistent in markets, even within a company.

PAIN IN THE ___ MOMENT: Waiting 40 minutes for a child safety carseat (they were out). The plus: we ended up with a brand-spankin’ new seat, which, by virtue of being new, still had the proper latch straps (something we rarely see with child seat rentals).

PIT STOP: For a visit with Randy, who was working from home that day (wife, Katherine, was out of town for work) and super-fun dog, Murray.

LUNCH: With Randy at Anita’s in Fairfax. Anita’s is a long-standing Northern Virginia tradition. We went to one of their branches in Fairfax and had what we thought was a good lunch… this would haunt us later in the weekend…

ROAD TRIP: After lunch, we piled in the car and headed to Fredricksburg (about an hour’s ride from Fairfax County). We stayed at the bride’s house (Paul’s sister, Amy), a beautiful little white house (just as cute a tidy as can be!) right outside downtown Historic Fredricksburg.

REHEARSAL DINNER DRESS: After finding out that the rehearsal dinner was a BBQ and the groom was wearing shorts and a polo, we had to re-think our outfits. So much for getting Paul’s pants and shirt cleaned and making the extra stop before the airport on Tuesday to get my shoes! Luckily, we had back-up clothes. We all looked fabulous. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time at the dinner to show off our beauty.

REHEARSAL DINNER: At the Kenmore Inn in Historic Fredricksburg. It was a great location with a fun fish pond, which served as endless entertainment for Will (“Fishy! Fishy! Fishy!”) Yummy BBQ mushrooms, hot dogs, corn, onions, zucchini, and more!

FORTUNATE EVENING: Getting to meet Kevin (the groom’s) family and friends. It was great to meet everyone (Kevin’s brothers and families were great). We especially enjoyed meeting Janice, who is Amy’s long time friend that we have heard a ton about for years… and is also supermom to THREE incredible 13 month old triplets!

UNFORTUNATE EVENING: We left the dinner early, a few minutes into speeches with a fussy baby and a green Paul, who was complaining of an upset stomache. Since this is not an unusual complaint for Paul (he has a sensitive tummy) I didn’t think much of it but respected his desire to retire to a restroom more private and less gross than the typical men’s room.

MORE UNFORTUNATE NIGHT: Paul became incredibly ill. My money is on food poisoning. Sicker than I’ve ever seen him in the 7 years we’ve been together. The evening required multiple clothing changes and a few loads of laundry (Paul managed to be sick in all of his clothing as well as some of his future brother in-law’s). Amy’s bathroom got cleaned many times that night. It was a late night for both (especially me) and Paul finally found solid rest around 5am.

Kevin (Amy’s groom) toasts everyone with touching and thoughtful remarks at the rehearsal dinner.

Will sports his tie and suspenders at the rehearsal dinner!

Fabulous family picture at the rehearsal dinner! Paul, Nancy (mom), Amy, Will & I, and George (dad).

Will plays Mr. Cool with sunglasses! Friday night at Amy’s.

WHY must places now insist on using an elevator over an escalator, even when using a small umbrella stroller?!?!

I finally lost it and told the security guard at the Detroit airport “we’ll be just fine!” when he requested that we take Will out of the stroller if we used the escalator. I grabbed the reigns and we (good heavens!) went down the escalator with Will. (We actually attempted to use the elevator, as told initially during the security check, but after 3 minutes of waiting, were fed up.)

It is NOT difficult to manuver a small stroller on an escalator. Just be careful and watch out. You have to support the weight to keep the stroller level (duh) but this is not difficult. Seriously, give me a break!!!

Thursday was a big day!!

EARLY BREAKFAST: Bruegger’s Bagels (again)

MORNING: Conference — “Reproductive Disruptions: Childlessness, Adoption, and Other Reproductive Complexities.”

AFTERNOON: Lunch meeting with Paul’s old co-workers from ProQuest (company being run into the ground by greedy corporate idiots.)

SECOND LUNCH: Work meeting with Lisa and Joanne on the Honduras project (the reason for the trip!)

AFTERNOON FUN: Playing with Joanne’s kids (Clarita and Jonas) with visit from Lisa and daughter Chelsea

FUN MOMENT: Watching 8-year old Clarita handle Will like a pro! She helped him up and down the stairs, read books to him, and generally was a fantastic big sister!!

EVENING: Salad and leftovers with Millard and Violet. Will sat with us at the dining room table and did very well considering the table reached his nose!

EARLY EVENING: Packing to prepare for 4am departure for the airport Friday morning!

Chelsea, me, Joanne, Lisa, Clarita and Jonas!