The Singletons: End of October Wrap-Up

What a busy month it has been! Almost too busy for me to get caught up on all our happenings. Last weekend, was Fall Break for school. We celebrated Andrew's 8th birthday.

We also took the boys to see "Tom Sawyer" at Actor's Theatre. They absolutely loved it!

Here's Sophie, waiting for Aunt Connie to come visit:

This past Friday, Tony took the kids to the YMCA Trunk or Treat. Rather than take a chance with the Cinderella dress so close to Halloween, I stuck Sophie in the boys' old lion costume. She loved it - of course, she thought she was the lion from Oz.

Saturday morning bright and early, we loaded in to the car and headed north. My cousin Jason was getting married near Detroit and the whole family was going. Lesson learned: no matter how much better gas mileage the little Kia car gets than the van, never take a road trip with three kids in the little Kia. Wow. Talk about 8 hours of you-know-what. Sophie was a great traveler, it was the boys sitting next to each other that was the problem.

We followed Mom and Dad on the way up, taking a nice lunch break at Cracker Barrel. The whole car situation was enhanced by the fact that I was really sick Friday night and ended up at the Urgent Care with a UTI. I felt horrible. Thank goodness for antibiotics.

We pulled into Brighton, Michigan a little before three and got checked in to our hotel. We were welcomed with a goody bag from Jason and Stef filled with things made in Michigan. Jiffy cornbread mix - who knew? We took the kids swimming for a little while before they had to get cleaned up for the wedding.

We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, which was fabulous. We may never stay anywhere else again. We had a mini-suite, which was nice for space. I didn't get very many good pictures with my camera, so when Dad shares some of his I'll post more. We cleaned up quite nicely. Look at my little model styling her boots.

Handsome guys!

So, from the get-go, we knew this was going to be a great wedding. Jason and Stefanie are lots of fun and just enjoy life. First of all, Jason's a pilot and they live near a small airport, so they held the reception in their airplane hangar. We walked in to find a Mariachi Band. Best. Wedding. Ever. Wait - it gets better - they played the wedding march. So cool. Why was I so darn traditional at my wedding?

The wedding ceremony started outside, but it began sprinkling and then full-fledged sleeting. Welcome to Michigan, right? No matter - we all headed indoors and the wedding took place on the dance floor. It was beautiful, and so much like them. Dinner was barbeque and it was delicious.
Next - a photo booth. I wish I could upload all the photo booth pics the kids took. They were so much fun. If I can figure it out, maybe I'll do a montage later.

After a good night's sleep on an amazing bed (no joke) at the hotel, we ate a great breakfast. They had omlets, sausage, gravy, biscuits, etc. Did I mention I'm a Holiday Inn fan for life. We got back on the road and headed to Ann Arbor for Mass. Tony had scoped out a little church called Old St. Patrick's. It was a country church, small and pretty. It was also very traditional. We were underdressed in jeans, and many women still covered their heads. Father said Mass at the high altar and we received communion at the kneeling rail. If we're not careful, Tony may want to move there.

On the way out of Ann Arbor, we stopped by the "Big House". Apparently the University of Michigan has the biggest stadium in the United States, the third largest stadium in the world, and is the 31st largest sports venue in the world. This is all Tony's knowledge.

We had to make a pit stop in Edinburgh on the way home - it's amazing how the outlet mall is always right there when we need a bathroom break!

In spite of my being sick and the boys arguing for 16 hours, we had a really good time. The kids were great at the wedding and really enjoyed being with their cousins. As long as they're good in public, I guess...

Today for Halloween I decided to make a special dinner. It's kind of become a tradition on holidays, and Aidan asked as we were leaving school. I came up with mini-pizzas. I used whole-wheat biscuits for the crust. The mummies were pizza sauce, string cheese and olives. The jack o lanterns are sauce, shredded cheddar and pepperoni.