Day 3 of October

LA, Disneyland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Madonna Vacation!

(cont)

Day 4

Saturday, September 22nd

This is the wedding party

These are the huge lobster tails Lora made for my birthday dinner.  I loved how she made them look like boats.  That's on my list of things to try next.

This is when Patrick skyped my on my birthday and I got him to look up like the Brady Bunch show.  Thanks Mike, the father of the bride, and Grandma, the cat lover!

  The big day started out relaxing for me, but Bill and the kids went shopping.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that they remembered we needed to be ready to go by 1:15.  They were back in plenty of time, but Lora still had to call up to us a couple of times to get some of us moving. Ashley, Ethan and Bill rode with Alan in his car and I hopped into a car with Alice, Steven and Mike's mom (Or who we called grandma all weekend. ) Both the  wedding and reception were being held at a rustic resort called San Moritz.  It was about 90 minutes from Victorville and 75 of those minutes were spent on winding, hair pin turns. We had been pre warned about the trek up the mountain and I thought I was being proactive by taking my gravol.  Let's just say that the gravol only helped by allowing me to make it to the resort, find the bathroom before anyone else, before I upchucked.  Embarrassed, nope, not me. In fact Bill mentioned that I could have been a little more subtle.  I told him he married the wrong person if he was looking for subtle.  The best part about throwing up is how well you feel afterwards. Except for being a little tired from the affects of the gravol, I was feeling great. The decor of the wedding was rustic and beautiful. Linda and her bridal party did a great job. The ceremony was held outside.  As we were waiting for the bride to walk down the petal aisle, the m.c. made  an announcement. " we are looking for the father of the bride to walk the bride down the isle!" Seems Mike had forgotten his part and he was sitting in the front row waiting for the ceremony to begin.  The ceremony was beautiful and went off without a hitch. Lots of family pictures taken afterwards and then the bar was open. Ahhhhh.  There was a special bartender concoction called "love potion #9-22". (Hence the day of the wedding). I decided after the third one, I really didn't like it that much.  Dinner was filling, but as is always the case at table number meals, we were one of the last tables to go up.  The DJ was also the MC and he kept the evening running very smooth; from the few speeches to the first dance to the cutting of the cake.  One of the most beautiful moments was when Linda and her dad did the father, daughter dance.  Mike is a seasoned dancer and  he and Linda had practised a couple of times.  They had chosen the song "Moon River" by Andy Williams as their song.  Fast forward a day or two, and Mr. Andy Williams passed away.  This would be one of those do-do-do-do moments for me.  Then while Linda was changing into her Chinese dress, Lora and Mike gave us a demonstration of their cha-cha moves.  Amazing.   It was also around this time, when Uncle Wayne got up and gave his speech.  I must admit, I thought there would be a lot of humour in it, but he was actually very sentinmental and expressed his love for Ryan and Linda.  Later on during the dance, he did get up and play his harmonica to a couple of songs.  A talented guy!  There weren't a lot of kids at this wedding, but there was this one little girl who was really getting into the music and dancing up a storm. Both Nick and Linda Pohorelic (another cousin from Calgary ) commented how the little girl reminded them of Ashley when she was that age, and dancing at their wedding.  Before long, the evening was over, and if we weren't sure, the DJ played "Hit the Road Jack" just to remind us.  With my new gravol already taken, and a couple of Ativan thrown in for good measure, I was ready for the long, winding trek home. (Or so I thought) the only good thing about the ride home, was that Alan drove crazy fast.  Ashley said the gravol didn't help her, but I know it helped me, because again I was able to hold off re-sampling my supper until we returned back to Hotel Kwan.  Thank you Bill for the ginger ale when I emerged out of the bathroom.  Best to get a good night sleep - early morning tomorrow.