We had Hubbells coming in from South, East and West, Pivecs returning from the desert and Bradens from the North.
My niece K and her family rented a lakeside home on Minnetonka for the week and much fishing and boating took place. I never had time to run out to see it but nearly everyone else in the family spent an afternoon or evening out on the deck or the boat, including Ty and Babalouie, who fished with some of his favorite uncles.
JP came in and stayed with Mom, so he was her official chauffeur for all the family festivities, not just Father's Day. Margy came in a few days earlier than her boys did. Even Logan, who has finally started touring, didn't book a show for the weekend so he could come to Zack's wedding.
Logan quit school one semester away from a degree when he realized what he really wanted was to become a sound engineer. He went off and learned that, did an internship in Nashville and was offered a job as soon as he got credentialed. He began his career in Music City the very month the Wuhan flu shut the entire world down. He hung on like everyone else and now that things are opening up, has begun to tour with bands. We're all very excited to hear stories of life on the road as a music professional!
Although Logan did not reprise his rock star persona (he blew the roof off the prairie when he took the stage at Tyler and Megan's wedding 11 years ago) he did fix the giant bluetooth speaker we used for music on Saturday by turning on the microphone.
Thursday the equipment for the reception began to arrive at Ty's place. Jay and I went down to help. The beer truck, tents, tables and chairs all needed to be directed. Sara (the bride) was worried about the weather forecast. We hadn't seen so much as a cloud since April but the forecast said there was more than a 50% chance of rain on Saturday. I tried to assure her that our guests (80% of whom were Hubbells or Pivecs) wouldn't be deterred by a little rain but she said she'd stress out until we had a plan B in place. Her friends came up with a plan B.
Then we rolled on up the high way to my daughter Katie's house where the first big party of the week took place. Katie threw 50 brats on the grill and opened her house to all the visiting relatives. It was the first big party in her new house and I must say, her place may be even better than Ty's for a big bash! So many different gathering spaces, indoors and out, all flowing seamlessly into each other. Jay and I didn't stay too long. As we drove home, we caught sight of a giant, orange moon peeking over the eastern horizon. It was so beautiful that when we got off the highway, we drove around our neighborhood looking for somewhere to watch the moon rise. We found it at the northwestern corner of Kenny park, a few blocks from our house. The west side of Kenny is high on a hill and no trees obstructed our view of the giant, pumpkin colored moon as it cleared the horizon. It was so cool! We drove slowly away and happened to pass our nephew's house. In the dusk, we caught sight of him in his front yard, so Jay stopped and I rolled my window down and yelled "Hey! Are you trying to get a look at the moon?"
I'd forgotten to take into account the fact that folks in Minneapolis are pretty on edge these days and a man standing in his front yard at dusk, seeing a big dark SUV screech to a halt while a voice shouts something from the murky interior isn't exactly a welcome event. I scared the crap out of him. Good thing he wasn't a cop or I'd probably be dead. As it is, we all had a good laugh.
Strange times we're living in.
Friday was the rehearsal. It was another hot, sunny day in a two month long string of relentlessly hot, sunny days. Down at Ty's, we got things ready.
The rehearsal was at 5 pm at a beautiful church on the east side of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, traffic is back to normal so getting there from across the metro wasn't the easiest thing for everyone. Katie, Josie and Boopityboop had been out at Minnetonka, on the far west side of the metro and although they gave themselves plenty of time to get across town by 5, they ran into the church with both little girls still wearing their swim suits and Katie and Josie frantically cramming the beautiful white eyelet sundresses over their heads. BoopityBoop were flower girls and took their roles very seriously. Katie and Josie were both bridesmaids but having done it before, were not quite so intense. After the procession, the flower girls came and sat with me. After a few minutes, they both said they needed to use the bathroom, so I took them out.
"Nana, I really need to get out of my swimsuit." Boopity said.
"Yes," said Boop. "I want underwear."
We went and found their Mom's swimbag and found not only undies but the beautiful shoes they hadn't had time to put on. As every girl knows, you can't really have fun until you know your outfit is perfect. We fixed it all.
After the ceremony had been rehearsed and we all knew what to do, the party rolled on down the hill to the pub where we had the groom's dinner. A fab time was had by all.
We were ready for the big day.
Or so we thought.