Andrew & Jenna's big weekend

Andrew and Jenna got married this past weekend in Wilmington.  Two events marked the occasion.  The first hosted by Eric and Barb was on the banks of the Cape Fear - seen outside the window over Andrew's shoulder- as he and Jenna listen to toasts at the rehearsal / welcome to Wilmington dinner party.

The River Room, right slap dab in the middle of the River Walk section of historic downtown was well decorated.  It looked very very nice.  Friends from Graham helped with the set up.

The room was full, food and drink great,  and son-in-law Dave did a super job bar tending.

and lots of table hoping and moving around going on- Jenna's family is a large outgoing one.  that will - no joke- break into song.   and sing.    Fun to be around.

Here are Eric and Barb holding forth both proposing toasts and welcoming guests and being happy.

The actual wedding took place the next day in a historic old church now an event place.

As for photos of the actual ceremony with drawn swords, standing bridesmaids, groomsmen, brides, mothers-of brides, preachers, and such will have to be from actual wedding photographs.  I have none.  However from the reception, I do have a few.

Of which I do have one of the bride and groom with full regalia.  I did not get all the other Marines with swords and such.

The party went late, the dancing was fun and full bore, and proving that at least one of our family has got the moves, young Nathaniel, was awesome.  Wish the photos could capture the vigor and intensity.  This apple not only fell far from the tree, and in fact possibly was tossed in from the outside.

He was so good

Let's not have to have many days like this one.

Yesterday was an exciting day.  A "responsible adult" (Patt apparently qualified), took me to the City of Medicine mid morning where I got a new hat and tendon in my shoulder along with one more body part - a plastic screw - to hold the tendon to the arm bone connected to the shoulder bone 

It was out-patient and by mid afternoon, we were traveling US 70 East.  

It is a rather space age type sling in my limited exposure to slings.  The little white radio looking thingee is a electrical stimulus thingee that sends out little shocks to confuse the pain nerves.  I am glad too because I told them I was allergic to pain.  I also have some pretty strong prescription strength pills that interrupt pain.  And induce a nap.

Recovery will involve therapy and take a while.  Patt is going to have to be more than responsible.

And I am so thankful I have her with me.

I still have a few more photos from North Dakota I hope to post.  We have photogenic grandchildren.

a real weather difference

As previously mentioned we were supposed to leave North Dakota on Monday, well this is a photo of Monday  night, a genuine blizzard, interstate got closed, all the way from South Dakota to Canada from Fargo to Bismarck and so on, schools closed for two days, mind you.  

 Well,  this is Tuesday mooring,  sky was just a tad blue, drifts up to five feet and officially only 11 and a half inches at the airport, so no big deal, just a lot of wind and snow.  The snow was dry and the day was cold.  Surprised you on that one huh?

Check out the snow blower.  Never thought I would get to run one of these babies.  Fun too.  Seriously you make a path, you get to see what you've done and you make a little noise too.  Throw some snow too while you are at it.

I am not sure I would fool anyone as an expert operator, but I did not chew up the bushes or the neighbors fence, so I reckon I was not a bad operator.  Check out the drifts across the street in front of the car.

If you will notice what Matt is holding, you will see why I was reluctant to give up holding the snow blower.  Matt may have some Tom Sawyer in him, but I was not born yesterday either as I had seen  those shovels in the garage earlier in the week.

 the kids enjoyed watching out the window and please note Matt pushing the shovel.  The snow blower is self propelled.  See what I mean about not being born yesterday.

After a path was cleared there was space for the kids to come out a play, prior to that, as you can see, there would be very little moving around that John Paul could do in the snow.  He did try, got snow inside his gloves, was not to happy and went back inside.

 The kids did tunnels and snow forts into the snow banks.  I walked a bit in the snow with Julianna, but it was tough going.

In the afternoon, we went to the sledding hill, it was beginning to be "broken in" with the fluffy snow getting packed down, but was still a little soft.  Here the three kids are going up the hill,  The sky was THAT BLUE.  Really beautiful.

Laura and Lydia on their way down.

And this is what it looks like from the air.   

We were sent off in style from GFK airport.  We had such a great time.  Sure did miss those kids (and Matt and Laura today)

This was the hardest thing to get used to today.  Driving around town today doing various errands, grocery, post office, REI and so on and in summer like weather.   Wearing a T-shirt, hearing lawn mowers, seeing flowering trees, having the top down on the convertible and seeing the temperature gauge read in the 80s knowing what it was like just a couple of hours away by air where I was yesterday was hard for me to process.

I hope to get around to posting a few more photos of the trip in the next day or two.  We did have some great times.