Our trip to New England - Part III

So...here's the rest of the trip in "cliff notes":

Saturday afternoon some of our couple friends came to visit for dinner.

Sunday the girls spent all day with Babci and Papa while Joe, Cindy, and I went to Joe's cousin Curt's wedding in NJ. What a fabulous time! Here's a pic of some of their gorgeous flowers. I especially loved the sushi bar and I think Joe'd give kudos to whomever had the great idea to have a caviar bar, as well! Nancy was a gorgeous bride and everyone had a wonderful time.

We can't remember much about Monday...perhaps we were just recovering from Sunday. That night Joe dropped Gabby off at her Bobie's for a special overnight stay there, then he went to a movie and I went out for a Girls' Night with Kendra and Donna (it was so great seeing you both)!

On Tuesday, Joe, Ellie and I visited with our friends Holly and Tony and their sons Alex and Sam, while Gabby had a great time hanging out with her Bobie. That night, Joe and I went out to dinner while Babci watched the girls.

On Wednesday, Joe took Gabby to the mall to meet up with Saba, and Uncle Yoydeh and Aunt Devora who made the trip all the way from Israel for Rae's wedding. That night, we hosted some of our Taunton friends for a little BBQ and catch-up session at my parents' house.

On Thursday, Babci showed off her granddaughters and that afternoon and evening, she watched the girls again, so Joe and I could go into Boston for a big BBQ with our Randolph friends. Special thanks to Magda and Rob for hosting the event...it was so nice to see everyone!

On Friday, Joe, Bobie, and Gabby packed up and headed to Albany/Troy. I heard the ride went pretty well. That night while they were partying at Yaneev's parents' place, I was packing up all our gear.

On Saturday, Babci, Papa, Ellie and I left for Albany/Troy. It was a very long ride with lots of weird traffic for no reason, and it took us almost 5 hours to make what should have been not much more than a 3 hour trip. Ellie was not happy about it, and spent some time crying. It's so unlike her to cry, that it's extra hard to hear it, especially when there's just not much you can do about it, stuck in traffic on the highway. Once we arrived, though, she was a super-trooper for the rest of the wedding weekend.

That night, we left the girls at the hotel w/Babci and Papa while Joe and I went to a dinner at the Bennos. We had a delightful time. For the first time ever, the girls went to sleep in the same room, and later that night we joined them as well. I don't think we've ever given them enough credit...to our pleasant surprise, they did absolutely fine sharing a room. (They did it again the last night we were at Babci and Papa's, and it's great to know that we can now count on them to share a room, whenever needed).

Sunday was the big day. We did everything within our power to shift naps and meals around to best accommodate the wedding schedule. We had a little snafu when we had to wake Gabby from her nap after only an hour, and she then absolutely refused to let us put on her dress. Since we were late for pictures, I carried her across the street to the reception hall in her diaper and T-shirt, and then brought in the reinforcements (Daddy and the grandparents) to distract her enough to finally get her dressed. She tried to ruin some family pictures with crying and pouting, but we extricated her from the situation before too much damage was done, and she was on better behavior for the rest of the day. When the big moment came, Gabby was a star walking down the aisle, gently tossing rose petals, and smiling all the while. Ellie and I were also up under the chuppah, and I was amazed by how long Ellie just made googly eyes at the cantor...I think he amused her for at least 15 minutes! Gabby got antsy at the end of the ceremony, and was escorted out for the last five minutes, but everyone assured us that our girls were great, given the situation. (And we had given Auntie Rae and Uncle Yaneev fair warning that we weren't sure how well they'd be able to do up there)! Hopefully they weren't too distracting!

After the ceremony, Gabby was up to her best behavior again, and was charming guests during the cocktail hour. Special thanks to cousin Steven, who carried Gabby around for a while, so that we could introduce Ellie to the family she had never met. I left for a while to feed Ellie, and expected that Gabby would soon be calling it a night, but she was having such a great time, that we let her stay up until she could barely keep her eyes open. She had a blast at the reception, although I think she was a bit terrified by the craziness of the Horah.

Anyway...the wedding was awesome. The ride back to MA was uneventful, and the girls were great on our flight home.

All in all, a fabulous trip!