Elizabeth and Jay

This weekend, David and I headed to South Carolina once again. This time, it was for my friend Elizabeth's wedding. Our trip got off to a bumpy start. We left the house around 9:30am to drop off the beasts at doggy daycare and head to O'Hare. We definitely could have left later as we made it through security with 2 hours until departure, but between unpredictable traffic and toddler travel, I like to give myself plenty of time when travelling sans Kevin. We were delayed 45 minutes leaving O'Hare, but the fun really started around 5:00 when we should have been landing in Columbia. I was wondering why were nowhere near the ground when our pilot announced that due to weather conditions in Columbia (fog, I think), we were being diverted to Charleston, almost 2 hours away by car. Ideal. So David and I got to kill some time in the Charleston airport while my parents drove all the way there to get us. A great time was had by all. We finally made it home around 9:30 and were very happy to be joined a couple hours later by Kevin, who flew in from Baltimore to sneak in some quality David time between business trips.

Here is David trying to get this mess sorted out on the phone and then watching planes during our wait.

Saturday morning we headed to--where else?--the zoo. We got to see lots of animals including 5 lion cubs--so cute and yet so likely to eat us if we got anywhere near them. We also made a point of stopping by lemur island for obvious reasons, and David got to help Kevin feed a giraffe.

After lunching at Chick-fil-a (I highly recommend the new peppermint chocolate chip milkshake), it was time to get ready for the wedding. Unfortunately, I am not particularly bright and left my camera behind when I left for the wedding, so you only get my lame description of the main event and this picture of David watching football with my dad while I was gone.

The wedding was at Folly Beach, about 2 hours from my parents' house. I had the great pleasure of riding down with my second set of parents, the lovely and always entertaining Oscar and Marynell Wooten, which was much more fun than making that drive by myself. (Thanks again!) The temperature was great for an outdoor November wedding (in the 60s), but it started to rain about 10 minutes before the ceremony. After some delays and flip flopping about going ahead on the beach vs. moving the wedding to the little shelter where the reception was, Elizabeth and Jay opted to exchange their vows on the beach as planned, and it was absolutely beautiful. That's what you're supposed to say about weddings, but it truly was. Any time you can get a bunch of southerners out in the wind and rain when the temperature is below 75, you know you are loved. I've known Elizabeth since the first grade, and I got to spend the evening with some of my very best friends for the last 25 years (that makes me old) and see some other acquaintances and parents of people I grew up with whom I haven't seen since high school. It was a really fantastic time.

We are now safe and sound at home. It started to snow this afternoon, and it looks like it's sticking. Just a dusting so far. So in summary, yesterday I was at a wedding on the beach, and now I'm home in the snow.

One more picture of David. This is at the Columbia airport today. The chocolate covered pretzels were not the smartest choice for a snack.