Sunday, October 24, 2010

Kansas City

Two of our best friends, Camille and Neal Johnson, got married on 10/10/10. We were not only fortunate enough to be invited but we (all three of us ) were participants! Ethan was a handsome ring bearer, Michael, the studly best man, and I was a beaming bridesmaid. The wedding was to be held right outside of Kansas City, that means road trip!
A 9 hour (at least) road trip, through flat, brown Kansas
We figured since mapquest estimated 9 hours, and we have a 3 year old, we were looking at some amount of time over 9, but didn't want to guess in case it took longer. The trip out was fantastic, we had one breakdown, one nap, many pit stops and we finally made it in 11 hours.

The hotel was great, we swam every day
And enjoyed some dinners out

And there was a mall in the same parking lot with lots of activities for kids


We found a Steak & Shake and ate a yummy lunch
And had a mommy-Ethan date while Dad hosted the bachelor party
Then came the rehearsal, I was stressed. OK, Michael and I are both in the wedding, what if he won't sit, what if he's loud, what if he has to go to the bathroom, etc., etc.? The rehearsal was not great, more or less it confirmed my stress, but he was tired and overwhelmed. Afterwards we went for ice cream, to relax
Ethan got dirt and worms
And we went to bed to prepare for the wedding day. Michael was in charge of Ethan since I would be getting ready with the bride and fellow bridesmaids. They got there and got dressed in time for pictures (although Ethan only wanted to wear an undershirt) and then started practicing how to walk down the aisle. Did he want to do a robot walk? Ironman? Airplane? He decided on robot. Then it was time. Another scary part for me, Michael and I had to walk down the aisle and he had to wait. PERFECT! He did amazing! He made it down the aisle, stood by Michael for a few minutes and then sat with Neal's sis-in-law Elise (who was a wonderful blessing to have on this trip, I couldn't be more grateful for her). The wedding was beautiful, both Neal and Camille were happier then I have ever seen them and it was contagious.

The reception was a wonderful party, Ethan didn't leave the dance floor and found two girls to be his partners. He chased the lights the disco ball threw onto the floor and even told me he wanted to slow dance with me while Neal and his mom shared a dance.

After the seeing the bride and groom into there car, we left the party too. He crashed within minutes of leaving the reception. We all slept in the following morning and then packed back up and got back in the car. The ride home went even better then the way out and we found a cool place to hike when we stopped at a rest stop.



We made it home to discover fall had set in, it is chilly here! We had a good trip, not too relaxing but it was great to spend the time with some good friends. Congratulations again, Neal and Camille!!

0 comments: