Wedding, 3 Men and a Lady, School and the life of a Hunter's Wife

Okay so a couple weeks ago (yeah I'm behind) Tommy and Kate got married! Congrats to them. Although we had a heck of a time getting there it was great once we did. Our flight was supposed to leave the airport at 9:42 on Thursday night....well it left at 12:45. Mom says every flight I am on is delayed, I'm pretty sure she jinxed me :( Once we got there I went to get the rental car and the boys, Zak, Ocho and Jerel, got the luggage. Since we flew into Chicago, super cheap I might add, we had about an hour and forty five minute drive give or take. Luckily Och brought the GPS so we could figure out where we were going it really did help us. The drive wasn't so bad, did I went mention that it was 4:30 by the time we got the car, the fact I slept maybe 15 minutes on the plane and I was driving while the boys (ALL 3 OF THEM) slept?? When we got to the hotel it was around 7 so I was hoping that we would be able to check into our room a little early, okay a lot early, since I had to cancel our reservation from the night before. Not the cause, so we went to breakfast! It was a local place down the street from the hotel and we all drank about a cup of coffee a piece, that mixed with our lack of sleep made for quite the hilarious and interesting morning. We decided after breakfast to drive around and explore South Bend, IN. Next thing we know we are in Michigan, Niles, Michigan that is. We found us an estate sale, Jerel want to buy a boat and a welder, also noticed some pretty hilarious street signs (Tam O'Shanty anyone???), took a potty break at Lowes and tried to get into the hotel one last time. It didn't happen. Thankfully Kate's Family offered to let us come and take a nap at there house in Granger, which wasn't far from us, so Tommy came and met us and we were shuffled up the stairs into bedrooms. Correction, all 4 of us slept in one room that had a full bed and bunk beds in it. I'm not going to lie, it was the most AWKWARD situation I have ever been in not to mention pretty damned funny. None of us could sleep until we heard Zak snoring, then we one by one slept! Kate's parents had put together a really nice pool party BBQ for everyone and once we woke up we learned the hotel was ready. So we ate and did some introducing and catching up. Once we made it to the hotel it was time to get Ocho ready for the rehearsal (being the best man is a tough job) I did my womanly duties of ironing, while my husband slept...slacker! Zak, Jerel and I were invited to the rehearsal dinner, which was AWESOME, nice pick on that one!!! After dinner everyone decided to go to the Mishawaka Brewery for some beers, Ocho and I decided to skip out and get some sleep....SEPARATELY people, Och really needed to work on his best man speech!! I woke up around 6 and noticed I had received a text message at about 2 am from Zak, It said and I quote "Got too drunk to drive home, staying at Kate's Love you." Man it sure is a good thing I trust my husband ;) We spent the rest of the day drinking beer, eating lunch at the Brewery and stopping last minute to buy cuff links. At this point it is 2:30pm the wedding starts at 4pm. We still had to get back to the hotel shower, get ready and change, not to mention drive about 20 minutes or so. On the way back to drop Tommy off with his parents he remembers that he had forgotten the marriage license in his car in downtown South Bend. I will stop here and say that the minister originally forgot to take it home from the rehearsal dinner so that is where this problem started. So we devised a plan, drop Tommy off, then Ocho and I would go to the hotel and get ready while Zak and Jerel drove back down to Tommy's car to get the license. Now it's 3:15. Zak gets back with the license and learns he has to drive Ocho out to the Chapel because Tommy's Parents car is too full, its now 3:45pm. By the time Zak gets back its 4:02pm Jerel and I are ready but Zak still has to change and we have to drive 20 minutes. THANKFULLY, Tommy...well more like Kate, was okay with stalling the wedding until we got there. After I drove 85-90 mph on a 55 mph road!!! Needless to say it was a Beautiful wedding, the Chapel was gorgeous and even the road getting the Chapel was gorgeous. Good Job Tommy and Kate!!! The reception was also in a beautiful setting with lush gardens, trees and good drinks all around!! We had a blast and are so excited we got to spend your special day with you!






The Chapel


Zak and Jerel at the reception







After that came Chicago! Well First a side trip to lake Michagan, which is totally cool in itself! This was fun as none of us have ever been. It is a really pretty city and the people are really nice! We had some good Chicago style pizza and some really good Chicago Dogs! On the first night we literally stumbled onto a very famous bar called The Billy Goat Tavern. Kind of a dive bar but it has a lot of history, as a lot of really famous people have been there. Not to mention it was the source of a skit for Saturday night live. They had really good beer, but the next day we went to another one of the taverns out on Navy Pier and we didn't think it was as good, not as cool of an atmosphere! We were at the original of the 9 or so that they have, the guy that started the bar was responsible for the curse of the Cubs. Zak bought the history book, but I'm sure you could Google it if you want to hear more! It was a really fun trip and we are glad that we got to experience it!




















So I have officially been in school for two weeks now and I am loving it. I am such a nerd I was looking forward to the mass amounts of reading and writing and I got it! I actually sat in my poetry class thinking, DAMN I should have done this a long time ago!!! SO there's the update on that!!

It is Hunting Season and I bet you are all excited!? Well for the entire month of September Zak goes hunting, Archery season of course and it is his favorite! So for the weekends I will be all by myself, of course I have my kids to keep me company! I get excited at first being as I am an only child and alone time is awesome to me, but as soon as he leaves I get bored and miss him. This weekend wont be as bad as last seeing as he didn't leave until late on Friday and will be back Sunday rather than Monday. I am going to fill my time by going to Calhan's homecoming this coming weekend. I figure it is about time since I haven't been since I graduated and my parents are trying to move, I wont have too many more opportunities.