We left Tuesday, May 4th after John mowed one last lawn. We had our “new-to-us” Suburban packed to the gills, but didn’t need the rack that attaches to the trailer hitch we had borrowed just in case. We hit Atlanta right before noon, but had no problems. We just stayed in the HOV lanes pretty much straight through town. After Birmingham, AL, we headed north to my friends’ house. We did take a small side trip to a covered bridge I found on the map which turned out to be lovely.
We got to the Siebert’s house around 6:00pm, I thought. I had forgotten about the time change – it was only 5:00pm! LOL That meant we had an extra hour for the children to play outside, the man to talk, and the women to chat and cook. We had baked potatoes for dinner with ground venison, onions, mushrooms, greens, cheese, and other toppings. It was a lovely evening! The boys slept on blow up mattresses in the boys’ room. In the girls’ room, Sarah slept in one girl’s bed (she slept on the floor) and Bekah slept in her port-a-crib. John and I shared the living room.
The next morning, we were up and out early. We awoke in Alabama, had breakfast in Mississippi, lunch in Tennessee, snack in Arkansas, and dinner in Missouri. Our snack in Hardy, Arkansas was nice because we found a lovely park with a playground. The children had fun playing on the playground and walking by the river before loading back into the ‘Burb for the last leg of our journey. Shortly after we arrived, the children were in the pool with their cousins, having fun! After dinner in our room, they went to bed. I stayed up reading and chatting with Jill while she waited for Peter and family to arrive.
Thursday was wedding day. After breakfast in the lobby, the children went back in the pool and I went to work ironing our wedding clothes. Once I finished that, we got showered and got ready and for the “non-rehearsal” luncheon. Jill had the great idea to have everyone give gifts to the happy couple that they thought would be needed to be a member of their new family. We gave a copy of the Princess Bride DVD, which every good Crum and Moir can quote by heart. Jill had gotten Subway sandwiches for the luncheon and ordered some FG-acceptable ones just for our clan. Yum!
After lunch, we went shopping at Wal-Mart, took a drive to the wedding venue, and then went to the local battlefield, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. It was a Civil War battlefield and we learned about the battle at the Visitor’s Center. Then we drove through the park and stopped for some sandwiches before going back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.
The wedding was on the second floor of a converted barn. It was just right for this wedding. It was a celebration of Nathaniel, Katie, their love, and mostly, of the Wedding that this was a faint copy of – the Wedding-to-come of the Church to Christ!
The reception was in the same space as the wedding, with the tables and chairs moved while we were outside getting pictures taken. They had country music performed by the bride’s brother and his friends. Johnathan also sang a number that he wrote that was sweet which compared Nathaniel to a bear and Katie to a bird. The food was desserts and my children were very happy with homemade cookies and Teddy Grahams. Mostly, they played outside with the other children who were there. Sarah was very sweet and watched Peter’s girls and as well as Rebekah. Another highlight of the reception was having everyone’s pictures taken with props the photographer provided. I can’t wait to see how they turned out!
Here is a picture Lauren took of Sarah, Lauren, me, and Rebekah.
We went home shortly after the bride and groom left. Back at the hotel, I tried to quickly get everything organized for the next day so we could be out early the next morning. While we didn’t leave as early as hoped, we did get on the road by 8:00am, set to drive 9.5 hours to another family’s house for a stop-over before finishing the trip home Saturday. Once on the road, John decided it would best if we just drove straight home that night. Sarah was coming down with a cold and everyone had been exposed to chicken pox, so we didn’t want to infect the family we were supposed to visit. We didn’t get home until 1:00am! Still, we were home and happy to sleep in our own beds. After all that driving, I sure am glad the next wedding is in Greenville!
One adventure I forgot to include was stopping at the Arkansas Welcome Center in Mammoth Spring, AR. The Welcome Center had clean restrooms and a lovely picnic area. There were also two water falls at opposite ends of a small lake. It took me a few seconds to remember where we were and conclude that it was a spring-fed lake. The water was very clearn and blue and looked very tempting. Until I got closer and saw a snake. Ever try to run without touching the ground? We saw about seven snakes at that stop. Yuck! We also saw lots of geese, ducks, pigeons, and even a few muskrats. Still didn't make up for the snakes. I don't like snakes.
