Fall Fest & Chicken BBQ!

Saturday afternoon Ryan, M, grandma and I headed out to the Fall Festival in downtown Plymouth.

She seemed to have fun.  She played some games and rode a couple rides.  First up, bobbing for ducks:

 She won a Dora, but apparently that wasn't good enough...

 Because she wanted "Two Dadoos?"

After fishing for duckies, she went on the tea cups with grandma.  But they weren't regular tea cups like we thought, instead it went up in the air and went all crazy pants...she was *not* a fan.  And grandma ended up with bruises on her arm trying to keep the cup from spinning.  Mental note:  despite how tame a ride may appear, watch it before putting your child on it.

 Then it was time for basketball!  She threw the balls all by herself, and was quite proud.  

 High-fiving the lady over winning her very own basketball!

 Grandma played darts to win M a tiger!

We wrapped up the afternoon by eating deep fried oreos, getting rained on, and then running like a mad woman in the park. 

Afterward, we went back to my parents' house and M colored herself with chalk.  It's kind of hard to tell in this pic, but her hands, chest, cheeks, feet & legs are all blue.  LOL.

Sunday marked the annual Rotary Chicken BBQ!!!!  This is the 26th year we've done it.  1988-2013.  Crazy.  

 We've added a few people over the years.  In the beginning it was 6 of us...mom, dad, sister, grandma, grandpa & myself.   Over the years, we've added a few people.  Ryan & Maddie.  My sister's finace, Eddie.  And my grandpa's girlfriend, Betty!

 Maddie went to town on her meal this year.  It's the first year she got her very own meal!  She was delighted to find corn on the cob!

 After lunch we hung out at my parents' house. 

 Maddie & Daddy watching football.  The Lions won.  Daddy is sad panda.

Last of Bemidji Pics!

So, we left off at Tuesday night when Madeleine threw up all over me and Jerry's basement.

Wednesday M still had a wicked fever and started the day off by throwing up all over Ryan's side of the bed.  At least she had good aim ;)  So, we took it easy on Wednesday and stuck around the hotel.  We were supposed to drive out and see Jarod & Rachael that evening, but plan changed and they so nicely agreed to come to us so we could keep M comfortable in bed.

They came with the boys and went for pizza with Ryan and Trina at The Green Mill and then headed to the hotel pool for fun.  I wasn't there so I didn't get any pictures, and since no pictures were taken I assume Ryan didn't even think to do it, LOL.

Thursday, again, we hung around the hotel in the morning and early afternoon because M still had a fever.  But it seemed to break just before naptime.  After naptime we ran quickly up to see Paul and Babe before heading up to Trina's middle school open house:

The only picture taken at the open house was done by Nessa:

Ryan helping Trina open her locker for the first time.  It took a hilariously long amount of time for her to figure it out, lol.

After the Open House we headed back to Jerry's house and brought dinner for everyone.  It was our last night so we stuck around pretty late.  It was a nice evening because it was very chill and both the kids were in a good mood.

The following morning it was time to pack and get ready to leave.  M was in good spirits and played a nice game of Hide & Seek after her bath:

We checked out of the hotel and ran up to the mall so Ryan could get some BSU apparel before leaving.  Then we went to the airport, dropped off the rental car and waited for our flight.

For the all of the flights we bought M some new toys to keep her busy and a CARES Harness so we didn't have to lug her carseat on/off the plane and around the airports during our layovers.  It all worked out perfectly.  She seemed to love the Harness, and her favorite toy she got, by FAR, was her new magnadoodle!

That's all she wrote folks!  It was a good trip, great to see family.  Packed with a lot of "firsts" for the little ones!

Up next on our agenda is Fall Fest & our traditional Rotary Chicken Dinner on Sunday.  Then some RenFest, a bit of Chicago, some Cider Milling and maybe even some Haunted Housing.  Then that will bring us into the crazy Birthday/Holiday season.  Eeek!  Busy times ahead!

Jenny & Kyle get married!

Yesterday, my cousin, Jenny, and her best friend got married.  It was a gorgeous event with lots of family, including some I had not seen since 1995!!!

The wedding had a wine theme, which I LOOOOVED!  Too cute!  Can't even tell you how many awesome details were wine related from the border of the seating chart to the guest book!  It was fantastic.  Here are some of the awesome details:

Wedding Cupcake Table

Seating Chart

The most awesome guestbook I've ever seen

And I was tickled pink to see a "Where We Came From" table with a picture of my great-grandma beautifully displayed!

Some Table Details

Head Table

I also was quite pleasantly surprised to see some of my own wedding vendors pop up!  Music Box productions for their DJ and Shutterbooth for the photo booth.  We took some funny pictures in the booth, but I don't know who ended up with our photo strip, lol, so I can't post it here. 

The wedding reception started at 6:00 pm, wedding party made their grand entrance around 7:15:

Then it was immediately time for cake cutting!  Jenny's dress was gorgeous - take a look at the back here:

Anyway, back to cake cutting!  I was in a terrible spot for when they were actually cutting the cake, but I got some cute ones after it was already cut:

Then was time for speeches and toasts:

And of course, a picture of the happy couple!

During dinner, which was a delicious family style meal with lots of choices, we took the opportunity to take lots of family photos!  If you're not family, this part might be boring :)

I think this might be the only shot of me from last night, lol:

Then came the time for first dances!!!  Father Daughter:

Mother Son:

First Dance as a Married Couple!

And then it was time for dessert!!!!

Maddie thoroughly approved of the cupcakes :)

After that everyone took to the dance floor for some fun!  I didn't get any pictures of this part, and left soon after to take Maddie and my grandma home.  Ryan and the rest of my family stayed to close the party down!

A huge thanks to Pete, Janet, Jenny & Kyle for inviting us to their special event!  We had such a wonderful time!  Best wishes to Jenny & Kyle for many, many years of happiness!