Family wedding weekend

This weekend we went to College Station to celebrate my cousin Paul's wedding. Daniel family weddings are always fun opportunities to catch up with family members but I was also looking forward to this weekend as the first time to introduce Daniel and Rebecca to the city and university I called home for 4 years.

Friday after a 3 1/2 hour drive to get there our first order of business was a quick swim in the hotel pool to let the kids burn off some energy before dinner. Afterward as we were getting ready to head out to dinner we noticed several other members of the big extended Daniel family had checked in and asked around to see if anyone wanted to join us. 

My cousin Paul (not the one getting married), his wife Tarsy, and their 2 kids Becca (14) and William (11 1/2, as he proudly noted), were staying right next to us and decided to come with us so we enjoyed a fun evening of catching up with them over an Italian dinner and a few glasses of wine. Their kids were so sweet and engaging with my kids-those fun, cool "big kids" that little ones just adore. I remember at our wedding 8 years ago Becca was one of the little girls who were enchanted with the bride (me!) and little William was the little boy rocking out on the dance floor wearing a pair of binoculars around his neck!

Saturday after breakfast we went over to campus to look around. Kyle Field, the football stadium, has undergone some significant upgrades (still in progress) so we started by walking around to see the exterior changes. One of the new additions is a sculpture of a group of students sawing the horns during the Aggie War Hymn. I don't particularly care for it myself (the people look weird to me) but Rebecca was downright scared of it and cried and clambered to get away (probably not the response the artist was looking for!).

After that we explored the MSC (Memorial Student Center). The kids liked the flag room and the wall of wooden carvings of A&M's history. I was impressed to see all the renovations that have been done since my time there.

After that we went to the Bonfire Memorial. I've been to see it a few times and it's always a moving experience. The collapse happened my junior year and as it happens, I was on campus that very night, camped out along with a group of friends waiting to "pull" our tickets for the annual rivalry game with Texas. It's been nearly 16 years but a sad, surreal experience I'll never forget.

We explained it to the kids in a very simple, age-appropriate way: some boys and girls were working building a project here and a terrible accident happened and people got really hurt, and this memorial remembers the bonfire tradition and the people who were there that night. Rebecca was too young to take anything from it but Daniel was very affected by it. 

As we walked around looking at the portals honoring the 12 victims he asked more about them and if they were all better. We told him that these people whose pictures he saw had gotten hurt so badly that the doctors couldn't fix them and they had died and gone on to Jesus's house (a topic we'd talked about a lot last year when our old cat, Todd, died). He asked if they had moms and dads and if they were sad. He saw a bunch of bikes in a nearby bike rack and asked if those bikes belonged to  the people who got hurt. No, I said, this was a very long time ago, those are other people's bikes, as I thought how within a few years, the students riding around campus won't have been born yet when the Bonfire fell. He wanted to see pictures of the bonfire both aflame and after it fell and grew quiet when he saw pictures of the collapsed pile. 

Sunday night as we lay in bed he said we needed to go to the police station and show them that picture and make sure they knew about this. I told him that the police and firefighters had gone out there and helped (I heard the sirens myself) and lots of people had done so much to help. (Update: tonight, Tuesday, he brought it up again as we lay down and asked to see pictures. We watched a Youtube video/slideshow with images very familiar to me but new to him.)

After our morning exploring campus we went to Aggieland institution the Dixie Chicken for lunch. Gotta start 'em young, right? ;) Then it was naptime for Rebecca so Kevin took her to the hotel and Daniel and I went souvenir shopping (dress for Rebecca, mini helmet for Daniel), got him a milkshake at the Chik-Fil-A he had seen and begged to go back to, a stop by a local running shop, and a grocery store run,then it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the main event.

Here we are all dressed up:

Before the wedding started Daniel told Kevin he wanted to give Paul and his bride Haley a message. He dictated and Kevin wrote, then Daniel signed. Here, his sage advice:

Where we were sitting we didn't have a clear view of the happy couple during the ceremony itself but once Daniel finally saw the bride he said "wow, she's so beautiful!"

Then it was on to the reception. We weren't sure how long the kids could hold out, so we just planned to play it by ear and stay as long as we could. Turns out we've got some dancing fools on our hands! The moment the dance floor was opened up to guests Daniel was ready to head out, Rebecca hot on his heels.

Every chance he got, Daniel wanted to dance with "Ms. Haley" in "the beautiful white dress." He asked if he'd get to see her again after tonight and I said yes, I'm sure we'll see her at the ranch and other family gatherings. He was disappointed to hear she wouldn't be wearing the beautiful dress though, and on the drive back to the hotel he said he was sending her an email on his LeapPad to make sure she got beautiful clothes!

When he wasn't busy pining after the bride, Daniel managed to get a few dances with the flower girl and even granted Mommy a few dances. Rebecca was a pretty enthusiastic dancer too and kept Daddy occupied. We managed to sneak one dance for just the two of us while our little dance partners were otherwise occupied.

All told, we didn't leave till 11-way past the kids (and my) bedtimes! We had a great time and I know the kids will be disappointed that we don't get to go to a big party like this every weekend.

The next morning we all slept in-I was the first one up at 9:30 and finally had to wake the others up so we could get out to brunch to see family again before we all headed our separate ways. How did I entice Daniel to leave his comfy bed? I mentioned that a certain bride was going to be there!

After brunch it was time to go home and we all slept well in our own beds that night. It was a fun weekend and the first of what I hope will be many times to take the kids to Aggieland. Yesterday he insisted on wearing his Aggie jersey to school :)

Every time we get the chance to spend time with my extended Daniel family I think how lucky I am to have such a big, close extended family. But this weekend it occurred to me that luck was only part of that, it also took a lot of people making the effort over the years to keep everyone connected. I want my kids to have the same experience I've had-to go to family reunions and run around with cousins (1st cousins, 2nd cousins, it's all the same to us) and to know those names on the family tree not just as people they happen to be related to but these wonderfully warm, kind, fun people whose company they enjoy. Looking back through years of family reunion and wedding pictures it's fun to see that the faces and fashions change but there's always that group of little kids playing together, a group of older kids doing their thing, and the adults visiting. Most of my grandparents' generation has passed on now but I like to think they'd be pleased to see the legacy living on.