What I did for my Summer Vacation...

he he

Well Tuesday (June 26Th) I called up my step dad and got the go ahead to leave for the wedding. At that point mom was still in ICU but doing very much better and starting to return to her same cranky self.

So Tuesday night I was running around after doing all the laundry so everyone would have plenty to choose from to pack for the trip. I made sure we had all our travel documents (print outs of our boarding passes, car rental, hotel reservations...etc...) I was choosing and packing my things in the suitcases...making sure that Darly had everything that she needed and that she didn't pack anything unpractical...making sure the dog and rabbits were all set, ya know doing everything and fuming because DH & Darly were mostly playing.

Wednesday morning I got up early (I always do when we travel!) and I did some last minute things...making sure everything would go well.

I should mention here that if you don't already know this...I'm a very anal plan everything out control freak kind of person. Which in some cases works out very well for me and in others backfires in my face when something unexpected or unplanned happens. So I made for us a "day planner" on my Excel spreadsheet...where I had everything all scheduled. I also made packing charts for each of us...It had what all was going on that day so we would know when to pack what...like for the day of the wedding we needed not only our dress clothes but something to wear before the wedding. All planned out...perfectly.

So we get going at 8:05am (we were supposed to leave at 8am...but I'm a smart gal...I added "cushion" time into the schedule because DH is ALWAYS dragging his feet!) Everything went well with traffic and we get to the kennel to drop off Lilly. She of course did NOT want to be left there. The guy had to drag her back to the kennel while Lilly was trying to run towards me. I really wish I knew more of what happened when she was there, but I doubt that even the kennel staff really know as they just pop her into a run and feed her. The kennel suggests that you allow an hour for dropping off your dog...it NEVER takes that long so there was my cushion.

Next we head over to the car park. (BTW: the kennel & the car park are both off the same main road that we always use for getting to the airport. Very handy!) We parked the car and the bus came to pick us up right away. We were at the airport with plenty of time.

I headed to the bathroom while DH & Darly went to wait in line for the baggage check in. I got back in just enough time to show the ticket agent my ID so she could verify my boarding pass.

Security was at level ORANGE so the screening was wrapped all the way around to near baggage claim. The official there said it would only take about 45 minutes from that point. I teased that it might take as long as 5 hours and she wasn't impressed. Some folks just can't take a joke at all. Oh well...I think it actually took less than 45 minutes as whenever the handicapped line was not being used they would allow regular folks to use it too. We might have been in line for about 30 minutes..probably less...it all went very quickly.

Then we head to get lunch and bump into someone we know from Church. He was on a flight directly to Detroit but on another airlines...we had to stop in Nashville first. Our flight was delayed due to weather. We were flying Southwest.

Ever flown with Southwest before? Well they don't have seat assignments. Instead you get a boarding assignment which determines when you get to get on the plane...then you can sit anywhere you like...unless you are traveling with children...then you can't sit in the emergency row. So when you are waiting for your flight...you notice folks standing in line for boarding LONG before there is even a plane to board. I still laugh about this as it happens every single time. They are standing and waiting and there is no plane to get on.

The rest of the flight to Nashville was uneventful but trying to get to Detroit was not the same. We were supposed to leave at 4:30pm. We were all in line waiting to board when the captain comes out to announce that due to weather we weren't going anywhere for now and would get more info at 5:15pm. So I go to get some food. We eat and at 5:15 we learn that we aren't going to get any more news until 6pm. Finally at 6:30 they tell us to HURRY UP and board so we can make a small window to get into Detroit. We board but of course we didn't do it quickly enough and we missed our window. So next we are told that we will sit in the aircraft for an hour with the engines off to save fuel hoping for a chance to take off. they will have the fasten seat belts signs off so we can use the bathrooms and they will serve us water...but we can only go to the bathrooms one at a time in case we get the go ahead to take off so we can leave quickly. But the pilot forgot to turn off the fasten seat belt sign...the flight attendant reminded him to do that and some other person jumped up before I could go. And of course as soon as that person was out the captain said we had the go ahead to leave...so no potty break for me. We ended up leaving Nashville around 7:30 or so. The captain never turned off the fasten seat belt signs because they were expecting bad weather (we never got any!) but I had to go so I went and got scolded by the flight attendant. after I got back Darly announces that she has to go too but we were already on our decent so we made her wait until we landed. I think we got out of the airport at around 10:20pm! We were supposed to be in Detroit at 7pm.

