Wedding Weekend

My hubby's brother got married this past weekend so we packed the kids up and flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul for the weekend.  I know, I know, I swore after our last trip that we would never fly with children again, but it was important for us to be there and a 4 day road trip was out of the question!

Let me tell you, it was a JAM PACKED weekend.  Here are the highlights:

Friday - Left for airport at 4am.  1st flight went well - Rafael fell asleep, Michaela played with ipad (sweet glorious ipad!) and our flight was right on time.  And then we landed.  Our layover in Chicago was BARELY long enough for us to run from one terminal to the other but we made our flight just fine.  2nd flight was better than expected as well, especially since Philip's mom and brother connected on that flight as well so Michaela was able to chat with her Grandma a bit.  We got our rental, ran some errands, checked into our hotel, and spent the evening at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Saturday - We spent ALL DAY at the wedding.  We had to be at the church by 10am for pictures (both Philip and Michaela were in the bridal party), then we ate lunch there before the wedding at 2pm. 

What a cute little Flower Girl!

Our attempt at a family photo.  Notice that I'm the only one looking at the camera. :P

Michaela is not super photogenic, let me tell you that.  Getting her to smile for the photographer was like pulling teeth.  I had to bribe her with endless rounds of snacks and candy to even get her to sit still! 

With the bride and other flower girls.  Notice she's not smiling even a tiny bit!

It was a really long time for the little ones to be hanging out but thankfully they had a very well stocked nursery/playroom for the kiddos.

Bribe snack time!

Taking a break from her fancy dress after lunch.

The wedding was beautiful and the bride and groom looked SO happy!  Michaela did a great job walking down the aisle by herself and throwing petals and as soon as the ceremony started she promptly fell asleep in the lap of my new sister-in-law's mom.

The reception was wonderful too.  The food was delicious and the kids had a blast dancing the night away.  The only bad part was that my contacts decided they had had enough and I had to throw them away.  (Meaning I was blind for most of the evening!).  The kids slept like rocks that night!

Michaela dancing with her daddy.

And dancing with her Grandma

Bride and Groom, Philip's brother Peter, and mom Que.

Rafael's getting down on the dance floor with his cousin and sister.

Sunday - We got up early to go to Mass, and then spent the rest of the day at the bride's parents house as the bride and groom opened presents and the family all hung out.  We put the kids down for a nap at one point, and had a very relaxing, very nice day.  By the time we got back to the hotel that evening, we were all exhausted from our long weekend!

Monday - We woke up, ate breakfast, and took a leisurely stroll around the lake that was across the street from our hotel before checking out.  We took the kids to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul to tire them out for our flights that evening.  They had so much fun!  This was easily the best Children's Museum we've been to so far! 

We made our way back to the airport (after I had a tiny fender bender with the rental car.  Ooops!) and caught our 7pm flight.  This flight was a little bit harder since it was late and the kids were so exhausted, but still SOOOOO much better than the ones last year!  We didn't get in until midnight and promptly fell asleep the second we got home.  It was a great weekend, but man, I need a bit of recovery time!