Preparations for a Wedding in Pennsylvania

Our oldest grandchild was only eight months old when Wayne and I married almost 23 years ago.  Now she is a married woman.  We are both happy and sad.

We had received a “save the date” magnet from them over a year ago so we new it was coming.

Then the official invitation arrived and there was no doubt that there would be a wedding.

   

We flew to Pittsburg on Wednesday, December 12th for the wedding.  Michelle and Michael picked us up at the airport and took us to his dad, Mickey's, house.  We picked up our daughter, Nola,and Mike’s sister, Tiffany.  From there we drove to Primanti Bros. for dinner.  We had seen a program about their sandwiches on the food network.

They are huge with French fries and sauerkraut inside the sandwich.  I though it was surprisingly good.

After dinner we drove to Seven Springs Ski Resort where the wedding party was staying.  It didn’t take us long to go to sleep.

We had a room overlooking the ski slopes.  The next morning the view was beautiful.  They were still making snow.

Michelle, Nola, and Tiffany met us in the Slopeside restaurant for breakfast Thursday morning.

The resort was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

 

We went to the room to rest Wayne’s back but met them back again for lunch.  This time Michael joined us.

 

Thursday afternoon we all met in the Tower’s lobby which was also decorated beautifully.

We all pilled into a shuttle bus from the resort and drove to Somerset to the church. 

The church was beautiful.

    

After the rehearsal we piled into the shuttle and headed back to the resort to their premier restaurant “Helen’s.”  The room was set up beautifully.

 

And we filled it to capacity.

 

We started out with a glass of wine or beer.

Then the chef had prepared an appetizer with lobster in it.  Then it was on to the main menu.

By the time we got to the dessert we were all full.

Michelle and Michael presented everyone with gifts.  The maid of honor, bridesmaids,  and flower girl all got the jewelry that I had made for them.

 

The ring bearer had already used the pillow I made for him that matched Michelle’s dress.

 

After dinner Wayne took some pictures of the happy couple and the bridesmaids and the reader, Noemie who came all the way from Brussels for the wedding..

 

  The Maid of Honor, Ashley’s, mother had made the paper bouquets from the wrapping paper at Michelle’s bridal shower.  Her daughter, Hailey, was the flower girl.  The bridesmaids on either end are Debbie and Melissa .  Next to Michelle on the right is Jana and then Catherine.  On the very right is Noemie.

Here is the bride and her mother, Nola.

The bride and her brother, Matt, and with her Uncle Todd.

        

Off to bed in preparation for a big day tomorrow.

Granddaughter’s Bridal Shower

On October 19th I drove to Austin to our daughter, Nola’s, house.  From there she drove my car to Mansfield, Texas to our granddaughter, Michelle’s house.  The next day people started arriving for Michelle’s bridal shower.  Below are Cassandra, Dee, Nola, Michelle, and one of Michelle’s bridesmaids.

  

This is a better picture of the bridesmaid.  As you will see, they are all petite with long dark hair so I can’t remember their names.

The fireplace has become a place for the  grandson-in-law to be to display some of his trophies.

Here are Catherine, Kay, and another bridesmaid in Mike’s camouflage recliner.

  

In the back by the stair case are two more bridesmaids flanking their mother and a friend.  On the couch is the maid of honor’s mother, another Michelle, and a friend.

  

Kay’s daughter, Courtney,  and Cassandra on the window seat.

 

Michelle and her maid of honor, Ashley, are the only light-headed girls in the wedding.

After all the presents were opened we left them on the fireplace so that Mike could get the full impact of all the things they got.

 

Three generations, Michelle, me, and Nola.

 

Here is Michelle with all of her attendants.  Such pretty girls.

Here is Michelle with her cousin, Cassandra.

  

Catherine, Cassandra, and Nola.

     

Here are some of the decorations that were on the kitchen pass-through.

   

We were concerned that Linus and Snoopy would act up during the shower but as you can see, Linus slept through part of it.

This is a view out the front door towards the lake.

 

There is a nice place for a bonfire.

 

Jena and Kyle visiting.  The previous owners of the house left all of the Texas decorations.

   

Even the bar stools have a Texas star on them.

 

Sunday morning Michelle and Hailey, the flower girl, carved a pumpkin.  Michelle helped but Hailey did most of the work.

Before Nola and I left on Sunday we went by the school where Michelle teaches.  I hope she got her bulletin board skills from me.

     

They have at least one lizard in an aquarium.

 

This technology is amazing.  She can project from her computer to this interactive screen that you can even write on.  I wish I had something this cool when I was teaching.

I spent Sunday night with Nola before driving home on Monday.  It was a fun weekend. 

Seven Days at Sea

Here are some pictures from our seven days at sea.  You will notice that most of them were taken at dinner with various dinner partners.  I got the names and contact information on some of them and then promptly lost it.  Oh well, we enjoyed their company anyway.

This is  the waiter that served us the majority of the time.  Since we were on “Any Time” dining we sat at several different tables with different groups of people.

  

Janet and Marjorie from England were typically at the same table.

Here are some more towel animals.  First a turtle

  

and then a swan.

    

We did sit out by the pool one day with Forest and Kim from San Antonio.  They were always with us  at the blackjack tables in the evenings.

 

This couple only joined us one evening.

 

Bernie and his wife sat with us several different evenings.

 

Here we are again

 

Here is our Cruise director announcing the evenings entertainment.

The entertainment that night was a concert violinist who had performed for us another night.  He was excellent.

 

Another towel creature.  This time it was a stingray.

   

I think this was the woman whose name was Nell and her husband.  My memory is so short.  They ate with us a few times too.

 

We had a production show this night.  It was the music of the 60’s and 70’s.

 

This was the metal sculpture in the atrium.

They had put together a choir from people on the cruise.  They serenaded us one afternoon.  They were pretty good for the short time they had to prepare.

    

This couple also ate with us several times.  They were former New Yorkers now from Florida.

  

The wait staff also serenaded us one evening.

  

And there was a parade of nations with the flags of the different nations that the crew represented.

 

Towards the end all of the crew were represented in the theatre.

   

Our towel that night was a frog.

  

Along about Wednesday my throat started getting sore.  I attributed it to the dry air on the ship.  By Thursday it was even sorer and by the time we got on the airplane in Fort Lauderdale on Friday  it was very sore. 

I spent a miserable night in Austin at Nola’s and then we took Trouble and headed back to Aransas Pass.  I continued to get sicker until I went to the doctor on Monday.  I spent the next week and a half getting well.  My excuse for not posting these sooner. :-)