Vacation posts #4 - The wedding and heading home

A lot happened, and I'm slow getting it all out. I should probably separate the wedding post and the heading home post into 2 blogs, but I just want to finish up. Other stuff going on, and I procrastinate enough without adding excuses to do it more.

All the pictures we took from the wedding are over on my Facebook. Robert had the camera most of the time since I was running around helping to get stuff going.

As with all weddings there were things that 'went wrong' but it wasn't much. The sound system at The Peacock House didn't want to work properly so there wasn't much music. And things were a tad unorganized leading up to the wedding which was rather stressful. I won't talk about all the drama, but lets just say I've had my drama fill for the year.

The Peacock House was lovely. It is an older estate and I love the history you can feel in older homes. I absolutely LOVED the kitchen and the house, and did daydream about it being my house and my kitchen. I do that with houses that 'speak' to me, they're usually older houses. Unfortunately they do not have a web page. They have a myspace page, but that doesn't show a lot of information about the house.

The day was very busy start to finish and I ran around a lot checking on things, getting stuff needed, doing hair (maid-of-honor's and the flower girls). By the end of the day I was seriously pooped, and we still had to drive back to Orlando for our flight home the next morning.

After the wedding and clean up (Which was silly in my opinion. If you rent a place and pay extra for decorating, the least they can do is clean up the decorations, do dishes, and throw out your garbage bags from the event for you.) we headed back to Papa's house to clean up and say our good-byes. Our flight was at 11 am from Orlando, which was 5+ hours away. We left around 12:30 and I was determined to stay up with Robert so he wouldn't have to make the drive alone. But I have a problem. I fall asleep very easily in the car on long drives. I'm not sure if it would be different if I was driving, but in the passenger seat I don't make it long. The kids passed out within 30 minutes of us driving. I made it 2 hours. Adam woke up and stayed awake for a bit talking with Robert as I was dozing. I was fighting it so I didn't even get too rested - and I was able to stay awake when Robert woke me to help with directions around 4 am. But other than that I failed. I feel bad about it still.

We made it to the airport about 6:30 and headed to the food court for breakfast. Ordering from McDonalds when you're exhausted is hard. My brain would not function, but the nice lady was patient and helpful - and probably repressing a laugh. The food court in the Orlando airport is nice, and it has this ginormous beautiful aquarium to enjoy...and amuse children.

After breakfast, we went to our gate. Carus and I cuddled. We were sleepy. Adam played his DS.

Poor Robert passed out. At that point he had been up over 24 hours.

On the plane we split up again - Adam with Robert so Robert could sleep the most. Carus with me - and I still got some sleep too. Our kids are really well behaved and I remind myself that when they start getting frustrating or trying. We got to New Orleans for our 2-hour layover (the airport smelled like a nursing home), had lunch, browsed the stores, waited and waited some more and finally got on the plane - our last plane for the trip, but not the last stop. There was a small stop in Pheonix for an exchange of some passengers. Thankfully not us because it was 112 in Pheonix that day. And then it was to home. I have never been so excited to see Oregon. I know I complain about this state sometimes, and while I'm still not feeling this state, for now it is my home and I'm fairly comfortable here.

Oh yea, my flip flops broke just before boarding the plane in New Orleans so I rode barefoot all the way home - and our attempt at fixing them didn't work and I had to walk through PDX barefoot. I felt so redneck. As soon as we got our baggage I yanked some shoes out and felt better, even though like 100 people were looking at me funny.

Barbara picked us up - after she found the arrivals line - and took us home where our house sitter/my friend Tara had dinner waiting for us.

And these:

I cried. Tara is a good friend.

I try to think that from each experience you learn something and the most stressful/frustrating experiences teach you the most the quickest.

From this trip I learned:

• Outdoor weddings are not always a good idea; bugs, heat, and humidity suck when in dressy clothes.
• Two 'planners' are not good for one event. I was trying my hardest to surpress my urge to plan since it was supposed to be in the hands of someone else. However, that planner wasn't much of a planner. She wanted to plan, but couldn't quite get organized enough to get things done (until the last possible moment).
• It isn't my responsibility to make sure things that are supposed to be taken care of are taken care of.
• Try not to travel by pulling an all-nighter.
• Great friends are hard to come by, don't let go of them when you find them!
• There is no place like home, even if home isn't all you want it to be.
• Always watch where you stand - do not stand near fire ants or other biting bugs.