We ate a very late dinner at Bob's Big Boy. You know how you have great memories of a place from when you were a kid and then if you go back as an adult it isn't so great? So was the case with Bob's Big Boy! DH & I both had fond memories that were totally dashed by this place. The service stunk and the manager was the worst about it. We stood there to get a table for about 10 minutes and it was because all the staff were just avoiding coming up there to get us. Bah! We'll never eat there again!

We start the drive to Birch Run and missed our turn off because I was looking for I-75 not US-23. We got almost all the way to Lansing before we realized that we had made a mistake...about an hour out of our way. So DH gets this idea that we should take a back road north to get to I-69 that will take us back to Flint & to I-75 where we want to be...but the back road doesn't go there directly and we missed our turn because a tree was covering the sign. We wanted 52. The sign said for 49 turn left and for 52 go...well we don't really know that because the tree covered that part up. We assumed that we go right for 52 since for 49 it was left. We were WRONG! So we're driving along for a long time and I keep trying to convince DH that we are going EAST instead of NORTH...but he doesn't believe me. Finally we find a 7-11 and ask for directions. We were heading East and were now only 10 miles from US-23...so we continue back to where we needed to be but not where we wanted to be.

WE finally make it to our hotel in Birch Run at 3:10am. The desk clerk was NOT amused to be checking us in at that hour. Can't say that I blame him one bit...but that is his job.

We get to our room and finally get to bed about 3:45 am. DH is all worried about us missing the free breakfast in the lobby that ends at 10am. Sorry it couldn't be helped. We ended up at Bob Evans instead. GREAT breakfast! Loved it!

So our plan was to hang our on our own on Thursday (28Th) and just enjoy Frankenmuth without our relatives. But at breakfast a Bob Evans, I say "what if we run into one of your relatives?" DH says "Nah, it will NEVER happen. What are the chances that we'll run into someone we know?" We bet $10 on that. What should we do first? Darly wants to go to the park. This is the park that has the turtle that her grandfather made (that has no identification on it. the only folks who know that FIL made this are FIL's family. I think we should do something about that, but I noticed that there are some cracks on it now so it might not be around long enough to bother now.)

We played at the park for a while, visiting all the important stuff and I turn towards the park entrance and notice a white van (very much like Dave's) driving in. I say to DH "I think that's your brother's van." He says it can't be. As the van is getting closer I can tell the front licence plate is a Harly Davidson plate...it has to be Dave's van as Michigan requires plates on both the front and back (Dave lives in NC.) Sure enough we watch as Steve, Denise, Dave and all the kids climb out of the van. Darly is so excited to see her cousins that she runs right over while DH is trying to hide from them as we didn't want to see them yet. I can't let them think that Darly is at the park by herself so I head over. Dh heads over eventually...beaten.

The kids & adults played. it was fun. We then decide to head over to Bronner's to look for a Wedding present from Darly to Niece. DH tries to loose Dave while we drive over, but Dave finds us with no problems...I guess the bright red car with Maine tags was a give-away. So all 6 Adults & 5 kids head in. (check my last blogging about going to Frankenmuth for a link to Bronners.) This place is HUGE and there were many times when Dave's kids were with DH & I or with Steve & his friend instead of with Dave & Denise. In the end we all made it out okay, the kids were returned to their parents and nothing was broken.

