January Part 2: Miami

Lance had his vacation for the year at the end of January.  It was two glorious weeks of family time. We chose those two weeks because we had the privilege of being part of our good friend, Matt’s, wedding.  We’ve known Matt since we lived in Jacksonville back in 2004.  Lance and he met while working at a temp job.  Obviously, quite a bit has happened since that time—both guys have gotten through some schooling and have begun their big boy careers.  Matt is now Conductor and Musical Director of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra.  If you live in the area, you should really try and check out one of their performances!  Matt currently lives in Gainesville, so its been nice that he and Lance have been able to snag a few visits with each other.  We have gotten to know his new bride, Kristin, and look forward to growing that friendship even more!

We were honored to have Maddy as one of their flower girls and Lance as a groomsman.  To make the trip a bit easier, we left Tommy with Grandma and Grandpa Tegen (his first time away from us on his own!) and just took Maddy and Aaron (as he still needed mommy’s milk supply). 

We were very lucky to have gracious hosts—our friend’s parents allowed us to stay with them at their home for 3 nights, which made having the kids with us much easier.  We didn’t get too many pictures while there—even though it was just the 2, we were still pretty busy!  And, even though we were right near South Beach and other touristy venues, we didn’t quite make that part of our trip.  I think we did end up at Target every day we were there, though…lol.  There was plenty of pre-wedding stuff to keep us busy!

Our first full day there, we spent part of the day at the mall and had lunch there as well.  Aaron was a happy little camper, as usual.

We packed a lunch for Maddy—you never quite know what she will and won’t eat.

She was very excited about her balloon tied to her wrist (not that you can see it in the picture).  It was from Johnny Rockets.

I always feel the need to tell people that there’s one more kiddo when I have just two…lol

Maddy and Lance

Later that night at the rehearsal dinner at the yacht club.  First was drinks and appetizers out on the porch. 

Cheese!

Aaron hung out in the stroller—he was all ready to go in his PJs.

Maddy mingling with daddy

I think this is the first picture of just the two of us we’ve had taken in quite some time.

Nearing the end of dinner.  Maddy is finishing her dessert…she was so tired at this point.  It was nearly 10:00.  She actually turned to us and said, “I’m tired.  I want to go home and go to bed.”  And so we did.

He was quite the trooper.  He never gave in to sleep!  He started fussing right before we left, but was the perfect little baby otherwise.  Everyone was impressed.  I am so glad that they survived the night without meltdowns.  Especially Maddy—she’d been busy with the actual wedding rehearsal earlier in the day.  I stayed back at the house with Aaron so he could nap/eat, so there aren’t any pictures from that.

Maddy and Maggie before the wedding

The wedding party as the girls started their walk down the aisle. Lance is there on the end.

They held hands all the way down—it was so sweet!

She was a show-stealer in my book!

The beautiful bride!

She did so well with the photographer for group shots.

Hopefully the photographers weren’t too annoyed with the mom (me) that kept snapping photos.

She loved that dress!

Blurry, but the whole wedding party with Maddy and Lance included.

At the reception dinner.

Another of just the two of us!

It was a GORGEOUS venue—a private home called Villa Woodbine.  The dinner was actually outside under a tent.

So pretty!

After eating, the girls just hung out at a back lounge area with couches and doodled together.

Driving back home.  We scored a portable DVD player on craigslist before the trip.  Lance was able to set it up so Maddy had her own special car seat viewing.

Aaron did a great job just riding and being a cutie.