My Big Family Michigan Wedding!

Posted by Ethne~
 
As I type this, Thrifty Nana, the kiddos and I are driving across Wisconsin, headed for my cousin, Z’s wedding in Michigan!  I can’t wait!  TN is chugging down the Mountain Dew Throwback (unheard of!!); I’m drinking my standard McDonald’s unsweetened iced tea with light ice.  Dalish.


We just put the girls in pull-ups, which they haven’t worn for two years.  But hey, we’re driving through the night in hopes that the monsters will sleep through a large part of the 12 hour drive.  We’ll see…and if sleeping through the night means we tell them to pee their pants so we don’t have to stop at midnight, I’m down with that.  Does that make me a bad mother?  Heck no!  A crazy one, maybe.

I am posing with Aunt Pam, Grandma and TN - girls took the pics
No make-up = long drive from home to MI

I haven’t seen all of my cousins, except my bff cousin-sister Nicole, for 3-1/2 years.  It’s about time.  We’re all grown now, with children of our own, but there is something about being with your family.  And mine are awesomely crazy, just like moi.  It’s in our blood.  It will be like no time has passed at all.  Maybe we’ll start noticing each other’s wrinkles, but we won’t say anything.

Nicole - one of my best friends

The matriarch of the family is Grandma Lucille, 87 years young.  I told my mom that Grandma’s too busy to get sick and it’s God’s Honest Truth.  She’s got too many trips to the casino left in her.

Grandma and my cousin MN

At Z and K’s wedding we cousins will line up for the cousin picture, oldest to youngest, like we’ve always done.  I think we’ll only be missing three of us.

The traditional cousin line-up, oldest to youngest; everyone cooperates
even after all these years

So tomorrow, I’ll be LIVE FROM MICHIGAN!  Aunt Pam is making the wedding cake, so I’ll document the making of that masterpiece as well as I can.  I’ll try to get Grandma to make some German potato salad, and I’ll enjoy watching Aunt Pam and Uncle Brad bicker over whether you put yellow mustard in it; and I’ll watch Thrifty Nana and Grandma debate how strong to make the coffee.  It’ll be a zoo and I will relish every minute of it.

Z and K cutting their cake.  I promise there will
be adorable pics of them to come.

In the meantime, TN and I will drive through Chicago and Indiana and up into the mitten.  Maybe we’ll rock some Eminem and perhaps some Twilight book on CD.  Juxtaposition much?  I’m willing to bet Eminem is a closet Twilight fan.  He does have a tweenage daughter after all.

 

Editor’s Note: I’m back home in big city, MN, now.  Grandma didn’t have wi-fi which I didn’t figure in to my ‘Live from Michigan’ equation.  Sorry we were down Friday and today.  Anyway, things were a blast and I’ll tell you about a few more of them this week.  In the meantime, these were my aspirations and a few pics in preview.  xoxo

Amazingly the girls made it through
the whole wedding ceremony!!