Time away from the kiddos

This weekend was SO much fun.

The flight out was uneventful, which is good.

My BILs wife (Sarah) was actually on the same flight!

It took about 30 minutes to get our rental car.

Hubs: "Avis certainly isn't trying harder, are they?"

We then made our way out to pick up the Hubs tux. He'd been measured here at our local affiliated tux shop a month ago. The Hubs had printed out directions off the internet but those directions left off one important turn. According to the printout, we were supposed to merge on a particular street after we got off the freeway. Uh, it was either a left or right turn. We chose left. And that was the wrong choice. But we eventually made it to the tux shop.

The lady manager helped us. She looked up my husband's name.

LD: "What name is the wedding under?"

Hubs: "Mark X and Lisa Y"

LD: "Okay. Here is their sheet."

Hubs: "Okay..."

LD: "Your tux is in your home town."

Hubs: "Well, the wedding is tomorrow. Can I get a tux today?"

Thankfully, the lady manager measured my husband and got him a tuxedo. No big deal.

Have you been keeping track? That's already 3 negative events and we had just gotten to our destination!

Because of the well-known traffic in the Windy City, we didn't bother checking into our hotel. I mention this because it turns out our hotel was literally less than 5 minutes from the mall. We went directly to the church so we wouldn't be late for the rehearsal. We located the site and realized we had about an hour. There was actually NO traffic on our way out! So we opted to grab some food to eat at a nearby Outback.

We got to the church just as the Hubs cousin and his fiancee were parking. We walked in with them. We only had to wait around about 15 minutes for the rehearsal to begin. What took me by surprise was the priest.

"That looks terrible! What are you all doing!"

He actually said this when the group didn't do exactly what he told them to do. He said it loud and with negativity. My husband wasn't phased. His entire family wasn't. But for me and the other married in girls (Sarah & Deb) who weren't from there were taken aback.

Me: "Wow! He's really got some attitude!"

Hubs: "He's a Chicago priest." Then my husband just shrugged!

No big deal to him. The Hubs went to a Catholic High School when he lived there so he was used to sassy priests.

The rehearsal dinner was fun. Sarah & my BIL along with Deb and Wendy and their spouses (who are brothers) sat next to us at the dinner. It was great having that time to catch up with them. I hadn't seen Sarah since before she got married to my BIL. I hadn't seen Deb in about 6 months. I hadn't seen Wendy in 5 years. So there was a lot to catch up on.

The Hubs and I left and checked into our hotel. We were beat.

The next morning we ate breakfast there at the hotel. They actually had a nice spread. Not just a continental breakfast with bread, bagels, and coffee. They had cereals, teas, juice, fruit, yogurt, croissants, donuts, and a waffle maker! It was nice to have a good selection. And we were able to eat a leisurely pace rather than rushing since the kids weren't with us. There was no drama to deal with.

The Hubs was supposed to meet with the rest of the crew at noon, so we just drove around and did some shopping after breakfast. We found the wedding reception site which was 5 minutes from the hotel.

Well, you all know that the Hubs got ready and met the rest of the guys at noon. That left me to get ready at a snail's pace. I brought two dresses with me. Thankfully I did bring two dresses. The black dress that I had originally planned on wearing (and hadn't worn since last year) just wasn't working. I had to wear a particular low-plunging bra with it and control top pantyhose. And I forgot the pantyhose. So there were bulges in the WRONG places. YUCK! I put on the brown dress and it worked. Yeah!

The wedding was really nice. This was the first time that I'd attended a wedding where the priest stood between the front pews and the bride and groom faced the congregation. We were actually able to take photos and see their expressions.

I ended up driving to the reception by myself. The wedding party all went in a trolley.

The reception was a great event. I was at a table with Sarah, my SIL (Hubs' sister) and her best friend, my Hubs' uncle and his family. What was nice was that I sat next to Sarah and my Hubs' aunt, who both enjoy food. So I didn't have to watch what I ate. My SIL is a picky eater, so I don't really like eating with her.

They had an open bar. Not just beer and wine. Mixed drinks too! I'm sure that tab on that was HUGE! My husband's family can drink. Like seriously drink. When I found out it was an open bar, I expected to see a fight or argument of some kind. That's what normally happens with the Hubs' family at social events when drinking is involved. But nothing happened! It was pretty shocking really. Everyone was on good behavior.

The site had host staff walk around with platters of bruschetta and stuffed mushrooms. YUMMY! They also set up an appetizer table with cheeses and crackers AND large shrimp and calamari! The Hubs never saw the shrimp and calamari. He and his brother and his cousin were sitting at the head table drinking beers and eating bruschetta. He didn't happen to notice that people were congregated on the dance floor milling around something. Go figure!

They dropped off a bottle of red and a bottle of white at each table before they served dinner. Salad with some yummy raspberry dressing. And then a family style meal. Huge platters of mashed potatoes, sliced beef with mushrooms, chicken breast with a creamy sauce, penne pasta with a marinara sauce and some other things. Soon after we got cake and were served coffee.

Then the festivities began. The dancing started. And it didn't stop until almost midnight. The bride danced almost the entire night. Even the Hubs got on the dance floor. My husband doesn't dance. He only dances after he's had a lot to drink. And I guess he'd had a lot to drink. And he danced a lot! So it was fun. But I didn't necessarily need a partner to dance because everyone was dancing. Even the kids! Actually, the kids were the first ones to overtake the dance floor! What was great was the DJ was playing music from the 80's.

Around 9:30pm they set out a dessert table. A dessert table? Yes! It had a couple coffee decanters. Cheese cakes. Pastries. Strawberries and bananas. Next to a chocolate fondue thingy. It was yummy stuff. Especially since we'd all been dancing up a storm by then.

All in all it was a fabulous trip. A beautiful wedding. A fantastic reception. It was a good time away from the kids. A nice little weekend to let off some steam and reconnect as a couple....