Vacation, Part I: Chris and Erin's Wedding

I'm trying to force myself to catch up on all the super-duper fabulous stuff that we did for the entire month of July while we were on vacation (wahoo!). What it really means is that the next few posts (if I can actually get them pushed out, because I do want to actually remember what we did) will most likely be out of chronological order and probably just a lot of photos and travel log stuff.

Anywayzzz, we went on vacation initially centered around Adam's brother's wedding in Santa Barbara. So I might as well start there.

Uncle Chris got married! He married Erin, a talented, funny, fabulously-nice-to-my-kids, gorgeous, and all around cool woman. I have no doubt that she'll bring the whole family up a notch or two. Their wedding was (how do I say?), just about the most amazing event I've ever seen. In my world of not even considering paying more than $5 for sunglasses or $25 for jeans, and not thinking that it is even possible to walk into a clothing store without immediately seeking out the clearance rack, this was like visiting another planet. Wow, I was way out of my league--but for at least one day, I sure enjoyed being there.

The top photo is not mine, but from their photographer's website, along with other photos that prove the whole day to be a magazine-worthy affair. Really.

Adam was in the wedding party, which meant that, unlike our own wedding, he actually had to wear a tuxedo. And I thought that he was looking so sharp that I almost regretted not putting him in a tux for ours originally...or at least it's making me seriously think that it's time to at least get him a new suit. (Just a friendly warning, my dear.)

Olivia and Isabel were flower girls for the event. Which meant that I spent the whole event trying to get Isabel to keep her dress down, and Olivia spent the whole event pretty much thinking of herself as a Second-only-to-the-Bride Belle of the Ball. She danced around the event like a fairytale princess and was doted on by not only Erin but by all of her bridesmaids. Saying she was in heaven is an understatement. In between the courses at dinner, when Chris and Erin would walk around and socialize, Olivia would also get up to walk around, either following them, posing for a camera, finding a bridesmaid to act shy in front of while they told her how cute she is, or just twirl around in the aisles.

I know that it is probably in bad taste to post a picture of Max in mid-bite, but I had to put this one in just to remember how this trip Max insisted on graduating from the "kids menu". Erin had thoughtfully arranged for a separate dinner menu for them. But when Max saw all of the adults getting a large, buttery, herbed shrimp for an appetizer (and he just looooves shrimp), he wanted a menu swap. Max also pulled another new one on us: falling asleep mid-event. This is a boy who won't fall asleep in a car unless we've been driving a good 5 or so hours already, who never falls asleep on the sofa in front of a movie, and who will read until very late hours without falling asleep when I forget to come back in his room and insist that he turn off the light. But I guess that he was thoroughly worn out because after dinner he just laid down behind one of the sofas in the ballroom, while the dancing and partying was in full-swing, and fell asleep. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it.

His falling asleep all worked in my favor, however, as it just added evidence to the growing mystique of how can I possibly do it all with four kids! Since ours were the only kids at the event, and since, after all, this is L.A. and they haven't seen couples with more than 2.1 children since catching part of the Sound of Music last time it was on TV. So My goodness, four children! was the favorite topic of conversation. Well, it's easy; see, they put themselves to sleep.

And this little guy totally helped. He had his part down pat: arrive at the event, show off a little by smiling and cooing at the people, eat some dinner, then fall asleep in stroller for the rest of the evening, and let Mom and Dad take all the credit from those marveling at what a good baby he is. He was a dream.

No, I'm being too snarky here. Actually, we felt like we got to know many of Chris and Erin's friends because of our kids. Lots of them had kids at home and so they wanted to talk about their own 4mo. old or their 2 1/2 yr old, and it was a really fun way to meet people. People were actually really, really nice about the kids. And, thankfully, I had just enough bribes in place that the kids came through with their best behavior.

Mostly I came away feeling like I had learned a lot more about Chris and Erin both as a couple and as individuals. Many people shared stories about them and their personalities and I had a lot of fun learning what I did. I am really happy for them and their future together.

And this photo is for my mom, just because I know that she'll want to see what I looked like too.

(And because, yes, I'm still stressing that I spaced on getting a family picture with all of us together. Aarrgh.)