usually, we head up to western new york for our annual summer pilgrimage in june or maybe early july. but this year, my baby brother’s wedding was set to take place in august, so we planned our excursion around the wedding date.
we arrived the weekend before the wedding, so we could get in some good quality time. first up, a bunch of family rolled in for a day at the lake. the kiddos (and derek) got right to work fishing. holden even snagged his first catch.
the weather was pretty amazing the entire week so the kids spent a lot of time in the water. lots and lots of frolicking and shenanigans and malarkey.
on the day of the rehearsal dinner, we took the opportunity to head up to buffalo, to do some buffalo-y things and visit with some of our favorite friends. our first stop was bar-bill tavern for some wings and beef on weck. i skipped the signature cocktails, but i loved all of their names.
from there, we drove up to the niagara power vista to check out the museum. we had heard it was pretty awesome. we weren’t all that impressed, bordering on bored and annoyed. there was a sort of cool lcd screen thing where you had to set up your own power grid. isaac and derek worked hard on their creation. like the rest of the museum, it was a little over the heads of the girls. and me. but. we had a sweet view of the lewiston-queenston bridge to canada over the niagara river gorge. so there’s that.
we had some time to kill, so we popped into the totally buffalo store to check out all the cool stuff by local artisans celebrating all things buffalo. we scored a few items, but thanks to an accident involving a hot chocolate from tim horton’s all over the back seat of the car by the two lidkids who didn’t want to come in, out visit was cut short and we ran to wegmans to get some papertowels and wipes and such. and definitely some ice cream to take to our friends. buffalo themed ice cream, of course.
i have no photos of our time with the friends. it always goes that way.
anyhoooooo. about that big wedding.
jake and erika got married at jake’s aunt’s house on conesus lake. it was pretty beautiful. the weather was wonderful (if not a wee chilly towards the end of the night). the wedding was adorable, thanks to the cutest ring bearer and flower girl ever.
the dinner and reception were super fun. the drinks were flowing. the music was great. so much dancing. it was a lovely evening. we even managed a family picture for the first time in a LONG time.
in other happenings from the week, we had a lot of holden time. he loves his cousins and they love him. it’s fun times. and the annababy was put to work, making some of her famous cookie cakes for the rehearsal dinner. (i posted about them here).
there was some kayaking. gilly is the best kayak dog of all time.
on our last night, we filled up on pizza and wings one last time. and if that wasn’t enough, we drove across town to get some dave’s ice cream for the crew. hazel is missing because she stayed back with my brother rob, who is pretty much her hero, so we graciously brought back take out ice cream for them because we are awesome.
and like that. the trip was over. we made the sucky 650 mile trip back down through pennsylvania and the virginias to north carolina. sigh.
BUT. we will be back in a few months, for thanksgiving. and we have some fun things planned.
(hint: hey-ey-ey-ey!)
Beautiful wedding!