Dot`sThoughts

Grandson`s Wedding

First let me say that His first name is Walter (my grandson)-- named after his Dad Walter ( my son) --who was also named after his Dad Walter ( my Husband). But all their middle names are different.


The wedding went off beautifully. It was a large wedding with bridesmaids, ring bearer , flower girl and all. There were three Limo`s to take the Wedding party and the parents of the bride and groom, plus the two grandmothers-brides grandmother and Grooms grandmother.

The wedding started at 5pm on the cruise boat. The Bride wore a beautiful gown with the train and the bridesmaids dresses were very pretty. Two of the bridesmaids were my granddaughters, as was the flower girl and ring bearer- my great grandchildren. The little ones looked so cute walking in -with her dropping rose petals as she walked. He looked so proud carrying the ring pillow. After the wedding they let him keep the pillow to take home.

One thing I forgot to do was take a picture of the boat before we boarded. Of course I would have needed to take the picture way back on shore inorder to get the whole boat in the picture. We had a long dock to walk out on, plus the long drop down aisle with the railing to walk up to get upon the boat. After the wedding ceremony was the reception. About a month ago they sent out papers telling of the meal choices for us to pick what we would like to eat. Since they had us sitting at a table on one side of the bride and grooms table, we were one of the very first to be served. Having the list of what everyone wanted for their meal, they were able to have the food ready faster, so we never had to sit around for long. we had lots to munch on before the meal, then a three course meal, ending with deserts- wedding cake came later. One of my twins is the father of the groom and he sat at our table while the mother sat on the table on the other side of the center table. ( They got divorced when the three children were young). The brides parents and grandmother sat at the table across the room from the center table. I thought it strange that they had us and the grooms mother at the tables on either side of them while her parents sat across the open dance floor. Must have been the way my grandson and his new wife planned it. But I also know his parents paid for a lot of it along with the kids themself. So, maybe her parents didn`t participate in the planning or payments. I had never met her family before. I soon learned that her dad was a big flirt and her mom wasn`t very friendly. But her grandmother , what little I got to speak with her during the rehearsal supper the night before, I truly felt she was a sweetheart. I took to her immediately. I had met the bride a few times over the past year when my grandson drove up to visit his dad. We have stayed in contact over the net and she has called me Gram from the first time my grandson introduced her to me.

After the reception meal, there was the special dances ( Father & Bride, Groom with his mother, the bridal Bouquet toss and the garter episode, etc,) and then the Dances for everyone. My grandson had taken dancing lessons a few years ago - so is a very good dancer and his wife teaches dancing, so they were great to watch.

Yes Walker, I sure did a lot of dances. Slow dances, Fast dances, plus others. I even pulled my son out onto the floor for a slow dance and when that dance ended and a fast one started, I was able to keep him there for about half of the song. I noticed later on that one of his sisters also pulled him onto the floor for a fast dance. I know he hasn`t danced in years. Did both fast and slow dances with my grandson. Danced lots of dances, but the one that surprised me the most was when my ex-daughter-in-law`s new husband started dancing with me. He kept me on the floor thru two dances. Now how many men would ask his wife`s ex husband`s mother to dance? I had never met him before, but I have stayed in close touch with the ex-daughter-in-law even though she lived down in Texas- a very long ways from me here in upstate New york. I hadn`t seen her in person in at least 7 or 8 years, but we are in constant contact over the net. When she introduced me to her new Husband, she told him, "this is Mom , my ex`s Mother." Then she told him I was a sweet lady. Isn`t that a nice thing to hear an ex-in-law say? She got remarried a few years ago- up here in Lake George, NY. I never did understand why they came all the way from Texas to get married in our area. I told her husband that every time she receives an e-mail signed "love Mom" it was just me. You see, her Mom died years back and I became her fill-in Mom. Even two of her sisters still call me Mom. Her and my son had three children, this grandson was the oldest. When they broke up, the children were small and stayed living with their Dad ( my son). He raised them alone and they all graduated from High School. The grandson spent years in the Marines, just got out a couple years ago. The oldest daughter is a school teacher in Virginia and the youngest has a job and is also attending college at the present time. So, he did well raising them alone. He was a great Dad. My grandson told me they were trying to talk their Dad into moving closer to them in Virginia, but he really doesn`t want to give up his home with all the mountain property. He also has two dogs that he would never want to part with. When he was married they lived 4 hours drive from home in New Jersey -as that is where his ex-wife was from. He is happier living up this way, so he doesn`t realy want to move south again.

We got lots of exercise walking around Old Alexandria. We arrived there early Saturday afternoon and walked around downtown seeing all the old buildings. Then I left for the rehearsal supper Saturday evening while the rest went on a walk- - lit with a lantern and hearing ghost stories. Sunday morning my two daughters and the newest son-in-law and I went walking again. This time we walked behind the buildings along the waters edge.
The sidewalks there are still made with red bricks like in the older days and many of the older houses were also made with bricks. My girls enjoyed all those old building and then I told them we had lots of brick buildings around areas at home when I was younger. i also told them about the brick road out near where one of my Aunts lived. So, even though many of the houses were built long before my time, they were still around while I was growing up. So they didn`t amaze me like they did the kids. To my kids, they were real old and wonderful to see.
There was one paddle boat with the water wheel on the back that i especially liked. The fancy railings on both the top and lower dack were white and so fancy. I loved them. This large cruise boat was white with a yellow stripe under each of the fancy cutout railings on each deck. So very pretty. I took a picture and hope it comes out ok.

While on the boat, after the dancing, there was a cruise and they pointed out many places of interest. We could even see the Capital Building`s Dome, both looking across from the Virginia shore earlier and lots better from the boat along with the White House and the Washington Monument- all of course located in Washington DC. ., we started cruising off the coast of old Alexandria, Virginia . I took some pictures, but not sure if they will come out good since they were so far away in the distance.
We also went up on top and I took a few pictures while up there. Of course, whenever the boat went under the overhead bridges, they insisted that everyone come down from the upper top deck for safety reasons.

The wedding was Sunday, and we arrived back home late Monday evening. Took us almost 11 hours driving home. My son drove three hours longer due to one of his daughters giving the other daughter her car keys to hold for her. That younger daughter forgot she still had her sisters car keys when she left for home with their Dad, so her dad had to drive three hours back to meet his son who also drove three hours to meet him. The daughter who owned the car keys lived in Virginia., and the keys were on there way to New York state. Once we all arrived at my place, my son still had another two hours more driving to do. He had to drop off his grandchildren at their home and still drive another hour to his home.

Tuesday I mostly rested from the long ride home, but did manage to catch up the washings.

Today, Wednesday, I went to the Hannaford Grocery store to pick up some meds and intended on dropping off three rolls of films. From the store I went to the wellness Clinic at the Hospital for exercise sessions. After I came back home and had put my car in the garage, changed my clothes and started checking some e-mails, that`s when I remembered that the films were still in my pocketbook. I had forgotten to drop them off. It had started to sprinkle and all I was thinking about was reaching the exercise place before it started raining harder. Thats why I forgot all about the films. If it doesn`t rain tomorrow, I might run back down with them. I will post some pictures when I get them developed. I like the pictures from my other camera better than my Computer kodack one. They both take great pictures, but my Canon has the three settings and I can get the whole wedding party in one picture with it.

Update:
Here it is tomorrow- Thursday and I did drop off the three films ( two from this wedding and one from my daughter`s wedding that wasn`t finished before). I should be able to pick them up in a couple days.