This past weekend we traveled to Virginia for a very special event. Joel's brother Jimmy got married on Sunday. Joel did a great job driving the 6 hours while Avery slept in the back and I sat next to her attempting, with no luck, to sleep myself.

We had already planned to stay at Joel's parent's house in Central Virginia, so when we got there after midnight we were all ready to crash. Avery slept with us since we were way to tired to set up the pack-n-play and she didn't mind one bit. Luckily we were in a King size bed at least.

The next morning we had breakfast and headed to Shirlington in Arlington, VA for me to visit friends and ex-coworkers and Joel to run some errands. I loved going back to visit and it had been a long time coming. Although they tried to get me to come back to work and I was tempted to start answering phones, I was more excited about reintroducing them to little Avery, who was now about 8 months older than when we'd left. Afterward I went out to lunch with a bunch of my coworker mommies and thier children and one non-mommie. It was great to catch up and have some great Mexican food that I had really missed.


That night we had a good time at the Rehearsal dinner. We enjoyed Mango Mike's, a place we'd eaten at several times while living in Virginia and also the place we had dinner with Jimmy and Stacy at the night they got engaged. We got to meet Stacy's family and see some good friends as well. Avery did a great job as it was very close to her bedtime, but we ended up boxing our entrees and deserts and headed back to the hotel.

The next day Joel took Jimmy out for his bachelor day, they had breakfast, played laser tag, arcade games and had lunch, from what I hear it was a great time for all. Avery and I got a chance to relax, Avery also got some amazing naps in too. I attribute this to the fact that the hotel room was very dark when I closed the shades.

Another eventful night was upon us. This time we were going to the "Meet-n-Greet" to meet and see family and friends. Let me tell you, this was Avery's night, all the Aunties and even some of Stacy's family were totally engrossed in little one. Rushel and Cori even had fun with her. Avery was amusing them with her new talents, waving and laughing at them, they loved it and so did she. It was a great time for Avery to get to know Joel's side of the family even more, it was nice because both his mom's side and dad's side were there. On a side note the food was yummy too and it was in our hotel so we got to stay a little past Avery's bedtime before she got too cranky. I think they all wore her out though because yet again she slept very well.

The BIG day!!! We had to set our clocks forward so we lost an hour, which totally messed with Avery's naps and my concept of timing. I was letting her sleep while I got ready and Joel was helping set things up at the wedding and then realized that I needed to wake her up if we were going to make the ceremony. She was not too happy with me tugging at her, pulling her dress on, not the best way to be woken up. But she was very content and a great baby, as usual, at the wedding and reception. We almost made Joel late but not as late as some of the family members, not mentioning any names.

The ceremony was great and the officiant was very nice and funny too. The bride and groom looked spectacular, and so did their party if I don't say so myself. (Joel was the best man and looked so handsome.) Avery did a wonderful job and played with her dolly, didn't cry but did chat quietly just a tiny bit. I did sit on the outside of the aisle though just in case, but luckily it didn't matter.

The reception was a blast, we sat at the table with the bride, groom and their party. The food was good, they had 4 different flavored cakes, which I thought was creative and Joel's dad even got in on the singing which was just great. Avery had fun seeing everyone, eating the bread and hanging out with Grand-dad. It was a great time all together. Unfortunately we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us and Joel had to work the next day so we had to leave a tad early to get on the road.

It was great to see some of Joel's family that we hadn't seen in a while. Avery got to meet lots more of her family too. It was also nice to see some friends since again, it had been quite a long time and of course it was nice to attend Jimmy and Stacy's wedding. Good luck you two!!!