Oh what a night!

A beautiful day for a wedding!

Yesterday we celebrated the marriage of two friends of ours. The wedding was in Carmel which is about an hour and a half away from where we live. Because it was on a Sunday afternoon we had debated spending the night on either end to make things easier, but ultimately decided that would only make things more complicated. So the plan was to get the boys tired out in the morning, eat lunch, and then they would sleep on the drive down since it would be during regular nap time anyway. Then they'd be well rested and in good moods for the wedding and reception. And we would change them into pajamas for the ride home since we would be leaving there around bed time and getting home between 9:30 and 10.

Burning off some energy before the ceremony.

Checking out the sheep.

It sort of worked. The boys were apparently not as tired as we thought since Jacob did not sleep at all and Alex only slept a little bit. The location was beautiful and ceremony was outside overlooking a meadow and a beach off in the distance. The boys were very excited to see the sheep in the meadow. We got there about an hour before the ceremony which was good because after being stuck in the car they had a LOT of energy to burn off before sitting quietly for the ceremony. There was a musician playing a guitar for the ceremony, which was very intriguing for both Jacob and Alex. After the first "entrance song" (when everyone but the bride was in place) Alex started clapping and said "Yay!". I think that he thought we were done. Jacob did a great job sitting quietly, but Alex and I spent most of the ceremony walking around (along with a couple other moms and small children).

We found out the bar had kid cups after Jacob spilled his drink everywhere.

The reception was wonderful! There was a big grassy hill behind the reception site and many children (and some adults) really loved running up and down said hill. The sheep in the meadow came right up to the fence which was very exciting. The tables were set up complete with highchairs and booster chairs in place. Jacob found the little cutout sheep with our names and table assignment and then proceeded to find our table for us. The boys were thrilled to find that they received small stuffed sheep as wedding favors (the adults got small jars of olallieberry jam and meyer lemon marmalade). I expect that "lamb" will now join the ranks of Jacob's snuggles as it did not leave his side for the rest of the evening. When we put Alex in his highchair he had a clear view of the wedding cake and kept saying "MMMM yummy yummy cake". He was a bit disappointed that we didn't have cake until later, but enjoyed his macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. As a side note: Jacob seems really disturbed by the idea of "chicken fingers"...he keeps looking at his hands when he hears that. I am trying to convince him it just means "big chicken nuggets", which, of course, are his favorite.

MMMM...yummy yummy cake!

The rest of the evening went as planned: the boys passed out in the car on the way home. We are all a little tired this morning but all in all we had a wonderful time.

Jacob showing off his Lamb

All sorts of fun at the reception!

Congratulations Nicole and Gilberto!