We made a quick trip to Michigan last weekend to see one of Brandon's college roommates get married! Jonah stayed behind with Grandma and Grandpa. Brandon has not been seeing much of Jonah these days (we are on our seventh week of various inpatient rotations!), so it was hard to leave him behind. But I think a Jonah-free weekend was good for both of us. We certainly missed him, but there were many points along the trip where it was nice to have a little more flexibility/less responsibility.
It was a Friday evening wedding, so we drove all day Friday, arriving just in time for the ceremony. Some of our friends didn't quite make it to the ceremony because of traffic coming in from Chicago! After a lovely ceremony, we made our way to the reception - my navigating skills only got us lost once :) Being kid-free, we were ready to live it up at the reception, and there was lots of dancing. Brandon always enjoys getting back together with his roommates from college. They took their traditional, holding-the-groom-horizontal picture (I'm not sure how exactly this became a tradition). It's nice that they all coordinated so well.
After a few people had to leave, they started playing three-on-three so no one would have to wait. I am told they ran down the batteries on (and had to jump start) three cars. And then, when they decided to periodically run the engine on Steve's rental car, so as not to run down the battery, he nearly ran out of gas - so they had to take a quick break to fill up his tank and get some Slurpees. And it rained off and on. Dedication.
It was a Friday evening wedding, so we drove all day Friday, arriving just in time for the ceremony. Some of our friends didn't quite make it to the ceremony because of traffic coming in from Chicago! After a lovely ceremony, we made our way to the reception - my navigating skills only got us lost once :) Being kid-free, we were ready to live it up at the reception, and there was lots of dancing. Brandon always enjoys getting back together with his roommates from college. They took their traditional, holding-the-groom-horizontal picture (I'm not sure how exactly this became a tradition). It's nice that they all coordinated so well.
Several of my college roommates were there as well. It is always fun to get back together with these friends.
The dance floor was hopping - especially the boys. I have not seen Brandon cut loose like that for quite a while, perhaps since our own wedding. He was more than a little disappointed when people slowly started leaving around 9:30. By 10:00, we were nearly the only ones left (of the people we knew). Cal's wife is a few years younger, and her friends were still going strong - ha! I reminded Brandon that, while they all had sitters for the evening, most of our friends would have to get up with their children the next morning.
Often, when we come together for weddings, friends breeze into town for the ceremony, and we enjoy frenzied conversations at the reception - but then everyone has to head home the next day. This time, though, most people were able to stick around Saturday, so we took full advantage of our time together. Hope College was actually having Homecoming last weekend. We didn't make it down to Holland for any of the festivities, but it sort of felt like a little mini-homecoming all weekend.
Tisa offered to have people over for brunch on Saturday morning - perhaps not realizing what she was getting herself into :) In college, we were a group of 8 girls and 8 guys who lived in two houses down the street from each other. In the past 7 years, our group has grown to 27, plus 13 kids - plus 4 more on the way! And we live in six different states. At Tisa's on Saturday, we were only missing 7 adults and 4 kids (plus 1, who was napping for the picture). So fun that everyone made the effort to be there!
In the afternoon, those with kids had to head home for naps (suckers! j/k), but we reconvened in the evening for dinner at the Johnsons'. Here Brandon was introduced to the latest craze sweeping the nation (?) - Spike Ball. Basically (from what I understand, having never played myself), you play in two teams of two, taking turns hitting a small rubber ball, with your hand, off of a mini-trampoline-like apparatus, trying not to let it touch the ground on your turn. Sort of like volleyball, on a smaller, crazier, more intense scale? All I know is that the boys played literally from about 5:45pm until 1am, breaking for about 90 minutes for dinner. This is a game you play outdoors, so once the sun went down, they had to get creative.
After a few people had to leave, they started playing three-on-three so no one would have to wait. I am told they ran down the batteries on (and had to jump start) three cars. And then, when they decided to periodically run the engine on Steve's rental car, so as not to run down the battery, he nearly ran out of gas - so they had to take a quick break to fill up his tank and get some Slurpees. And it rained off and on. Dedication.
Game on!
Thankfully, the Johnsons live on a cul-de-sac, so there was very little traffic on the street. The next morning, as we were getting ready to head home, Mark commented that he was starting to become painfully aware that he is no longer 22 - especially after weekends like this. Most of this group will be (or already is) 30 in the next year, and I think these kinds of all-night shenanigans are not quite so easy to keep up with.
We were eager to get home and see Jonah again. We hear he had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which always makes it easier to be away. We are so thankful to have my parents close-ish (for a little while longer!) and will be taking full advantage while we still can. Now it's back to the grind of daily life. But the beautiful weather we are having makes this pretty great life easy to enjoy :)
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