Last week, I set out on a week of traveling. First, to see my parents in Florida, and from there, to attend a wedding in NY. It was a week of family time and it had its ups and downs! This is a bit of a recap of the week, including the wedding!
This time, Dave didn’t come with me to Florida. This meant renting a car on my own. This came with some issues for me, since I don’t have a new car! First, I missed the turn to the restaurant where I wanted to get a burger. You couldn’t just turn around to get back there, but there was a back entrance, so I parked there to go in through the back. That worked out, but when I was ready to leave, I couldn’t figure out how to get the car into reverse! I feel dumb about it, but it would shift into drive and neutral but just wouldn’t go to reverse. I called Dave and Simon helped me (I could have googled on my own…) and I was missing the button on the side that I had to push. In my defense, it was dark.
I arrived to my parents late, so it was straight to bed. I mentioned before that my mom has an illness. I don’t know how much I should say about it here, although I can certainly share more privately. I will say it’s not a physical illness, it is neurological, and it is very difficult for my dad as her caretaker. This visit gave me a bit more insights on how she is doing and how he is handling it. While I was there, I helped by giving him a break to get some things done and to go to his weekly poker game, which he hasn’t been able to attend, as my mom does not like to be alone. We took some walks, we watched my dad play pickleball, we watched some TV, and we had some cyclical conversations. I was with them for two days, and on the third day I flew to NY.
Dave flew in the night before me, and Simon went to his youth group weekend on the same day that I arrived in NY. Dave and his dad picked me up at the airport. I may be able to drive in FL, but I will never drive in NYC! We stay at my sister-in-law’s house when we’re there, so that’s where we headed and stayed until it was time for the wedding. Meanwhile, Gabbie was on her way from school. She had a ride with a friend. But they kept getting delayed and we weren’t sure how late we’d be to the wedding! Here we are before leaving the house:
I don’t like to use my family’s names when I post, so I’m going to tell you who people are based on how they are related to us (all are on Dave’s side)! The one taking the selfie is my nephew and it’s a joke that his mom says taking selfies from above look better, so that’s why he did that! Next to Dave is his sister that we stay with – his other sister (and my nephew’s mom) arrived the next day and wasn’t at the wedding.
Gabbie, Dave, and I went with my nephew and Dave’s sister took his parents. We arrived at the wedding with time to enjoy the hors d’oeurves or as we call it, the smorgasbord. I didn’t take pictures of all the food there, but I had to send Simon and Zachary a photo of the carving station.
The bride is Dave’s cousin’s daughter. Her grandpa and Dave’s dad are brothers. Dave took this photo of his dad and his two brothers.
The one in the middle is the grandpa of the bride.
These are two of the bride’s first cousins with Gabbie – Gabbie is their second cousin and the bride is Gabbie’s second cousin too. Their mom and the bride’s mom are sisters and Dave and his sisters are their first cousins. We met their mom’s new boyfriend and he’s from one town over from where I grew up and we even went to the same day care!
Next up was the ceremony. My nephew somehow got this very clear photo of the bride and her parents. Her veil is very thick, as per a custom of her father’s family.
My niece arrived!
Time for dinner – the first course was a salad with meat and it was good!
Here’s a picture of our table:
From my nephew the selfie taker, counter-clockwise, the one next to him is my niece’s husband. Then my niece, her mom, her dad, Dave’s dad, Dave’s mom, the step-grandma of the bride, the grandpa of the bride, the younger sister of the bride, Dave’s uncle, Dave, me, Gabbie.
Later, my other niece came, so I had to take a picture of the first cousins.
And here’s the main course:
The party was fun but I have no pictures! We went outside to check out the view:
And here’s a photo my sister-in-law took of the bride and groom:
The next day, Dave, Gabbie, and I were walking to my brother-in-law’s restaurant for lunch when we decided to try somewhere else instead. We went to the new Korean place and had ramen.
Then we headed to my sister- and brother-in-law’s place in the Catskills, where the party continued with the bride’s father’s family. My brother-in-law has animals there so I had to visit them!
And a family group photo before we headed out on Saturday night:
Not sure if you recognize some of us by now, but behind Dave’s mom is the mother of the bride surrounded by Dave’s two sisters. In the back, the tall guy is the step father of the bride. Behind Dave is his sister’s husband, and the kids in front are the brides half siblings on her father’s side!
On Sunday, Dave and our nephew went for a run together. It was his birthday, so that evening we went to dinner with him and his mom. I wasn’t very hungry, so I just had soup and salad.
And a bit of dessert! From there, Dave and I headed back to the airport. Our flight was on time, but then we sat on the tarmac forever waiting to take off, and when we landed we also had to wait to be guided into our gate. But we eventually made it back home, just about an hour after Simon arrived home from his weekend away.
Over all, it was a busy week spent with both sides of my family!
