Wow, the wedding was fun! It all went off without a hitch and during the whole evening everywhere it seemed like people were having a good time. It was an amazing atmosphere, and Jared and Erika just shone joy the whole day. It was wonderful.
Here’s a shot of the seating area, all ready for the guests to arrive. It was such a pretty venue. After the ceremony, kids had a lovely time running up and down the hill you can see in the distance. And there were blankets spread in the shade of trees for extra seating during the wedding and the reception.
Then here’s a picture of the area where the reception was– the kids did such a great job decorating. Everything really came together, even the weather. A couple weekends before the wedding, we were having temperatures in the 100’s. But on the Saturday of the wedding the high was 87, which by evening in the shade of all those trees was just perfect for an outdoor summer wedding.
Saturday evening after the wedding we all sat around in the living room for a long time talking about what a fun party it had been, not quite wanting it to be over yet. Nevermind that it was 1:30 in the morning.
Sunday we ran around returning all the various things that we’d borrowed for the festivities. And then Monday and Tuesday night I worked, which meant Tuesday and Wednesday during the day was taken up with sleeping. So today, really, is the first day since the wedding that I feel like I’m truly off.
Today the older teens are all working, and the youngest two have a friend over to play– streams of giggles are coming from the bedroom. So I am sitting here blogging and making lists of things I need to do during this last part of the summer before our Ethiopia trip. We leave in 26 days, people! I am so excited!
I already found five 32″ soft-sided bags for our checked luggage for the grand price of $14 each at Walmart.com. They are GINORMOUS, and they even have wheels. I doubt we’ll bring enough clothing to fill a whole bag per person– more likely two people’s clothes will fit in one bag. But we are bringing a few things to and from Ethiopia for other people, so extra space is good. And if we don’t need all 5 all the time, each duffel can be zipped tiny compact square, to easily tuck into another bag.
Besides the big bags, we’ll each have one carry-on– most likely backpacks. One backpack each and one wheeled bag each will, I hope, be a reasonable amount to tote for everyone.
I’m especially interested in traveling light because of all the moving around we’ll be doing. We’ll be gone a total of 16 days, of which three are flying and four are driving to outlying areas. So that’s 7 days on the move. Definitely a reason not to overpack.
I don’t want to bring my computer, so I (mini)splurged on a tablet– a Toshiba Encore that my computer-guru son spoke highly of. I’m excited to get it and play with it. I also got an earbud splitter to make it easier for multiple kids to watch movies together on planes. Oh, I love traveling!
In other news (despite the fact that I just spent 5 minutes talking about things I bought for our trip, lol) I’m still working on paring down things that we own in general. This afternoon Tomorrow I’m going through drawers in my bathroom. It’s funny how I can go literally weeks without opening a drawer, and yet it is still hard to coax myself to toss things that I haven’t used in months. I paid good money for them, after all! But I’m reminding myself that this fact should not earn them a forever place in my drawers or my home.
I am also eager to do some cleaning in our garage. Except there is where I’ve stashed all the extra dishes I’m saving for our 4 older teens. All hope to move out in the next couple years, and I’d like to start them out with a few dishes each, to make the move more affordable. So there the dishes sit.
Also in the garage are lots of 8mm and VHS movies from when our kids were little, which I’d like to get onto digital files. I bought the gadget months ago, but then never got around to taking the time. So there’s another project to add to my list.
I guess that’s all I have for you today. I’m off to the store to stock up the empty fridge, and then I’m taking these giggly girls to the library. Should be fun! How’s your summer coming along?