So, about that wedding...

 As we made our way up a gravel road to the rehearsal dinner I could still hear a faint rumble of thunder in the background, smell that distinct scent rain leaves behind and feel the layers of humidity sealing in the heat brought in earlier that day -- all evidence that a strong storm had recently passed through.  Though I enjoy the thrill and child-like excitement summertime storms so often deliver, I was relieved to have escaped the show that night.  The Foy Family had just endured their own storm – a six hour storm and the threat of an encore performance was uninvited to say the least.  While our storm may not have consisted of any electrifying weather phenomena, it did involve successive events that included (but were not limited to ) a frustrating attempt to submit a research paper while traveling down a pot-hole ridden interstate, trusting our GPS just enough to make a key wrong turn,  enduring DC gridlock at its finest, and encountering an individual who, in that fine DC traffic, proceeded to style his hair using his rearview mirror for literally 5 miles (which at this point was equal to about 45 minutes of self-grooming).  James was a trooper the whole trip up.  That means he slept for all but the last 20 minutes of the car ride and the one hour stop at Wendy’s for lunch/paper submission.  We were about a half an hour late to dinner, but so was most of the wedding party (ironically, both were due to earlier “storms”). 

 

You know how in the middle of one of those summertime storms the torrential downpour suddenly stops and the Sun pokes out from behind the clouds and you forget all about the fact gale force winds were just about to toss you into the Land of Oz? 

Well, that’s kind of like Eddie’s family.   Not in a pretend it never happen kind of way, but the kind of a way where you have so much fun catching up and swapping stories about daycare disasters and 'Big Green Eggs' (if you haven't heard of a Big Green Egg you need to google it) that you really forget how frustrated you were just hours before.

I looked back at the pictures tonight I didn’t really remember our trip up to Baltimore being so difficult.  I actually wrote that part almost a month ago when my car still had Puffs and Cheerios scattered all over the seats -- and when I sincerely believed that I would have a free moment to finish my thoughts for this post in an acceptable amount of time after Colin and Jess’ wedding.  Which brings me to the point of the long winded post…



For the record I did not take this picture...Eddie and I were recovering from chasing James all over the back of the church during the ceremony.  But it's my favorite picture so I had to share it.



Wherever they go the Campbell’s are guaranteed to have a good time.  We started early, picking up right where we had all left off at Thanksgiving and stayed up late filling each other in on everything from new jobs and promotions to how to get your kid to stay out of the trashcan or take pictures with your I-phone (jack-jack may be the next Mark Zuckerberg).   Even in a short span of about 3 days we managed to close a hotel bar down, chat with Art Donavan, and take over the Crowne Plaza’s swimming pool all while making it through one of the hottest weekends Baltimore may have ever seen (I have no statistics to back that up…only pure speculation).    

And of course there was a fabulous wedding ceremony in the most gorgeous church I’ve ever seen and a reception that rocked. 





The reception site was absolutely gorgeous. 





 I don’t know that I have ever been to a wedding where at times there were more kids (and babies) on the dance floor than adults.  Again the Campbell’s are guaranteed to have a good time.  Every time I looked out onto the dance floor there was as mess of cousins and second cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmamas and papas(and yippie and gimpy if you're Jack Jack or Janie Campbell)—and love galore. 

 Since that weekend I’ve slowly returned to reality and all those mundane tasks that just have to get done – laundry, daycare drop-off, yard work, daycare pick-up, and the list goes on and on then circles back around for the next week.  And that’s okay too – there’s something to be said about a routine even if it is boring.  But it’s things like weddings and a cousins and closing down hotel bars.

 

So, one month later...
Congradulations Colin and Jess