sarah's wedding

One of our good friends, Sarah, got married this past weekend in Deerfield Mass. Sarah lived in NY when I first moved here. And although she moved to DC shortly thereafter (Surprisingly I think I only knew her for a year or two in NY), we've always stayed in contact. I love Sarah for her humor, her energy and spunk, and her warmth.

Ryan and I drove up to Deerfield on Saturday morning. Its about a 3.5 hour drive. I wasn't sure how Fay would handle the drive -- we haven't been on a road trip since xmas when she was 2 months barely aware of her surroundings. I took the precaution of packing some of her favorite foods (carrots, cheerios, teething biscuit, milk), and I bought two new toys for the road.

Guess what! Fay hates being confined to the carseat. She was fine for the first hour of the trip, when she was.....*sleeping*. But when she woke up, she wanted out of that seat and now. It didn't help that mommy and daddy were WAAAAAAY up in the front seat while Fay was facing backwards in the back seat. She cried for what had to be 45 minutes, while I tried to give her milk, carresses, toys, songs, everything. Finally we pulled over to give her some boob and hold her for a while.

Once we got back on the road, I stayed in the back seat with her, and she was a little happier but not much. Finally she fell asleep about 20 minutes before we arrived at the hotel.



Fay was able to attend the wedding, which was beautiful. The wedding took place in Sarah's mother's back yard. Her father passed away last year and it had been his wish that Sarah marry in their yard and orchard that he had nurtured. The ceremony was near the house overlooking the orchard and the reception was down the hill by the orchard. We plucked some raspberries off the vine immediately following the wedding. Not to say that the provided snacks weren't tasty.



After the wedding we met our nanny, Mandy at our hotel to ditch Fay. Mandy is originally from Boston so we gave her Friday off to go home for the weekend and she agreed to make the 2 hr hike to Deerfield to sit with Fay. Such a nice treat to have someone Fay knows and loves to stay with her in the unfamiliar surroundings of a hotel. Then Ryan and I drove back to enjoy the reception. We had a great time and met some really nice people. Ryan and I thoughtfully examined the people we were seated with at the reception and determined we were at the.... friends-of-sarahs-that-don't-live-near-her-and-
are-older-couples-with-children-table

If she reads this, she'll have to let me know if we were right. :)

This morning, after a brief (freezing!) dip in the hotel pool, we got to see Sarah and her family again for brunch at the orchard. Then Ryan, Fay and I took off for another road trip (yay!) towards home. Luckily, Fay fared MUCH better this time. Mommy sat in the back seat with her, while Fay lunched and napped and played and was generally in a good mood.

Overall, it was a great weekend. It was fun to get away from home and spend time in a beautiful part of the East Coast. It was great to see Sarah, whom I haven't seen in a couple years and finally meet her (now) husband.

Ryan took some really lovely pics of Fay and me. And I tried to return the favor (must learn how to take a photo!). Take a look at the Flickr set....
Click here for Sarah Howard Wedding Photo Set