(okay, I have several best friends, I just really, really wanted to use that post title)
On Thursday afternoon we flew east to Baltimore for
Miso and Peso's wedding (also known as
Marianne and
Brian). Marianne is one of my oldest friends from college. I guess this means that I've known her almost fifteen years. Whoa - talk about making me feel old. I seem to operate in a perpetual time-warp where high school is always just ten years ago.
Anyway, the wedding was lovely. The groom was happy. The bride was happy. Together, they were lovely and radiant and delightful. And there's something so wonderful about seeing the people you love so happy. Perhaps true happiness really is the delight in the joy of others? (As an aside, I knew that Mike was getting serious about me way back in grad school when he started to ask about Brian; it touched me that he cared enough about my friend to want the very best for her).
Our arrival into Baltimore was a little rocky - delayed by major storms, we sat on the runway for quite some time prior to take-off. When we finally met Grandma Pat, picked up the rental car, and made it to the hotel, it was after 11pm. The girl did okay through all of this; she was pretty tired, but as long as the car was moving, she slept.
The next morning, Natalie stayed with Daddy while the ladies went for pedicures.
That afternoon we were lucky enough to join the happy couple for lunch at a local
wine bar. And that evening, we did the Maryland thing and ate some
crabs.
The wedding was the next morning. The ceremony was held at the family home overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, underneath a big tree on a grassy hill that gently sloped down to the water. It was lovely and tranquil and idyllic.
Natalie made it through most of the ceremony, but toward the end, Mike retreated to the house with her. She also did okay at the reception, taking a long nap (supervised generously by Grandma Pat) just as the food was served.
Annnnd now, the part you've all been waiting for:
For those who can't get enough, the whole set is
here (and note that these were taken with our bad camera, since I didn't have the energy to haul all Natalie's stuff, plus the good big camera).
Natalie was so exhausted from her whirlwind weekend (and the early wake-up call for the flight) that she slept most of the way back to DFW.
Natalie got into the games:
But we didn't stay inside and watch TV all weekend. We also broke out Natalie's kiddie pool. The instructions for this stated "set-up should be done by a mature and responsible adult." Um, yeah. I promptly set to blowing it up. Except it actually fills with water. And then the water squirts out. So, basically I was blowing it up, only to have the air escape out all the little water squirt holes. It took longer that it ought to have for me to realize this. But then we corrected the problem and had a grand time:
Until, of course, we weren't.
And then it was time to get out.
The adults also played croquet. Team Mausz was not triumphant, alas.
(Missing photo credit added: the pool and croquet pictures were all taken by our friend Ariane)