Dave & the gang decide they will try to get to St Lorenz to hear the bells go off... We decide to do some more shopping downtown. We end up at Rau's Country store for some candy. WE buy a mixed bag of candies...taffy, hard candy, caramels, etc. After this we are hungry and Zehnders is right next door...so we decide to give that a try.

Darly orders a Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich...DH & I share a 3 piece chicken dinner. Zehnders is famous for their all you can eat chicken dinner...but it is $17.95 per person. If you order the 3 piece dinner you get all the same stuff and you can share it for just $18.95. Trust me, there's plenty of food! First she brings us some bread, butter, Cranberry sauce, Cottage Cheese, Cole Slaw and paté, cheese spread w/ toasted baguette. I tried my first paté (not bad), Darly tried her first cottage cheese (she loved it!), Dh joked with the waitress about the Stollen bread.
After this course, we were brought noodle soup. very yummy!
finally she brought out our dinners. With our chicken dinner we got mashed potatoes, stuffing, a bowl of vegetables and a bowl of gravy. I soon found that the very dry Famous Frankenmuth Chicken tastes much better if covered in gravy. Our family of 3 could have easily all shared this one dinner...I don't know if we were charged for the extra soups or not...but who cares? It was good, we were very stuffed and although DH teased that we should eat everything...even he knew that was going to be impossible.

After our dinner we headed over to Debbie's house. It was chaos as everyone was over there (as always.) Let me introduce the cast of characters here for you...

At first I was using SIL & BIL instead of names...but it gets complicated quickly...so here are the names:

Debbie - DH's oldest Sister
Pam - The bride & Debbie's oldest child
Nicole - Debbie's second
Eric - Debbie's son...the recent graduate
Jake - Debbie's youngest

Wendy - DH's second sister
Bob - her DH
Rachel - Wendy's daughter

Dave - DH's oldest Brother
Denise - Dave's wife
Avery - Denise's son
Harley - their oldest daughter
Nick - their son
Trevor - another son
Katie - their baby
(not here were Danielle, Dave's daughter who lives with her mom & Jessica who was with her dad.)

Steve - Dh's second brother who is single

MIL

Lynn - DH's cousin
Tom - her husband
Melissa - their daughter

Rich - Debbie's EX husband & father to her kids
Dionne - Rich's new wife

Okay, I think that's everyone that I'll be mentioning...I'll pop up to make changes if I need to.

So at Debbie's house we had Dave & his family staying there; Steve & his friend (a coworker); Wendy & Rachel; and us.

I was trying to find out all the stuff I needed to know for getting Darly where she needed to be for the wedding, but it was hard to keep track of everything as Debbie didn't know all of it and she also had to tell Wendy & Steve where they needed to be. I was disappointed that Pam hadn't provided more info, but she was busy and not even there...she lives in Saginaw.

We finally get back to our hotel after 10pm and we're bushed! The sun stays up longer in Michigan than in Colorado...the mountains hide it from us.

We get up on Friday morning and have a bit of time to do things before we head up to the wedding site. So we see that Ratatouille is playing at the theater next door to our hotel...but it doesn't start until 12. So we go play put-put golf. Darly beats us both...she got 3 hole in ones! She's happy...and then we go to see the movie. It was great! Very funny and highly suggested. Everyone will have fun and it is totally family friendly. Then we start our drive north for the wedding...and right away hit traffic.

It seems that everyone in Michigan drives north for the weekends...they either own a cottage up north or know someone who does so they all go. The roads were packed! We were barely going 10 miles per hour. And DH decides that he wants some of the candy we bought at Raus. It's in the trunk. Ya know how most cars have back seats that fold down so you can stick large items in? Well these seats do fold down, but we have no idea how to do it. I climbed in the back seat to try to figure it out. I was fussing with it for a bit and we all had a good laugh, but never did get to the candy. The traffic finally let up about 20 miles or so and we get going. I'm now paniced that we will be late for the rehersal as I wasn't quite sure what time it began. When we finally get to the turn off we get lost...it seems there was a conflict between what the directions were and my understanding of them. Luckily we found an police officer who directed us where to go...we weren't that lost. But then we get to the resort and don't have any directions as to where the wedding is. We drove around to the lodge and the restaurants but didn't see anyone's cars...so I called Debbie. We needed to be at the Club House (???!!!) she sends Nicole to the road to flag us in. Nicole thought that her mom was talking to Dave and was wondering who we were (she didn't recognize our rental car - go figure!) when we waved at her. DH had bet me the $10 I won earlier with the not seeing the relatives bet that Dave would be later than we were...he was right...Dave pulled in as we were walking up to the wedding site.

