I haven't updated in a bit (other than posting the plethora of postcards we've been receiving), but during the week there really isn't much for me to post. After taking a little break from our travels, last weekend we jumped back into it with vigor! MC's uncle was getting married in Charlotte, so I talked to Bobby and Erin in the hopes that we could visit and they could finally meet MC! They were actually going to be around so it worked out perfectly. I was instructed to take many many pictures while I was there (mostly of 10 month old Emma) so be prepared for a photo-intensive post! :-)
MC took off work on friday and we left in the morning to head to Sherrills Ford (north of Charlotte, where Bobby and Erin live). We got there around dinner time and went to Joel's (a yummy sushi place that we go about every time I get to visit the Fertigs) with Bobby, Erin, and Emma. As always, it was a super scrumptious meal and MC got to meet and chat with them for a bit. After dinner I took MC to the hotel where her family was staying, dropped her off, then headed back to Bobby and Erin's house.
Woke up saturday and had breakfast at a cool little place down the road (had my first hamburger omelet. Yummy!) then hung out at the Fertig house for a while. Since it was the first time I had visited them since I got my D90, I also tried to get at least one good snapshot of every doggie as well. The first puppy dog that I got a snap of was Roxy.
I wanted to get some pictures of the dogs while they were relaxing/lying down, but every time I squatted down to take a picture they saw that I was on their level and got up to say hi. Very friendly dogs, but not the easiest to get pictures of! :-) So I had to improvise a little, especially with Tala.
Then I transitioned to Emma with a shot of her and Rusty.
Luckily, Emma is a little better at posting, though she tends to be easily distracted. So there were lots of opportunities where she was smiling and laughing, but the camera got her attention and she got inquisitive. :-)
And she was always interested in what Uncle Fincher was doing with that thing on his face...
even when daddy was being a goofball...
or daddy and mommy were out of the room and she decided she was gonna come get me!
Even at 10 months, she's taken a few steps and getting more steady on her feet. She can get around pretty well while holding on to things, but she will still stop to pose for the camera :-)
As you can imagine, she has plenty of toys to play with as well.
Also lucky that Rusty knows how to stay cool under pressure, even with the other dogs and a baby running around.
While there are plenty of entertaining things to do at the house, sometimes it is good to get outside. This calls for a trip to the playground!!! Also found out that taking a picture of a kid on a swing can turn out to be a challenging endeavor so why not start out with a little video :-) For some reason this video doesn't want to embed correctly in the preview, but hopefully it shows up ok.
Then I snapped some pics too. Surprisingly they came out pretty well!
From the swings we moved over to the jungle gym where Emma could check out the slide and the drawbridge.
With some coaxing, we even got her to do a little boogie on the bridge!
After play/picture time, we hung out a little bit and then it was time for me to head over to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. MC was actually going to officiate the ceremony, so she was busy/nervous. We grabbed some food then started getting ready in the room with her mom, aunt and uncle. As it was a wedding, we had yet another chance to get all dolled up!
I wish I had taken more pictures around the hotel because there was an interesting crowd wandering around. It turned out that there was a wrestling convention in the hotel the same weekend. I saw people walking around with folding chairs and title belts and all sorts of stuff. Very entertaining. Right before the ceremony, MC's mom actually got an autograph from an old school wrestler, Mr. Wonderful!
It was a pretty little venue right out back from the hotel. It was entertaining how many people were running around them with cameras (just audience members, not the main photographer) and how in the way the photographer didn't mind being. Luckily I was still able to get a good snap of my beautiful girlfriend officiating like a pro!
The happy couple!
Apparently, her uncle works with computers so he had a groom's cake that I was especially fond of ;-)
Even at a wedding, my sweetie never ceases to be a goofball (though it was probably accentuated by being done with her officiating duties). Here she is trying to touch the glass heart on her nose with her tongue.
That picture was especially funny because she totally got busted by the bride and groom. She thought they were busy setting up for the cake cutting, but that were actually watching her pose for silly pictures. After that, they actually did cut the cake though. ;-)
Later they had a funny take on the whole "throwing the garter" tradition. They blindfolded the guy while his girlfriend was on the seat ready to have him put the garter on her. Then, after they were sure he couldn't see, the groom switched places with the girl so he would try to put it on him, all while the crowd was chanting "with your teeth" in Spanish.
Speaking of Spanish, it was kinda funny because, at one of the last weddings we were at, MC randomly turned to me and said "I just noticed that I'm the only brown person here." This time the roles were reversed and part-way through the reception she said "I just noticed that you are the only white person here." It was pretty funny. There was definitely a lot of Spanish floating around. I'm gonna have to be better about my practicing!! Anyhoo, we had a lot of fun dancing and such (even if it was pretty toasty in there) and after things started winding down we packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Bobby and Erin's. They were actually awake so we chatted and hung out a little before hitting the sack.
On the way to Sherrills Ford, I started thinking about the route and where we were going and I asked MC to mapquest a few various routes to compare times. (An aside: Since I have a data plan on my phone, I found out that I can connect it to my laptop and use it as a cellular modem. Unfortunately, the money-grubbing bastards at Verizon charge for this, even though I already pay for an unlimited data plan. I also found out that if you initialize this service, then cancel it, you only pay the prorated amount for however long you used it. So while it is stupid that I have to pay at all, paying a few bucks to have internet on the road during a weekend road trip is definitely not bad AND super snazzy! So MC got to actually have internet during much of our transit this past weekend.) Anyhoo, I found that if we took a different route home that would take us by Charleston it would only add an hour to the trip. And if we got close to Charleston, took the interstate that goes around the city, then continued on, it would only add 30 minutes! So I contacted Mark and Melissa to see if they would be around and for once my travel schedule coordinated with them being home. So MC was nice enough to let me add time to the trip (it WAS a little easier for her since it meant I would stop bugging her about how she has to meet Mark and Melissa soon) and we met up with the Macpherson clan at a little barbecue place that was pretty much right on our "add 30 minutes" route. I was super excited to see little Morgan, since I've seen pics of how much she's grown since I last saw her, and little Miles, who was only born like 11 weeks ago so I still hadn't met the little fella! Miles was pretty sacked out most of lunch, but he did wake up occasionally to check things out.
I had to get pics of little Morgan and her papa too! Morgan didn't want to give me a big smile at first, even though her goofy daddy was trying to provide a good example.
After a little more demonstration from dad, she finally gave me the big smile I was looking for!
And even followed it up with some goofy face!
Then she "helped" Miles get ready to head out by lovingly placing some stickers on his cheek. Gotta decorate the baby like a good older sister!
It was about time to head out and mommy supervised her downing the rest of her yummy drink (which fueled her to give me a farewell high-five to me and fist-bump to Auntie MC!)
All-in-all it was an amazing weekend! MC got to meet some of my closest friend (pretty much extended family) that I had been talking about for a while. I got to see the more grown versions of Emma and Morgan and a brand new little Miles! I was really stoked to be able to last-minute squeeze in the pass by Charleston. Got to hang out with more of MC's fam and celebrate her uncle's marriage and all that was packed into a single weekend! While I don't mind driving, I definitely don't mind that we have a few weeks before I have to go on any road trips (who woulda thought that'd come from me!?). Hopefully it won't be so long before I see all the little ones again and I look forward to more little ones being on the way! Now I guess I should actually try to be a little productive at some point today, though I DID produce this massive blog post ;-)
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