At 9AM, I headed out. The ride was smooth, except when I got to Onamia. When I hit Onamia, I got lost. I headed 3 miles out of my way, made a U-turn and headed back. Claire and Grayson were getting antsy, except Claire's antsy is whining and Ethan's is, "Mom, are we there yet? Are we near it yet? When can I get out? Are you sure we aren't there yet? How much longer? Mooooooom....."
At noon, I finally pulled into the driveway and unloaded three kids. Now, Claire has an issue with strange places. She doesn't like them. She cries. A lot. And loud. So, as soon as we walked in the door, she started screaming. Of course, when she cried, Grayson did too. Jamie's mom sent me upstairs and helped Claire take off her jacket and shoes. I came down to drag her upstairs and give her the iPod to calm her down. After 10 minutes, she was happy. I was able to dress her and get her hair done. Then I dressed Grayson. Then everyone was happy.
At 4:30 the wedding was underway, only Claire didn't want any part of it. I walked downstairs to try and sit with the kids, but Claire immediately got on the floor and started rolling around on what was going to be the aisle. I picked her up and she immediately screamed. Time to head back upstairs. We ended up watching the wedding from the balcony so my kids (Ethan aside) wouldn't make a scene. Clarie and Grayson happily played and practiced walking (Grayson) during the ceremony. Then, it was time for dinner.
We walked into the room, and what first caught my eye was the wine glasses full of water. I had a mini heart attack. Claire's eyes grew wide with excitement. Then she tried to drink from one. I tried to show her how to hold it with two hands, but she didn't want any of that. She grabbed it from the stem, and it started to tip and breaking glass flashed before my eyes. I grabbed the glass and set it down. The man sitting across from us grabbed it and slipped it away. I breathed a sigh of relief and a thank you to him. Then I breathed an even bigger sigh of relief when they gave Claire a plastic wine glass full of sparkling pear juice. Yes, there are small miracles. Then, someone lit the candles on our table. Four of them to be exact. Clarie blew them all out and shouted "Happy birthday! Yay!" every time. Dinner was served and Grayson showed me that I look great in cranberries and a little bit of stuffing.
Ethan was pretty easy. He played with his friend, Eliza (Jamie's daughter), the entire night. When Claire was done with her dinner and I was still trying to feed Grayson, he played with her so I could finish. He was such a help, and I'm so proud of him for that.
The ride home was fairly uneventful. Everyone slept and I did not get lost.
Lesson learned? Attending a wedding solo with two toddlers is not ideal, but when your best friend gets married, suck it up. It will also make you very tired, but Clarie will be energized from her 3 hour nap and want to play when you walk in the door. This is also not ideal.
Aside from all the craziness with the small ones, the wedding was beautiful. They showed a great video of Jamie and Bennett. Jamie looked beautiful in her dress. Everyone was so happy. They are going to have a wonderful life together.
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