Jan 5, 2019 Saturday

So the biggest reason we decided to travel down South this past Christmas was to attend my neice Sarah Bozyk's wedding with my mom. Since she could not travel on her own, I needed to travel with her, and I really needed the support of the rest of the family for such a big trip. I really thought it was important that Grandma Bozyk attend her first Granddaughter's wedding. And we were all very happy to go along!

I was not going to attempt to fly since I know my parents never enjoyed taking a plane unless they really had to because of limited time or distance. And with mom's dementia, I was not taking on the added stress of going through the airport. So we decided to take the Auto train, but it only goes to Orlando. Still closer to New Orleans where the wedding was to be held. But still a 10 hour drive from Florida. (I needed Tom!). And we were traveling with my van and the trailer with mom's scooter(definitely needed Tom and Scott!).

So since we were headed to Florida, we felt compelled to visit Disney. We just had a hard time deciding which Disney park to visit. We all love DisneyWorld, but figured it would be just too busy for my mom at Christmas time. So we ended up splitting up with the kids going to DisneyWorld and Tom, Mom and I at Animal Kingdom. I think we all made a good choice. And we all enjoyed Epcot on Christmas Eve and Sea World with our yearly passes. And we had to travel down to Venice/Nokomis area to visit with Tom's family and visit the Bozyk house which is up for sale. So on our way back to New Orleans, we had to stop into Tampa and Busch Gardens since we have passes. So it was quite a trip going and coming!

On the day of the wedding, Allison and Scott were up at 3am to catch an Uber ride to the airport. Fortunately only 10 mins drive from our hotel. They had a 6am flight to Baltimore. Tom was happy with the price. Scott was flying to Baltimore with Allison, then switching planes to fly to Grand Rapids. Scott started back at school on Monday and Allison was returning to work. They had a great flight, and Allison waited with Scott until his next flight left. Then she Ubered to her car parked at the Northrop lot. She stopped in to our neighbors to pick up Cookie. They were happy to hand her over as she had developed a terrible ear infection and had to be taken to the vet.

Meanwhile, I made my mom a hair appointment Saturday morning on the day of the wedding. I enjoyed speaking to mom's hairdresser whose son was flying up to Baltimore to interview with NSA after graduating in computer programming at LSU. She had lots of questions about Baltimore!  Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at the same restaurant, Zeas, where we met the rest of the Bozyk family for dinner on Thursday night. We even had the same waitress!  Then it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for the wedding! I got mom and I dressed while Tom got ready in his own hotel room and we were off. We were plenty early for the wedding which took place in the evening at 6:00pm.  We were not sure about parking in the city and had to unload Mom's scooter. Even though we were early, it was nice to sit in the beautiful church, speak to the wedding coordinator and her husband while watching the guests arrive. We decided to skip walking up the aisle with Mom(it was a long aisle!). Before the wedding began, we had a quick chance to speak to Sandra Bozyk's sisters. Then the music started! Sarah and Patrick had a big wedding party-9 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen!  The girls wore blue dresses with pink shawls to match the pale pink in Sarah's beautiful wedding dress. And all the men wore white gloves and vests. Very formal. The ceremony was perfect, and then we stayed for family photos. Patrick's side has a very large family!

The bridal party headed for rental buses and Patrick and Sarah took a ride to their reception in an antique car. We loaded up mom and her scooter and headed to the plantation where the reception was being held. We had to park in the back since the bride and groom had just arrived and took a horse and carriage ride to the front door. We were coming in the back entrance when they shot off fireworks for the new married couple. The Oak Plantation had been restored into multiple rooms and dinner was served by waters/waitresses Tapas style with Gumbo, Fried shrimp, ham and roast beef, sweet potato casserole, small pizzas and so many other tasty treats we couldn't eat them all! They had a live band, open bar and a beautiful wedding cake along with mini desserts and coffee drinks. We would have loved to sit outside by the pool for a quiet place to chat with family and friends, but it was much too cold.  So we moved to the front of the house and caught up with Dave and Sandra B, as well as Christopher B. before heading out with Mom B since 11pm rolled around quickly.

We had to head out on the road on Sunday morning for the long drive with Mom back to the Orlando area to catch our train leaving on Monday afternoon.

It was a beautiful wedding and the bride and groom were heading to Costa Rica for their honeymoon. We were so happy to have attended their special event. Just wish we could have had more time to visit with family and their friends. And so happy Mom B was able to attend the event.

Also wish Allison and Scott could have joined us that evening, but they needed to get back home and to school and we did not want to have any concerns with possible bad weather. Scott took an Uber back to school from Grand Rapids and was able to pick up his books and get his laundry done before Spring Term started on Monday. This semester Scott is taking Calculus, Physics and its lab as well as 2 Engineering classes covering CAD and Intro to Manufacturing Engineering. He hit the ground running on Monday morning while Tom, Mom B and I were driving through Florida to the train station.