Indiana

June 27th, my friend Leslee married her Michael. I went back to Indiana for the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. The festivities kicked off with the rehearsal at Deep River Park in Chesterton, IN. It's got a beautiful gazebo next to a mill. It also, as you can see from the middle picture, has a sprinkler system. Michael's son Travis and the flower girl, Bella, had a grand old time that afternoon. Dinner was at a local pizza parlor in Valpo. Hadn't had pizza in awhile. After working at the K-Bar for two years kind of ensured that I've been off that sort of food for awhile. But it was good. Afterwards, us ladies went to Bon Femmes and then the Franklin house in Valpo.

The next morning, it was time for hair and makeup. It took us a little while to get to the parlor since the soapbox derby was on the same street.

Leslee getting made up

My fancy hair-do

Breakfast at Jimmy's. Local breakfast place in Valpo. Cheap, good eats. Surprisingly, we were not the first bridal party there.

Leaving Chris' house in Valpo

Me and Leslee in the limo. Yes, we were just that fancy to ride in a limo. It was nice not to have to drive, but other than that, I'll say "meh."

I walked with Michael's friend Jeremy down the aisle. He was pretty funny. It made the time go faster. And, despite the heels on the cobblestones, I didn't trip. Yay me! Travis and Isabelle walking down the aisle. They were so stinkin' cute it hurt.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Well, except for the part where the kids got bored and Travis kept trying to get "Lolly and Daddy" to look over at him. Luckily, I don't think most of the audience could hear him. By the way, I have to comment that I LOVE secular weddings. 15 minutes. Thank goodness, my silver sandals were reflecting the sun and my feet were HOT.
There was time between the ceremony and the reception so we went to Northside and played darts.

We stuck around for about an hour after the ceremony taking pictures. By that time, Travis had missed his nap and was crankier than all heck. He did not want to be in any of the pictures. Plus, he had all of these adults around him trying to convince him that he should go here and do that. Frankly, I don't blame him for not wanting to be involved. So, his cousin took him under his wing and made sure that he didn't fall in the river.



As the maid of honor, I had one duty. Leslee's only request, Don't cry. I didn't.
My toast:
Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Girl... isn't so sure. But Girl has recently made a vow to accept any and all offers... so, Girl says "Yes." Boy and Girl date. But... Girl still isn't sure. One night, girl wakes up in a panic. She LOVES Boy. Luckily, he loves her too. Henry David Thoreau once said of love, "There is no remedy but to love more." So, ladies, gentleman, please join me in raising your glasses to this boy, to this girl, to their new family, and the hope that, as they walk through life, they will only love more.

The dancing was awesome. On the left, my friend Jenica managed to pull her husband Steve onto the dance floor. It's impressive that a) she was able to get him out there and b) she was dancing at 4 (5?) months pregnant. People hung around until about 10:30. Leslee's mom and I were the last ones left. Michael and Leslee took off in the limo... and I got to go home after a lovely day.

YA Grand Opening

About a month ago, I attended the grand opening of the Yellowstone Association's new building. It's actually an old building in Gardiner. Built in 1903, the building was designed by Robert Reamer, one of the mot famous names in park architecture. he was actually pulled off the job to create and build the Old Faithful Inn.
The building was originally used as the town Mercantile. It was owned by W. C. Hall and run by his family for years. For a long time it was also known as Cecil's. There were ten foot high letters spelling out the name of the restaurant in bright yellow which was originally outlined in neon.
As I understand it, YA had been looking for a new building for some time. When the Cecil's building (housing a video store, a laundromat, and gift shop when I moved here), came up for sale, the park asked YA to buy it so that the rumored hotel/casino couldn't be built on the site. The fourteenth of June was the grand opening.

Suzanne Lewis, the superintendent of Yellowstone came and gave some opening remarks.
There was quite a crowd that showed up. I believe it was for a chance at free cake. But that might be too cynical.
Each area had a poster outlining what they do for the Association.






All in all a very nice opening and great to see the community come out and hpopefully begin to understand what the Association does and what it's about.