I sent DH to get gas in our car and get us checked into our hotel (which was down the road from the resort...much cheaper!) This creates a problem later...

The wedding site is behind the ClubHouse...it overlooks the golf-course and has lots of wooded area for a nice back drop for the "altar." The bridal party is lined up as they would be for the wedding and they practice leaving the wedding first (???)...then they go stage up for the entrance.

first Eric takes MIL to be seated...then he comes back.
then Jake takes Debbie to be seated...and comes back.
then Eric takes Dionne to be seated and comes back.
then Ryan - the groom takes his parents together to be seated...he gets to stay up front now.
Then Jake takes his stepsister (she's a bridesmaid) to the front. They both stay up there.
Then Eric takes another stepsister.
Then more groomsmen & bridesmaids go up and finally the Best Man & Maid of Honor (Nicole) go up.
Finally Darly & Harley (the flowergirls) go up...they aren't throwing petals...they are going to hold smaller bouquets.
And of course the bride & her dad come down the aisle.

DH, Dave & Denise are not back from checking into the hotel...but we are finished rehearsing (I'm just an extra for all of that, but I got some pictures) so we get on a bus to drive to the Lodge for the rehearsal dinner. I'm tripping out because DH doesn't know that the rehearsal dinner is at the Lodge...shoot they didn't tell us the wedding was at the Club House! DH also didn't bring his cell phone so there is no way of calling him...had I been thinking I could have sent him with my phone...but more on that later.

We get to the Lodge and wait for the others to join us...we finally give up after about 45 minutes and begin to eat dinner. They show up about 5 minutes later. DH was frantically driving around everywhere trying to find us...he asked at the Lodge but the front desk had no idea that we were having the dinner there...the Club House didn't know and of course none of the restaurants knew either. Luckily, Nicole went out to find them all and brought them back to the dinner. They were serving steaks buffet style. I told the girls to just take anything that they thought they would eat as I knew they are both picky and I figured it didn't matter. I thought I would be sharing my steak with the two of them (I couldn't eat it all!) but when I got back to our table I see that they were both served HUGE chicken finger dinners! There was no way they could eat all that food.
I told DH that he was sharing my steak when he arrived. We all had plenty.

At dinner we learned that Denise was NOT happy with her room at the hotel that we were supposed to stay at. It was too rustic for her. Seems that she was wanting to stay at the resort. They did end up staying at the resort...we gave Dave a hard time about that later.

Our room was rustic too...but I was expecting it. The description said that it was a Loft with two bunk beds. Well I misunderstood...the room was in a building they call The Loft and there weren't any bunk beds. I don't know how that got mistranslated...but we did have a loft in our room. It was small and had 4 twin beds in it...two downstairs and two up a ladder like staircase to the loft. Darly was in heaven and climbed up the ladder right away to claim her bed. She had DH sleep up in the loft with her in the second bed. I stayed on terra firma in a bed down stairs. (thankyouverymuch!) also crammed into our tiny room were a table, two chairs, two closets & a 3/4 bathroom. It all worked out just fine for us...once we got the temperature right.

