Surprise Wedding in Apalachicola

Two weeks after the Bryan reunion, we headed back to Mexico Beach-for a surprise wedding between Monica and Becky.

At the reunion we found out that Becky had planned the entire thing and the wedding would be in Applachicola on Saturday October 22.  We'd wanted to go down for our anniversary anyways to have some time alone. That didn't happen (the alone time), but we had a great weekend. 

That weekend was also the Singers and Songwriters Festival in PSJ/MB. We went up to Lookout Friday night and surprise-ran into Monica, Becky, Paula and Janet. We/they all had excuses for why we/they were at the beach. 

We met some cool guys in the country music scene and heard some great music.  But then Donald found out the guy who wrote Garth Brooks major hit "Friends in Low Places" was going to be there and he basically lost his mind.  Truly, he was so excited. Then the guy sung "Friends in Low Places" and Donald became starstruck really. It was one of the coolest things he's experienced, I think. He couldn't stop talking about it.  "I mean, the guy wrote friends in low places." This was repeated all night by him. It was cute.

Saturday Donald and I and Daniel and Jaycie went down to the beach for a bit. We just brought chairs to sit and relax before getting ready for the wedding. We just sat around bullshitting for a while.

Jaycie and I had Mr. G's for lunch and then got ready for the big surprise wedding. Becky chartered a bus for everyone. It picked us up at the Veterans park next to their house and drove us all into Apalachicola.  So basically the plan was-Saturday was Becky's birthday. Certain family members were in town to celebrate that. They were all supposed to go to dinner in  Apalachicola and Monica and Becky were going to stay in a hotel. But Becky had secretly invited 60-something people, hired a band, secured a venue, caterer, etc...  When Monica and Becky got to the hotel, Becky told Monica what she wanted for her birthday-to marry her. They'd discussed this before many times, but whenever Monica started planning stuff, wedding anxiety kicked in and didn't want to go any further. So Becky asked if she could plan it and just one day tell Monica where to be. They agreed to this, but apparently Monica had NO idea this would be happening that particular weekend. I love surprises. So glad this worked out for the two of them perfectly.

Bus ride over....

Me: (Pointing) "Hey, look at that parrot."

Random Dude: "That's not a parrot, it's a macaw. Her name is Tater."

Me: "Oh, ok. Hi Tater."

Then this happened on the streets in Apalachicola before the wedding.

A day short of being married to this guy for six years.

So Monica bursts into tears when her immediate family busted up in the hotel room. Christopher and Alex were going to walk her down the aisle, Justin was marrying them and she had two hours to get ready. Becky had even gotten a dress for Monica based off of her measurements they'd taken for a fitness program. Sneaky, sneaky.  The ceremony was intimate-just very casual and quick on the pier/dock beside the water. Everyone else was waiting impatiently for their arrival at an art gallery down the block.

The reception was great.  You could really feel the love.  So happy we could be a part of it. The food was excellent too.  They had a guy there from Shipwreck shucking oysters. Donald said there should be oysters at every wedding.  And that cake they are getting ready to cut above despite what it looks like? It was Italian Creme Cake. At one point, a few of the ladies may have been shoveling in bits and pieces of it into their mouths. I may have been one of those ladies. So.good.  Jaycie and I got out on the dance floor and shook our groove thing. Me and Donald too. I've found the older we get the more we dance at weddings and events. Funny to me.

Pretty much everyone passed out on the bus ride back to Mexico Beach. Donald and I got in the very last seat and Justin was in front of us. There were a few people hollering out stuff here and there-mostly "Fireball?"

El Governor was decorated for Halloween like they usually do. I sent this picture to Kristi and told her Jason had booked them a room there.  Funny thing is, the hotel is divided by the elevator and to the right of the elevator there aren't any huge spiders scaling the walls. Guess they know not to do that otherwise they might not have a lot of business during that time of the year.

Bryan Family Reunion 2016

On Friday October 7th we headed down to Mexico Beach for the annual Bryan Family Reunion.  We arrived just in time to say "Hello" at the house, then grab Ivy and head off on a walk with Bandit to watch the sun set.

Gorgeous as always....

Saturday morning and early afternoon we hung out at "our beach" with Emily, Ivy and Nini. The boys went fishing so it was just the girls.  Later on, The Vickery's joined us.

