Once again, Allison and I just returned from a trip-this time to Indiana for Stacey Seitz's wedding to Matt Draper. Stacey is the daughter of Tom's brother Mark and his wife Linda. Stacey just graduated from nursing school at Purdue University in Indy. Her brother Eric is still attending school there as well. Now she is off on her honeymoon to Hawaii and then back to their new house and off to her new job!
We had a wonderful, quick visit to the Seitz family out in Indy. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. We drove half way to Indy from Baltimore on Thursday night. Allison had to miss school on Friday, but Scott was done for the year. We also decided to take Cookie on this trip. She is a great car rider, but not so great in hotels we discovered. She gets a little excited if she hears a noise and started barking! Tom had to sleep next to her to keep her quiet through the night. So we did not get much sleep on Thursday, and then we finished our drive on Friday(with a quick shopping stopover at the JC Penney outlet in Columbus). We always manage to find something we can use there.
We arrived in time on Friday to unpack the car, change and head over to the rehearsal dinner. It was quite a large group and we all enjoyed the food(especially the cheesecake!) at a family style Italian restaurant. Saturday was the wedding scheduled at 230 pm. Stacey was beautiful, and so were all her bridesmaids in bright, hot pink. The men looked terrific in their tuxes. The wedding was very nice-the rain was even timed during the ceremony so we did not get drenched when we came out. After some quick family photos(for us anyway), we stopped back at Mom and Dad Seitzs house for quick hors d'ouvres and to chat with extended family members(that I invited over to share our wine!). It was fun to see everyone again since we figured we haven't been out to Indy since Thanksgiving 2008. That was the time that Scott's birthday fell directly on Thanksgiving Day and we went off and did a Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning with Mark Seitz and family. We were also hunting for a dog at the local pounds that trip.
Anyhow, we then headed out to the Wedding reception for the evening at a local museum, Conner Prairie. Dinner was wonderful and we especially enjoyed the cupcakes afterwards(a new wedding trend rather than big wedding cake). Notice a trend on appreciation for the desserts! Yum. The reception was fun, Allison caught the bouquet(she loved it) and we got a few dances in until the power went out! There were a few big storms moving through the area and the wind apparently knocked down some power lines. It actually made for quite a romantic mood since the candles on all the tables were still lit. But it did not last(and either did the air conditioning it seemed!). Our little ones had had enough, so we headed back to the Seitz house. We shared the house with Linda's sister, husband and their daughter Allyson visiting from Michigan. Their Allyson just finished the dietitian program at MSU. They could not stay long since they had to head back to Michigan and ferry their son off to an orientation program on Monday at Ferris State.
My Allison and I were in the same predicament. We had to fly back on Sunday so Allison could go to school. She had some studying and homework to keep her busy over the weekend, but at least she did not have to study for finals! Not yet anyhow. We took off late Sunday evening so we could spend some time on Sunday visiting with family. We got to meet Gus, Tom's sister Susan's new dog-a ridgeback that is as big as a small horse! I think Cookie was a bit intimidated, but they very nicely shared chewing on a bone.
So after dinner, Tom and Scott dropped us off at the airport. You're right Dad Seitz, the Indy airport is very nice. It did not take Allison and I very long to check in and the extra time in the airport gave Allison time to work on her math review packet. Unfortunately a large storm was coming and Southwest airlines decided to out race it(much to my and Allison's disappointment!). We are not one for bumpy flights and I was not sure how this was going to turn out. The storm had already hit when we taxied out to the runway with rain crashing down sideways! The crew got us up and out of the storm pretty quick though and it was beautiful blue skies and pink clouds all the rest of the way to Baltimore. We flew in over the Baltimore Harbor at night and made a turn over the Francis Scott Key bridge. It was fun looking at the places we had just sailed by the weekend before. So we managed to get back home a bit early which was better since Allison had a full week of classes. Tom and Scott are staying in Indy to visit with Tom's family since Scott is off school and summer camps don't start until the 21st of June.
Scott enjoyed his last week of school. On the very last day the class all went to a pool party in the afternoon. Sadly it was the one day it was cold and rainy, but they all still managed to have a good time. And a very nice parent took Scott and dropped him off at home with Allison so Tom and I did not have to miss work. We also enjoyed the last Cub Scout Pack meeting of the year complete with campfire and awards and patches. Tom was off to Allison's field hockey game that night. I missed cub scout training session though. Instead, Allison and I were enjoying a mother daughter evening getting a manicure and pedicure for the wedding. Allison especially enjoyed having her toes decorated with sparkles and flowers painted on the big toes! (Her first pedicure!) I still need volunteer training though since I am helping out this summer at Cub Scout camp. This will be Scott's last cub scout year as next year he will bumping up to an official scout.
I will let you know how Allison and I survive her last week of school! Kathleen