Oh hair appointments had been set up for the girls months ago to get their hair done up for the wedding. Dionne (the bride's step mom) set them up with a place that she knew of. I was told the appointment was at 12pm on the day of the wedding. No one said any different until the day of the wedding. Dionne didn't have the directions to the salon with her and was going to have to call her parents to get them, but she would call me with the directions so that we could find the place...thank goodness we went to get the directions that morning at 10:30 because the rest of them had already left without us (and no call) our appointments were up to 12. (???!!! who sets up appointments like that???!!!) So we get our directions and head over there. Dionne, her girls and Harly have all been done up and are leaving when we get there. All the others had their hair done in a half up, half down do. The stylist says that Darly's hair won't do that...so instead we go for a ponytail style that ends up being more like a fancy bun. Oh well...this kid is cute no matter what you do to her.

We get back and take Darly to the Lodge at 2:45 so they can take pictures before the wedding. I forgot to pack Darly's necklace, so I send DH back for it. I help Darly get changed into her dress and all set. DH gets back with the necklace right about the same time they need to be meeting with the photographer. They will be driving all over the resort to take pictures..so DH & I go back to our room to get ourselves ready. We then go get some lunch that we share because we don't want to be too full.

At 4pm we go back to the Club House for the wedding and everything goes off beautifully. The flowergirls are perfect (well Harly was a bit fast walking up the aisle...Darly tried to make her slow down.) And the bride only cried a bit (Darly told me she had a hard time not crying too...we're an emotional family...I cried too.) After the wedding it's time for photos. It took a long time but finally they said that we could go to the Lodge for the dinner. One of the caddies said we could take a gold cart to our car...we had been telling Darly that she should learn to drive a golf cart before a car and she really wanted to do it, but we didn't think the caddie would really let us have the 9y/o drive us. So we walked.

The reception hall (the picture at the top, not the drawing below) looked very lovely. It seemed to me that she had the Groom's family in the first row of tables, then her mom's family and then her dad's. I think it worked out very well although I expected that we would be seated farther back from the front. Oh well...she had the flowergirls together and me & her mom in charge of them. Dave & Denise were at the next table over.

The dinner was HUGE! First we had appetizers of a cheese plate, a veggie plate, quesodillias & meatballs. Then salads, and then our dinner plate had two beef fillets and a chicken breast with potatoes & greenbeans on it! We were so stuffed and for dessert the groom's mom had made a ton of cookies, cup cakes, other treats & the wedding cake! I don't think I've ever had so much food...okay I just mentioned the Zehnder's place...but you know what I mean. Again the girls didn't really eat much, but that was okay.

And we partied all night. The DJ's played really good music...although I had no idea what some of the songs were. Denise gave me a very hard time about not dancing to Fergielicious...the one and only time I ever plan to listen to that. YUCK! And I did an awesome Air Guitar solo to "Let's Go Crazy!" I don't care if they're talking about it for ages...it was fun. ha ha

Zie Leben Hoch was done at 10pm instead of the traditional 12am because we only had the room until 12am and there is always more dancing afterward. The Bride & Groom chose "I Like Big Butts" for the song after that. I don't get that one, but they had fun doing it. DH & I played something nice and slow for ours. Oh well.

We headed back to our room and zonked out quickly...but then at 2:30 the sprinklers came on and were shooting right at the windows of our room! I heard them about 3 times...DH said he only heard them twice.

On the way back to Frankenmuth we stopped by Lynn & Tom's cottage near Higgins Lake. We finally met their daughter Melissa who got engaged that weekend. She was so cute asking for details about the wedding for ideas for her own wedding. Lynn & Melissa had just been up to a lodge near the lake to see about having the wedding there. The owner doesn't do weddings there, but might be talked into it. It's very lovely there and I think they could have a very nice wedding there. I'm debating on if I should send Melissa a note telling her that her bridal party might appreciate a better organized schedule of when and where they are supposed to be...but it seems that I was the only one bothered by this.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We got in late lastnight...too late to pick up Lilly so I went to get her this morning. She was so happy to be out of there and is very happy to be home. The first thing she did was run to her couch and rub her face all over it...as if she were saying "AH! My House! My Couch! I missed you!"

I've missed you all and will now go read through a ton of blog entries...right? ;)