"We Going To Walnut Creek, California!" (part two)

Saturday morning we woke up early and then, once we met up with the Meldrums (just down the hall from us in the hotel) we went to lunch at a BBQ place. Then we drove over to an indoor jungle gym so the boys could play and then be exhausted enough to nap before the wedding. Well, Ezra fell asleep on the way there. Stinker. So while Jesse played for a while, we sat in the lobby and held Ezra. He did wake up - just before the Meldrums left for the hotel. Oh well. Though the boys didn't play together, they both got to play and they both got to nap.

Then we went back to the hotel and got all dressed up and headed to the wedding. I wish we'd gotten a better photo of the four of us.

Thee ceremony was beautiful. I certainly haven't known Kaleb for as long or as well as Eric and Seth, but for the first few years I knew him I knew him as a committed bachelor. So to hear him read his sing song rhyming vows and a personalized version of a George Straight song, just for Ashley, made me cry. And laugh - they were both ridiculous, after all, a la Kaleb. But it was so sweet to see the two of them become husband and wife.

 Between the ceremony and the food, Ezra and Jesse went exploring. Jesse certainly was game to follow along, but I don't think he would have gone as far if Ezra hadn't goaded him into it. (Ok, goaded is harsh... but he was pretty demanding.)

After a night of dancing (all eight of us on the dance floor looked rather ridiculous, I'm sure), we headed back to our hotel room for a night of Isaac waking up every few hours. Stupidly, we didn't realize until the next day that he was teething. I guess the excuse is that he's only four and a half months old. Teething wasn't on my radar. But he was unusually difficult to put to sleep at the wedding and he was drooling a lot and gnawing excessively... Thankfully, once we got to Chico the next day we got teething tablets, which helped immensely.

Saturday morning we had to say goodbye to the Meldrums. I so wish we lived closer. Spending so much time with them made us realize how profoundly lonely we are. Both in general and for them.

It was especially sweet to watch Jesse and Ezra interact. I don't think they argued/fought once. They really enjoyed one another's company.

Then we headed back to Chico! When we got there one of Dad's old friends from high school was there, reminiscing. And then "everyone" came over for dinner again. The guys all played a few rousing games of wiffle ball and we went swimming several times. We were really grateful that it was only 95* (instead of 103* like on Wednesday and Thursday).

We took a bunch of photographs and then headed home! We got back to Tacoma in another eleven hours. Yay!