The ride down really wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. We were caravanning with David's parents and Audrey rode with them two out of the four shifts, which helped a lot. Even though she's the easy traveler (as long as the DVD player works, that is), it still stressed her and us out a lot more when Luke would get on a screaming tangent with her in the car.
Once we arrived (I think it was 8 hours and 3 stops later, but I don't recall exactly) we went out on the back deck and watched dolphins swimming just off shore and the most pelicans I've ever seen diving for fish. The ocean was so close and the view was amazing. We unloaded our massive amounts of stuff and started setting everything up. We were staying right next door to the wedding party, who would leave on Monday and be replaced by the rest of our family. That evening I helped Audrey through the wedding rehearsal and then we ordered take-out from one of our favorite local spots.
On Sunday, after Luke woke up to eat early enough for me to catch the sunrise, we ate breakfast and packed our things for the beach. We dipped Luke's little toes in the ocean for the first time and then let him take a nap on a beach towel in the shade while Audrey buried David and collected shells. We went in for lunch, baths, and naps and then Pam and I headed over to the other house to help set up and get instructions for our duties later. When Audrey woke up, I painted her toenails pink (first time) and we all got dressed. She looked like an angel in her white dress with tiny peal beads on it and her little headband with tightly wound flower buds across the top. Luke looked especially handsome in his white polo shirt and khaki polo pants. We walked next door and gave Audrey one last pep talk about her flower throwing responsibilities.
The house was abuzz with all of the excitement and anticipation of the big event. As I was helping arrange the food, Katie (the bride) walked in. She took my breath away. She was absolutely stunning! I told her so and then got out of the way to let everyone else gush. I took Audrey on one last potty trip without success and silently prayed: please, Dear God, do NOT let this child wet her underwear and make a scene in the middle of this wedding. We patiently (or not so much) waited for our turn to walk outside and down to the beach, where the wedding was. When the time came, I took Audrey's shoes off to reveal her beautiful pink toenails and helped her down the stairs to our staging area on the beach. I was so focused on the timing that at one point I looked down at Audrey and she was starting to cry. Come to find out she was terrified that her Daddy hadn't saved us a seat and we'd have no where to sit and watch from. After carefully showing her our spots and reviewing the plan multiple times, she calmed down. The wedding party came down two by two and then Kimberly, AJ's second cousin, came down and took Audrey's hand. I think they were both so focused on getting down the aisle that they forgot about throwing any petals, but she did beautifully getting right to her spot on time.
Once they prayed, I motioned for Audrey to come sit with us in the VIP saved seats we had. She sat quietly for approximately one minute before needing to be passed down to sit with her grandparents at the end of the row. I took Luke and gave him his bottle while the ceremony began. The closest I came to losing it was when the pastor was giving the parents of the bride and groom a charge and explaining it was their time to release their child to their new spouse. I remember looking down the row at Audrey in her gorgeous white dress with her angelic face and thinking, "No, no, nope. No way, no how am I ever going to let her go" and then feeling my heart ache because I knew that one day I'd have no choice. Fortunately, the moment passed before I could start boo-hooing because my dear sweet child #2 let out a rather large belch that distracted me. Thankfully I don't think many people heard...or they were just polite enough to act like they didn't.
At the end, Audrey walked back down the aisle with Kimberly and remembered to toss out a few petals. We took some pictures and then headed up for the reception. David said a beautiful prayer blessing the couple and the food and then we ate, danced, got eaten alive by no-see-ums, and partied. Luke was such a trooper but after they cut the cake at 9pm, I knew he'd had enough and he and I silently snuck out leaving David, Audrey, and his parents to party a bit longer. I fed him and then David came in with Audrey and we got them both ready for bed. We were all absolutely exhausted but on cloud nine about what a wonderful wedding it had been. We'd been dreaming of this event for months and months and couldn't believe it had finally happened. We prayed for the newlyweds and then all turned in.
The next day and the days that followed are kind of a blur of eating and swimming. David and I got a date night in and walked around the downtown area before a nice dinner out. We also snuck away for an afternoon treat of ice cream for just the two of us and a stroll on the beach one morning. I wish I could say we worked off all our eating with a few jogs, but for the first time in our many trips down there, I didn't run a single time. I couldn't go before feeding Luke in the morning (they don't make sports bras supportive enough to handle that task), and by the time I fed him, it was time to get the rest of the morning routine underway and it just never worked out. So, instead, we just ate and ate and ate without so much as a brisk walk. Oh well.
The ride home was not as nice as the ride down. Luke screamed and cried pretty much non-stop from Macon to our driveway. David and I were snapping at each other and Audrey and it was all coming apart in those final few miles. Thankfully, God gave us the grace we needed not to kill each other and we arrived home exhausted, but alive. Despite ending on a rough note, though, the week was great. The wedding was wonderful and the time with family was really nice. I'm already looking forward to next year!
Here are some other highlights and stories from the week:
- I didn't witness this one first-hand, but the tale goes that Audrey was in the pool and said the word iridescent or something that sounded like it I guess. While the adults were trying to figure out how to define it in terms she could understand, she interrupted and said, "It means shiny." I wish I could've seen the looks on their faces!
- While we were down there, we got an offer on our house and had to come up with a way to deal with all that comes with that and counter-offer. Long story short, it didn't pan out, but it was definitely for the best that it didn't. Hopefully I'll be able to expand on that later!
- We had two awesome game nights towards the end of the week. While playing Catch Phrase during one of them, David got the word "Chile". He was describing it and said, "I think they raise llamas there." No one guessed it based on that and I gave him a pretty hard time about guessing a country's GDP as a hint. We retold the story to his parents and wouldn't ya know it? His dad guessed Chile based solely on his llama hint. :)
- David's grandma made us flitters four days in a row. They were Uh-mazing!
- I had 34 no-see-um bites on the front of my legs ALONE. There were at least that many on the back and about a dozen elsewhere. It was miserable.
- Finally, on the last full day, Audrey let her Great Aunt Pat and Grandmom hold her hands and walk her into the ocean. She'd been too afraid to actually go in all week, but got brave and went for it at the end.
- We made it to Aunt Catfish's one night (our favorite restaurant that's about a 30 minute drive away) and it was goooood. Luke didn't care much for it, though, and fussed and spit up on me so many times I lost count. No matter. My cheese grits, cinnamon roll, and cornbread were delish just the same.
- David and I took Audrey on a mommy-daddy-daughter date to Dairy Queen. At first she said she didn't want to go without Luke, but once we got there, she couldn't stop saying how nice it was. She thanked us several times over as we were leaving for "taking me on this nice date and giving me a whole ice cream treat to myself!" It's moments like that that make you want to kill them with squeezes...in good way for a change. ;)
