So....after that very (un)pleasant subject....on to our weekend.
I was needing (very much) a night out. Away from little ones crying "I need you". My nerves were really on edge.
My friend, Yudha was getting married - to Thanh. He is Indonesian and she is Vietnamese. I've known Yud for 15 years....I can't believe that! He used to be married to my best friend, Tonya, which is how we met. And, even after their divorce, we managed to remain friends. Probably because they managed to remain friendly.
Oops. I got off the subject.
Yudha & Thanh had been dating for years. They were together before Butch & I got engaged. And, we've been married for almost 5 years. (Yikes...has that much time gone by?) Apparently - and I learned this at the reception - he proposed in New York during a beautiful snow on a carriage ride. Very romantic.
The ceremony was at 11:00 a.m. and the reception at 7:00 p.m. I'm still unsure of the reason for so much time in between, but it may be a cultural thing. We didn't go to the ceremony because of that time difference. (This all took place about 75 min. from our house, so it would have been a long day.) As it turns out, their culture isn't like "ours" anyway with weddings. It isn't a problem to miss the ceremony. There were only about 80 people at the ceremony and 400+ at the reception.
The other very cool thing is that we got to see our friends, Annie & Troy.
We hadn't seen them in 2 years! They moved to the Eastern Shore a few years ago, so it's harder to get together. (Although, I learned that they actually aren't that much farther than they used to be. Perhaps it is more of an issue of both of us having kids now and life getting in the way.) It was fun to catch up, though. A little tough to talk over the music, but fun.
Dee babysat for us and the kids both did great for her. I told her I was going to have her come put Leah to bed every night because she slept so well! She snoozed until 6:10, nursed, then back down until 8:30. Nice.
Sunday we headed to Aunt Marilyn and Gil's house for a picnic. It was a perfect day - hot, but no humidity. She had all of us over....Dad, Dee, Buck, Rick, Kristina, Jessica, and us. Shelly & Tammy (cousins) were there, too - along with many of the littler kids.
Her backyard is amazing. (I told her I was going to hire her to come advise us on landscaping. She has a real eye for that stuff.)
There is a pool:
A playground...and not just a swing set....there is a big trampoline, a small one, a sandbox, an airplane/sea-saw thing, tetherball, monkey bars, volleyball, etc., etc.
And then there is the beautiful pond. It's amazing.
The girls had a ball and were on the playground almost the entire day. Leah has no fear of the water (pool), so it was hard to keep her in the pool area. She just kept walking to and would have walked right in by herself if we let her.
Dinner was really good. Aunt M. refused to let any of us bring anything to contribute, so it was all on her. (Aunt M., if you are reading this, we aren't letting you do that again.)
There were 3 birthdays to celebrate (3rd cousins of mine), so there was cake. Lacey was a happy camper about that. Everything else about the day was terrific, but cake, too?!
We were getting ready to leave after cake. It was 7:30 or 7:45 - Leah is normally in bed around then. But.....Gil said "stay for the fireworks". So we did. Lacey had never seen them before. She loved them. When they were done, she asked for more. And, Leah did great, too - no fears.
On the drive home, we expected that at least Leah would fall asleep. But she didn't. Instead, she decided to cry the whole way home. I felt horrible. It's a 35 minute drive and she really did cry the whole way - well, minus about 5 minutes. Oh well, she was fine once she got out of her carseat.
It was a really fun day.
Butch took Lacey out shopping with him this a.m. Then, he came home and I took her with me. We went to Red Robin for lunch, then to Target.
She is still having "issues" with tummy aches. I guess I'll call Dr. Jill again tomorrow to talk about it all. Hopefully she'll get back to normal within the week.
