We got home yesterday after five days in Virginia. My sister's wedding was fun and went off without a hitch (pun intended). It was held at the Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave, just a block away from the White House. It's Capital Suite was 2,000 sq feet of opulence, and the location of the ceremony.
My godfather, Richard, performed the ceremony at 5:00, and by 5:30, we 40 guests were all toasting the happy couple with champagne. Katy wore an elegant cream-colored dress and Erik wore a black suit, very light pink shirt and a cool pink tie. We all posed for the obligatory pictures, and ate delicious crab balls my Uncle John had prepared. We also cracked open a bunch of wine, beer and liquor.
At 6:30, we went downstairs to the Occidental Restaurant, and up to the private President's Room. Five tables were set up for a four course dinner, with wine included. The first course was a delicious lobster bisque. Then a choice of either a caeser salad or baby spinach. Entrees were either sea bass, a pork chop or filet mignon. Colleen and I got the filet, and, evidently, it was the right choice. Dessert was a choice of either vanilla ice cream with seasonal berries, or chocolate hazelnut cake. It was all scrumptuous. After a half dozen heartfelt toasts, and Katy and Erik's first dance (danced to a group sung You Are My Sunshine), it was 9:00 and we moved the party to bar in The Willard, called the Round Robin.
About 30 people went to the bar, while some of the local folks called it a night. Colleen and I took full advantage of Katy's offer to drive our rental car back the next morning (she and Erik stayed in the Capital Suite, of course). So, we stayed at the bar drinking until almost midnight and took a cab home. Ugh. When the kids woke us up at 6:30 the next morning, I was in BAD shape. MUCH white wine and then several beers will do that to you if you forget to drink copious amounts of water and take aspirin before heading to bed. It took until about 1:00 in the afternoon to start feeling like myself.
Katy and Erik stopped off with the car, and had lunch with us at my parent's house. We relived the evening before, and laughed about some drunken gaffes, including one from me. I learned I bear-hugged Erik's father at the bar, only to hear from Erik at lunch that his dad is not a hugging type. Cringe.
We watched the SuperBowl with our good friends that evening. Some of you know MSL from the comment section. He and his wife have a daughter Liam's age, and we all had a great time catching up with each other. It's one of life's greatest benefits to have friends like MSL, where you can go months or years without seeing each other but still pick up right where you left off the last time. I suppose this blog helps with that too. We were pleased to catch the end of the game with my dad back at my parent's house, and pleased to see the Patriots win. Quite a time for New England sports fans. Red Sox and Patriots. I was amazed at the inefficient time management by the Eagles at the end of the game. Down 10 with 4:30 left, they acted like it was early in the second quarter. Long huddles, long snap counts, receivers walking back from their routes. Unbelievable.
The next morning, we took off at 5:15 a.m. to catch a 7:30 flight out of Dulles Airport -- about 35 minutes from my parent's house in Alexandria, VA. All flights were on time and half-full, so we had a pretty easy time of it with a 4 and 2 year old. Plenty of room to strecth out and take a real nap, and Alaska Airlines' Dig
E players (personal DVD machines) made for happy kids and happy parents. It's good to be home, but I have to admit, not so good to be back at work. Just five days away, and I was able to forget all the stress and demands of the office. Sigh.
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