A Colorado Wedding

Just in case you are wondering: This vacation beat Disney. Hands down. So much so that I will need to break this up into multiple posts just to cover it all.

Colorado. Mountains. A wedding. Family. All of it, wonderful.

The purpose of this trip was a family wedding. Wayne's nephew, Ryan, who was an usher in our wedding 18 years ago when he was in grade school, mind you, was getting married in Fort Collins, CO. Would we be there? Absolutely.

We met his soon-to-be-wife for the first time at the rehearsal dinner the night before. She is wonderful and lovely. We met their daughter, Kya, a sweet little nearly 2-year-old who charmed everyone she met. We also met James, the son of niece Rita and husband Jason who live in New Mexico, and he also is nearly 2. All this family spread out over this immense country of ours, we hadn't realized how many years were passing between our gatherings until we saw little ones we had never met before. Family gathered from 13 states for this event, including sister-in-law Laurie from New York City. The times we get together are so rare and we were so happy to be able to visit with everyone.

We picked Laurie up from the airport and went straight to lunch.
This is what you have with lunch when you're on vacation.

And this is what you do after lunch -- re-apply your lip gloss!

The venue for the wedding was breath-taking, every detail thoughtful and meaningful.

The programs doubled as fans, which came in handy in the heat of the setting sun.

The view of the ceremony from our seats.

The ceremony took place under an angled pergola with strings of glass menagerie hanging down. The trees were strung with lights that lit small cocktail tables as evening drew near.

Glass menagerie of the pergola lit by the setting sun.

The reception area, lit by trees strung with lights, beyond the ceremony's seating.

The evening's lighting.

They were so thoughtful to offer pizza for the kids and babysitters to keep them out of trouble. Because seriously, what 6-year-old do you know craves eggplant roulade? Exactly. Except Lindsey is at that "I'm grown up now even though I'm only 10" stage, so she asked to partake in the evening meal with us, while Marissa was happy to gobble down pizza with the younger children and spend the evening running through the gardens, catching toads. 

Marissa shows us one of the 6 toads the kids caught that night.
No worries, we let them all go before they drowned in their cup houses.

Lindsey was polite as could be, sat through all the dinner courses with infinite patience and manners, and was a perfectly behaved little lady. She's growing up before my eyes.

Lindsey was thrilled to find her name on a place card.

The meal was delicious and the festivities after were of legends. Well, that part I'm not quite sure of, but I do know that dancing took place, and that is legendary to us.

Little ones danced.

Big ones danced. (And this is the best photo proof you'll get.)

And family had a wonderful time together.

(From L to R) Rita (Ryan's sister), Jason, Chelsey, Ryan

Proud parents of the groom Mark and Donna, big sister Rita with husband Jason

We spent the next day visiting with family at the hotel, which included the ever-popular pool. Oh yes, the pool, usually the best part of our kids' vacation. 

"What'd you like best about Disney?" 

The pool. 

"What'd you like about Boston?" 

The pool.

Why don't we just save all this money we're spending flying around this country of ours and build a f*cking pool. But this time?

"What'd you like best about Colorado?"

The wedding.

And THEN...the pool.

But this time, the best part about the pool was the time spent with cousins there. That was music to my ears.