travel log

Thursday: I picked up Adam at school when his evening class finished, and then we picked up Summer at her buddy Ethan's house. She was there so I could take a nap and finish getting the car loaded. We were on our way at about 8 pm.

Friday: About 9:30 am, we got to Jill and Marc's new apartment in St. Augustine (the couple getting married - Jill is from Adam's high school group that is still in close contact with each other). I was wiped out and REALLY not liking the level of humidity outside. So I stayed indoors while Adam took Summer across the street to the beach for awhile. She loved it - she played in the waves and played in the sand, and came back completely dirty from head to toe. I was getting sand out of her ears for the rest of the weekend. After having lunch, we went to check into our hotel. We had to wait another hour or so, and it was pouring rain so touristy stuff was out, so we went to the outlet mall across the street. I went to the bachelorette dinner/party that evening - I was going to just the dinner and skipping out on the drinking and frivolity. Unfortunately, just the dinner took substantially longer than I had estimated ... needless to say that Adam and Summer were not particularly happy about being stranded at the hotel and that I took so long bringing them their dinner. That was not one of the highlights.

Saturday: Another "girls only" event in the morning at a salon to get nails done (I got a "repair job" done from my last haircut), and a girls-only lunch. I took Summer with me, and Adam went with a bunch of the other husbands to play golf and have their own lunch. We converged on Marc's grandparents' house - the wedding was in their backyard, so the rehearsal was there as well.

Then things got exciting ... we had a couple of run-throughs of walking up the aisle in the backyard, and a thunderstorm was coming in so everyone went inside. It POURED for a good couple of hours, and there were about 3 inches of rain in less than 1 hour, which proceeded to flood the house. One minute, Adam is telling me that he's going to help with a flood in the bathroom, where the rain was getting into the house. The next minute, there were 20-30 people rushing around with loads of towels to try to dam the 1-2 inch waves coming down the hall and into the living room, rolling up area rugs before the water could get to them, and moving furniture around. Most of the first floor of the house had over an inch of standing water by the time the mops and Shop-Vac came around. Meanwhile, many small children were VERY hungry (as well as 3 or 4 pregnant women) because we hadn't had the dinner yet. Adam finally went to ask if he could get something for Summer, and was told to take whatever he wanted that was ready. Summer was also frustrated because I had to keep her corralled while the water was being cleaned up - she couldn't run around. In the end, everything calmed down nicely - that couple would have been in a lot more trouble with the flood if so many people hadn't been there to get it under control so quickly.

Sunday: The wedding was at 9:30 am, and it was already suffocating outside with the heavy, heavy humidity. I have no idea if the photographer got any pictures of Summer coming down the aisle - I actually doubt it. We didn't get any either. Adam had the camera up at the front, and I was at the back with her. She wouldn't take her flower basket from me - I was holding it, and she would reach in and take petals out, but not hold it herself. When I finally got her pointed in the right direction (after all the other flower girls had gotten to the front, and one was coming back for her), she made it up to Adam in about 5 seconds, before he could get any pictures of her. The flower girls did not have to stand at the front with the bridal party - they were sent to sit with their parents. So we took Summer around to the back again and let her run around.

The reception was a brunch at a restaurant - we were happy to be in air conditioning. It was a very nice reception, and it was good for Adam to get caught up with so many people. I finally met the last one from the high school group who I hadn't met yet - he's in the Navy, and he's been overseas every other time we've been to Florida.

We left the reception early to visit Adam's sister Naomi in Georgia for the rest of the weekend, and got to her house at about dinnertime. We met her new husband, Eric, and had a good visit with them. We also learned that she will NOT be going to Iraq - her commanding officer said that he's not going to just randomly send people to Iraq just because they've finished their ROTC programs and training, and haven't deployed yet. He wants specific jobs and all, so he's not sending people over there just to get in the way. Makes sense ... (imagine! The US Army doing something that makes sense!) So for the moment at least, Naomi is off the hook.

Monday: After breakfast, we went swimming for a while at the pool at Naomi's complex. That felt SO GOOD. We headed for DC around 2 pm, when Summer was ready to crash for her nap. She was a good little traveler. We stopped as soon as possible when she started fussing and getting restless in her seat, which really wasn't that often. She would run around and stretch for 10-20 minutes, and then we were back on the road. She also fell asleep around 8:30 pm - her usual bedtime - and slept most of the rest of the way. We got home at 11:30 pm.

Today: My brain is awake but my body is very worn out from all the time in the car. Even when I would recline the passenger seat, I still wasn't really able to stretch out as much as I needed to for the baby. So I'm getting everything unpacked and put away, and there is lots of laundry to do. But mostly, I'm taking it easy.