Maggie and Luke helped form mermaid tails on Ivy and Stella

That evening we gathered down at the house Janet rented on the beach for family photos. Afterwards we dined on a taco bar. 

My beach baby

The littles

"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight..."

Sunday the water was so clear and so incredibly calm.  Probably the calmest I've ever seen it. It was literally like they were playing in a pond or a bath tub. 

Leigh, Brian and the kids went fishing and caught up with the guys to snap this picture.

Sunday we went down to Paula's for lasagna and to watch the football games. This kid was exhausted from a big day in the sun and sand.  She fell asleep in the truck on the way over so we just threw her down on a patio cushion. It worked well for a while. Once she woke up we all got in the chilly pool.

Then I received this picture from Leigh. It made me laugh so hard. Over the summer, Brian buried one of the stakes that secured the tent because I didn't have a mallet. Then a bad storm moved in for a week and I couldn't find anyone to help me take it down. The storm had moved so much sand around that by the time I dug it up it was about two feet deep. I told him when I saw him after that I could have murdered him because all I had to dig with was another stake. So this was them poking fun at me.

Bandit and I enjoyed our crisp, cool walk in the mornings. This was the coldest it had been at the beach since the winter.

Monday, I could tell Ivy and Stella were getting on each other's nerves. So we went down to Laurie and Andrew's rental for the day. Justin, JP, Maddux, KK, Claire and Michael were down so that was a nice change of scenery.

Donald bought us one of the air hammocks and we put it to use. It's comfy, but definitely something to adjust too. Also, when you sink down it it, it doesn't offer much air flow around you so you can get quite warm. 

I can't help but think it.....it looks like she's re-living the birth experience here.

Justin was being the cool "uncle" or cousin and helping the kids make a sand castle.

The sunsets here typically don't disappoint.

Donald hung the shutter and I put the flags up. They are numbers meaning 1-0-2-3, our anniversary of October 23rd.

And Tuesday I took the 4th installment of Daddy/Daughter beach photos.

We had supper had Mango Marley's and then headed back to Atlanta. The weather was great and it was nice to visit with everyone. Stella had so much fun playing with all of her cousins and I captured some good memories.

Candy Cane Hunt and Lights of Life 5K

Saturday, December 3rd, we took Stella up to The Mable House for the candy cane hunt. She gets to grab as many candy canes as she wants (which isn't all that many since she doesn't like peppermint), decorate a gingerbread house, make a little baggie of reindeer food, decorate a cookie and see Mr. and Mrs. Claus. We love this free event for the community. This year as opposite from last year. It was a warmer, but it was overcast unlike last  year where the sun was shining bright, but it was very, very cold.

Stella actually asked for me to take a picture with her which never happens so I jumped at the chance.

We remembered a bag to collect candy canes this year.

Directly after the candy cane hunt, we got in line for Santa. We waited maybe 10 minutes. Once we got inside the house and it was her turn to go up, she burst into tears. We told her we'd sit with her, but she wasn't having it so we left. I'm just glad we didn't wait in line too long for her to change her mind.

Making a gingerbread house out of graham crackers. She loves this and just like last year, wanted Daddy to help her.

This year she wanted to roast a marshmallow in the big fire pit.

Afterwards we picked up Zaxby's for lunch and headed back home to finish getting ready for our trip to Disney the next day.

That afternoon, I swung by Kate's house to pick her up and we headed up to Life University for their 5K.
Noah's mom, Adriana (from MMO & St. Thomas) joined us this year along with her neighbor and a few friend's of Kate's.

This guy was the M.C. I just really wonder how long it took him to get all of this glitter out of his beard. 

I didn't think it was really cold out, but right when the run started, it began drizzling pretty heavily. Of course, as it got darker the temperature dropped so by the time we finished, I was quite cold., especially my hand.

I mostly stuck with Adriana and her neighbor, but towards the end caught up with Kate. I ran for a while three separate times and felt really good doing it which was a surprise for me since I didn't train.

This was a fun day and fun way to bring in the holiday festivities. I look forward to both events next year. I'm thinking about asking Stella if she wants to participate with me next year. I really think she'll love running the campus while admiring the lights. And it would be a cool thing for us to do each year.