Our visit to Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids

We had a very busy weekend/week. My cousin John got married last Saturday, so Archie and I decided to make a week of it in Michigan. We left on Friday afternoon and came home late Tuesday night. The wedding was quite lovely, save for the mosquito brigade that was viciously attacking everyone coming in and going out. All my pictures are courtesy of Morgan's camera that she let me borrow, since mine was stolen.

I had a blast at the reception. I love "northern" weddings because it usually includes a nice dinner. My cousin Cathy made the wedding cake and the groom's cake. The Groom's cake was in the shape of a paint can and was sitting on a ladder. It was really unique and I just loved it! Here's a picture of her cakes. The detail on the paint can was so good (which the picture doesn't capture very well) down to the silver parts on the can and the label.

After the wedding and before the reception, we stopped at a restaurant for coffee and stuff before the reception was to begin. Most of Mom's brothers were there...except Uncle Chris and, of course, Uncle Richard.


Some people were a little wasteful with the rice (or tiny candies, or whatever we were supposed to throw at the bride and groom). A crazy old lady (my Mom) was throwing the rice at everyone who came down the church steps. Then she started throwing it down all the ladies dresses who had any form or fashion of cleavage showing. I don't know if any ladies escaped without rice in their "browse" as Archie says. While my Mom was tossing mass quantities of rice at folks, my cousin Greg was throwing one piece at a time. You can't take the Champions anywhere!

Here's my cousin Cathy and her family:


This is my cousin Dave. He let Archie borrow his cool hat:

Here I am with my cousin Greg and my Uncle Tommy.

Here's John (the groom) with my Mom:

Archie was quite the smooth man with the ladies. He danced all evening and had a great time. Here he is with my Mom:

He's bustin' a move out there all by himself. It's John Travolta...but shorter!

And he saved a dance for me also. Several, actually! I kept trying to spin him but he said it was the man who has to spin the lady, so I had to duck under his arm and spin every few minutes. My back and legs were killing me the next day!!

On Sunday, we drove to the other side of the Michigan "mitten" to Grand Rapids. Or near there, anyway. We actually went to Holland, Michigan. I was kind of hoping to visit Lake Michigan while we were there, but my Uncle Tommy proved to be a much poorer tour guide than he originally let on. We did have a nice time. Archie really took to my cousin Laura and she took us to visit her horse, Alex. Here's a picture:

Archie was feeding her. It was difficult to get a good picture because Alex kept moving around.

Here is a picture of my Uncle Tommy's house near Grand Rapids. It was really nice inside (Tommy's been working on it) and the yard was really nice too.

We left the Grand Rapids area and went back to Ann Arbor for dinner. I left afterward to come home and arrived close to Midnight on Tuesday night. It was really nice to visit with my family. It's kind of weird getting to know them after all these years...they all lived in Michigan and we lived in Alabama, so I never knew my cousins, except to see them every few years or so. And it wasn't often enough to develop any kind of relationship. So I can see them a little more often, since it's only about 4 hours to the Detroit area from Cincy.

I had a nice surprise waiting for me in the drawer beside my bed when I got home...Phillip got me a new camera!! It's a really nice one and I had to take a trip to the zoo today to try it out. It works great!