Our Trip Part 6, The Wedding

The whole reason we went to California in the first place was to see my beautiful Aunt Rosie get married. She's only 6 years older than I am, so we've grown up like sisters. In her wedding, I was a bridesmaid, Emily the flower girl and Ben the ring bearer.

I was nervous. I thought Emily would cooperate, but Ben. Ben is always questionable.

The rehearsal went okay. Ben ran down the aisle, which I figured he would. He rarely walks. Emily played her role perfectly. She held Ben's hand and kept up with his running. I was still holding my breath.

The dinner afterwards was exhausting. Ben was in rare form. We heard many people say they have never seen a kid so unwilling to give in and fall asleep. That's our boy. The dinner was spent passing Ben back and forth between David and me (I, me, whatever, grammar is not my thing). He cried, he complained, he made life difficult for both of us. Emily, on the other hand, abandoned us. Given that our plate was full with Ben, this was a welcome relief. She pulled up a chair at the head grown up table between my Dad and Suzy. Apparently, she was the champion eater at the table. She really hadn't had a fell meal in a week. Too many distractions. She downed most of her salad, half of her minestrone soup, bruschetta and even 4 calamari and that was all before the main course of spaghetti and meatballs. She is the most adventurous 4 year old eater that I've ever seen. She does not get this from me. I used to get cottage cheese and a roll at the buffet when I was little.


The big day arrived. We went swimming in the morning and all came back to the room to get ready.

Here's Ben looking so handsome.


A limo picked up all the girls in the wedding. This was Emily's first limo ride.


Before the wedding. Emily you need to smile.


Much better.


Oh brother. Ben is acting up. I'm trying to coax him into going down the aisle.


They made it! Yes, they ran a bit and Ben wouldn't hold his pillow, but they went down the aisle and nobody had a fit. I exhaled.


Me and my girl


After the ceremony, Ben was clearly being a boy.


There he is in his dirty suit.


No, it's not the cast of Soprano's. Here's my Dad with his brothers and sisters and my Grandma.



David took the kids back to the hotel to rest while we finished taking pictures. Emily was crying that she was tired and Ben was playing on the ground with the leaves. I figured they needed a little down time before the reception at the Beverly Hills Hotel....