Yesterday we went to my cousin Al's wedding. Congratulations Al and Jenny! We were only going to go to the ceremony and not the reception and dance because I was worried that the venue would be too smoky. I didn't want to expose young James to that environment. I was talked into going to the reception and dance though. So, essentially we crashed the wedding since we RSVP'd for the ceremony only. I wasn't going to go but my Aunt Susan assured us that it would be okay. I sure hope Al and Jenny feel the same way! It was a really nice evening and Annika had a great time. I mean a GREAT time. First she ate almost all of Gramme's dinner for her. Then she devoured one and a half pieces of cake courtesy of Gramme. And then she danced her little butt off for two hours straight! As soon as the music started, Annika headed for the dance floor and she didn't leave until Kris bribed her with ice cream that it was time to go home - at 10pm! He told her that we would stop for ice cream on the way home. We didn't, but it at least got her out the door without a total meltdown tantrum. We are awesome parents, aren't we? The dancing was so cute though! I wish we had a video camera. I took some pictures but I'm not sure if any of them turned out. First she was dancing with my cousin's daugher, Lindsay. They were holding hands and turning in circles. Then she was only holding one of Lindsay's hands and her other hand was holding her dress up, Cinderella style, as they twirled. Too precious! Then she played chase with a little toddler boy whom I didn't know. Then she joined the bigger group of kids by the stage. And that's where she stayed for the remainder of the time twirling and twirling and twirling. How that girl does not get dizzy or fall over, I do not know. Once I tried to dance with her and was rebuffed. Once Kris tried to dance with her and was yelled at "No!" Gramme got to dance with her a little bit and she and Kris did dance (if by dancing you mean holding hands and hopping in a circle) once. The rest of the time she danced (twirled over and over and over again) by herself. There was one little girl that she wanted to dance with (hold hands and twirl) but that little girl was too busy running around and repeatedly turned Annika down. That was actually hard to watch for me but Annika didn't seem to mind. She just went back to twirling by herself instead. I, however, wanted to yell at that little girl "dance with my daugher right this minute!" though. A little protective of my daughter, I am.

And James slept through the entire affair. He slept through the ceremony. After the ceremony we took him out of his car seat so Krystle and Gramme could hold him. That woke him up and he was hungry so Krystle and I went downstairs in the church so I could feed him. Then we drove to the reception and James fell asleep again and didn't wake up until 10:30pm, on our drive home. Kris pulled over into a parking lot so I could hop into the back seat and feed James (very awkwardly, hunched over the car seat). And then he went back to sleep and woke up again sometime around 1am to eat again. He loved being held most of the evening by Gramme, I think. Auntie Krystle also got some good quality James time in. I held him for a little while as did a few other people. It was a nice evening and I'm glad we went.