Wedding in Pennsylvania

 Last weekend my cousin got married at her parent's home in Pennsylvania, north of Williamsport. It is tucked away in the mountains along this stream. The weather was simply perfect--the bluest sky I've seen this year, warm and so much sun that we all left with sunburned faces.

It was a harrowing trip Friday night. We managed to make 2 wrong turns and we have solid traffic from Annapolis to Harrisburg. I was driving while Jeremy was working. We did enjoy meeting some friends for supper and we arrived at 10:15pm to our destination. Now, we are in the boonies. No cell phone service. And it is dark. As we are driving in Aliza starts talking about wild animals and manages to scare her brother and sister so that when we walked into the hunting cabin where we were staying Anna was so scared she was shaking. And when we walked into the bedroom all 3 children declared there was no way they could sleep in the same room as a red fox hide. I removed it.

I was looking forward to a family morning before the wedding. Maybe spending some time by the stream. Unfortunately I woke up with an infection and figured out pretty quickly that I was going to be finding a doctor not playing. Since there was no cell phone reception I had to drive to where my Mom was staying to let her know and then drive to my aunt's house to get directions to an immediate care facility--half an hour away. 

I left with my written directions, my Mom's car and tears running down my face. Here we had driven 7 hours for this wedding and it was looking very unlikely that I would witness the wedding. I drove as fast as I could and was quite pleased to know that I could still follow written directions; however it was very strange not to let Jeremy know exactly where I was at all times! In the end I found an urgent care center, but it wasn't the one that my Aunt had directed me to. It was on the same road. I walked in and the waiting room was empty. I told them my story and the nurse said this was only the 2nd day they were open! I really thought maybe they were angels--it was too good to be true. They got me checked out and sent me down the road for my prescriptions. It took 10 minutes to fill the scrips. By the time I left the pharmacy it was 11:05. I pulled up to our house at 11:35, threw on a dress, slapped some make up on and arrived at the wedding at 11:40--just in time to watch the processional from the back. I couldn't believe it.

 I really wanted to start stewing on the drive back from the clinic. But I caught myself. That would be such a waste of energy on something I couldn't control. I started counting gifts instead--an empty waiting room, the blue sky and mountains, meds so I could enjoy the rest of the day, the dump truck in front of me to keep me from driving too fast.

Just after a wedding begins isn't exactly the best time to dive back into mothering responsibilities. My Mom helped Jeremy, but you know, as soon as Mommy is back on the scene everyone needs something. 

 Ah well. We survived. Josiah only fell backwards on his chair and complained very loudly about the sun hurting his eyes.

The reception was on the church grounds. There was plenty of room to run and play. And play they did. All of the children ran all afternoon. Their older cousins, Charlie and Katelyn, played so very well with them.

 

 

 My Grandma with her daughters. How special that my Grandma from Ohio could be at the wedding. I take every chance I get to see her. This weekend I knew I wanted to make sure I sat beside her and talked or listened. I got to do that.

 Josiah was sitting on my lap during the dances. I told him when he gets married I want to dance with him and I want a hug and a kiss. He said NO! So so sad. =)

 There were these 3 little girls at the reception. I'm not sure who's children they were, but they got into the candy bar. Like they made themselves at home with the candy dishes. 

 All the candy was combined and tasted. It was so much fun to scoop and pour, scoop and pour.

During clean up Jeremy took the kiddos to play in the stream. It was hot! Everyone ended up wet--very very wet.

We were at the stream for 2 hours before it was time to head to my Aunt's house for supper. Everyone was tired that night. It was a good tired. A playing outside all day and sun kissed tired.

Believe it or not...we were at the wedding and did not take one picture of the bride and groom! Pretty bad, I know!!