Rhode Island and Roselyn & Nate's Wedding

The Thursday after I got back from Angie's Wedding, we loaded up the car with the boys, Jenny, and Brayden and headed to Rhode Island for Roselyn and Nate's wedding.  The trip up started smoothly.  We turned Tyler's carseat around finally and had Timmy and Brayden in the back together and they were all enjoying movies for awhile.  They needed a potty break right around dinner time so we stopped at a tiny burger place where they were luckily able to run around like maniacs while we ate.  The milkshake Tyler stole from Tim bought his approval of getting back into the car.  We hit traffic going around New York and the boys' patience wore thin.  Once we finally made it to Rhode Island, our GPS took us to two wrong addresses, half an hour apart from each other, before finally getting us to Jim and Joann's!  The trip ended up being 12 hours, our ride home was only 10!

We had a great time visiting with Elena's side of the family.  Jim and Joann's house was perfect for party hosting and we spent Friday just visiting.  We did venture out for a seafood lunch with the boys, Jenny, and Brayden.  Tim and I split great calamari and each had an amazing lobster roll.  The food was so good that Tim, the boys, and I went back for lunch on Saturday as well!  A few other relatives from Northern Virginia came to Rhode Island for the festivities too, even though we live within half an hour of them, we don't see them very often.  It was really nice to spend an extended amount of time with them, especially while most of us had nothing to do but relax.  Friday evening, after the rehearsal, the dinner was a cookout at Joann's.  It had rained all day but cleared in time for us to enjoy their back yard and view of the lake.  We had talked about going to the beach or aquarium one day, but opted to spend Saturday fishing and visiting instead.  I was especially grateful for the time the boys got to spend with their Great Grandparents.  Ollie, who we used to see weekly, hadn't even met Tyler yet, so I loved watching them rocking together.  Bobby was there as well and he and Timmy spent a little while fishing together.  It was great.

Saturday afternoon we all got ready and headed to Easton Beach, right outside of Newport, for the wedding.  The weather was just perfect for an outside wedding and I loved putting the boys in their coordinating suits and watching them in the sand.  I had been worried that sitting at the beach but not going near the water would be torture for Timmy, but he was perfectly happy to have his hands in the sand.

Roselyn looked beautiful and Nate teared up as she came down the aisle.

The reception was held just up the steps at the Rotunda and it was such a great facility for a wedding reception!  It was just a large circular room with 360 degree views, the head table on one side, DJ set up on the opposite side, and the middle was all dance floor.  There was a large deck outside with a covered carousel too.  The bridal party took pictures on it for a while before opening it up to the guests for an hour.  Timmy rode 4 times in a row and only got off because the hour was up!

Tyler rode once but wasn't really a fan.  I took advantage of the background of the carousel and the setting sun to give him some model training instead.

And the ocean made too nice of a back drop to miss out on.

Roselyn's friend made an incredible cake that celebrated the newly minted family.  There was also a dessert bar with cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, and homemade truffles that the bride and her bridesmaids made in the days leading up to the wedding.  The wedding favor was a box for each couple to pick out their own desserts to go!

After dinner Timmy, Tyler, Brayden, and the rest of the kids tore up the dance floor for the rest of the night!  They were so fun to watch.  Tyler started getting sleepy and couldn't decide if he wanted to be held or wanted to be with the big boys, he was up and down repeatedly.

It was truly a great celebration!  I'm so glad we were able to go and we are already planning a trip through New York, back to visit in Rhode Island, and onto Boston, maybe for next Spring.

Angie and Matt's Wedding

Tim and I were invited to two weddings this summer, both out of town, on back to back weekends, each for one of our cousins.  With our busy shave ice schedule and both weddings involving at least a 6 hour drive, we knew we couldn't do both with the boys.  We decided to go as a family to his cousins wedding in Rhode Island because we had never been up there to visit, while we go to Ohio at least once a year.  I was not willing to miss Angie's wedding though, so I talked Joe into running a shave ice event for us, while we were busy at another one, and then driving me to Ohio afterwards!  I am proud to say that I stayed awake for the whole trip, thanks in part to his interviewing me the whole way!  We arrived in Ohio about 2 a.m. the day of the wedding, and left about 9 a.m. the next morning.  It was one of my fastest trips to date, but well worth it, especially since I miss the Machak Christmas Eve Reunions now.

The wedding was beautiful and they did some things that I had never seen before.  Instead of a receiving line on the way out of the church, Angie and Matt stood at the end of each row as we exited to say a few words to and hug each guest.  She later said they had several guests who could only attend the ceremony, and they wanted to be sure to speak with everyone that came.

There were a few hours between the ceremony and cocktail hour, so we went to see Michael and Cindi's new-ish house and then stopped by the hotel party room that had been set up for out of town guests to wait for the reception.  The cocktail hour was relaxed and the appetizers were delicious.

The reception was beautiful.  Joe and I got to sit with Uncle Dale, Michael and Cindi, and John and Michelle, and it was so nice to visit with them during dinner, and with the rest of the Machak's for the rest of the evening.

I was extremely jealous of this wedding, it was the first post-pinterest wedding I have been to and Angie incorporated tons of beautiful and fun ideas I have awed over on pinterest: like monograms on the doors, pictures of grandparents incorporated in the bouquet, and the oh so fun photo-booth.