Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wedding/hiking weekend

Last weekend we attended the wedding of my best friend from high school (and before and beyond!), Meghan. She and Dan have been dating for about 10 years now and we were all so excited to see them finally say "I do." And we had a blast at Starved Rock, a state park in Illinois where the festivities were held. We staying in the lodge on site, hiked on Saturday morning, hit a couple wineries and then had a ton of fun at the wedding and reception. A full weekend, but very cool. We're already making plans to return to Starved Rock during the fall or winter months, when I'm sure the scenery is amazing.
Here's a picture of Meghan and I with the belle of the rehearsal dinner, Ellie :)


And Ellie hamming it up at the reception Saturday. She was a bit fussy during the ceremony, requiring Brian and I to spend most of our time out of the seats and carrying her around. But Ellie had fun and ate quite a bit at the reception. She then went off to bed and my mom stayed with her while Brian and I got to dance and enjoy the rest of the party. Thanks, mom!
While I helped Meghan get ready on Saturday, Brian took Ellie for a dip in the hotel pool. He did the trick where you blow on her face to make her hold her breath and then dunked her in the water a few times. I'm not sure if she loved it, but Brian said she never fussed — well, except for when he finally decided pool time was over and got her out. I think we've got a little fish on our hands!


Since Ellie woke us all up early on Saturday morning, we took advantage and hit the hiking trails near the lodge before it got to hot. The trails were awesome and we explored a couple miles, but we could have spent hours out there.We took turns carrying Ellie in the baby bjorn, since the trails and stairs wouldn't have allowed for the stroller. It worked really well, but my back was sore later on from hauling around our big baby girl!
Ellie snoozed part of the way home from the hike, which was very cute. I guess the fresh air and early rising caught up with her.

Oh, and here's another cute one from the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. Ellie sitting with Meghan's mom, Penny (left), and friend Betsy, learning how to play the spoons at a young age. If we keep hanging out with Meghan's family and crew, I'm sure Ellie will learn to be quite musical. What a fun weekend and crowd!

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