Congrats, Mark and Kelly!

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures).

On Friday, May 25, Mark and Kelly tied the knot. They were married at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church and had the reception at The Italian American Club.

Before the wedding, beginning on Thursday, the pre-marital preparation started. We had the rehersal at the church for the parents of the bride and groom, and anyone else included in the wedding. After a successful rehearsal, Kelly's parents, Steve and Maureen, had everyone back to their house for a lasagna dinner and drinks. The night, for most of the guys, any way, ended with an intense round of "lightening" or "knockout" on the basketball court.

Friday morning, Mark and I went golfing with six of his friends. We played the first nine at Saint John's in a scramble format. The other team won by a stroke, so the losing team sprang for lunch at Wendy's.

After golf, the afternoon just flew by, and before we knew it, we had to get to the church to start taking pictures before the ceremony.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Alison, Haley, the junior bridesmaid, Katie, the maid of honor, and all the bridesmaids, Christina, Lauren, and Erin all looked beautiful. On Mark's side, Jason, Rick, and Jeff were groomsmen along with me, the best man.

The reception hall was gorgeous. The appetizers, dinner, and dessert were all great as well. Mark and Kelly opted to have a band, Joyride, instead of a DJ. We've been to weddings with good bands before, but I've never liked any enough to make me consider having one at my own reception. Well, this band, was totally different from any that I've ever seen. They did an amazing job, not only at performing a wide range of music, but also at keeping people involved without seeming pushy. Before we knew it, they were announcing the last dance, and Mark and Kelly were off to get ready for their honeymoon in Hawaii. They took both their cameras, so I'm expecting we'll get quite a few photos when they get back.

If you want to see other photos from the wedding, you can see those taken by MPnA right here.

Unfortunately, for me, Mark's wedding wasn't the only big event this weekend. We had a HUGE deployment at work that I had to head right over for after the reception. When I finally left work, things were looking pretty good, and from the sounds of it, the deployment was a success. We'll know more tomorrow as the users get logged into the new network. Beginning at 6 am on Friday, until 6 am Sunday, I only managed 3 hours of sleep. During that time, I worked for about 26 hours while the rest was spent on wedding stuff. After I got home, early Sunday, in the next 24 hours, I managed to sleep about 18 hours! Michele was a trooper and took care of Jake all weekend. Today, felt pretty normal, so I think my body has balanced itself back out. I just wanted to let everyone know that I wasn't intentionally slacking on getting this post/announcement up. It's just been a hectic weekend.

To end on a positive note, if you haven't been watching any shows on FX this spring, you may not have noticed that Rescue Me is about to return. As I've mentioned before, this show is definitely not for everyone (younger children included) but it is by far one of my favorites. Season 3 begins on June 13! If you follow the link, you can click on the promo to see what's in store for Tommy and the gang.

Mother's Day 2007 (and more)

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Jake and I had a great visit at the Schwartz house on Saturday. Heather and Ryan were there along, with Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz and Kris and her 3 month old baby girl, Sydney. Mrs. Schwartz cooked a nice breakfast for everyone, and we were able to hang out and catch up for a few hours. Meme and Alison headed over just as we were leaving since they hadn't seen Heather in ages either. After leaving, we got a quick bite to eat at Halo Burger and fed Jake as well. Jake then took a nice nap including about an hour or so being held by Meme.

During this time, Michele was in Lansing with her girlfriends. They grabbed some lunch and did a little shopping at the outlets.

On Sunday, after going to church with DLCnM at St. Mary's of the Hills, we had a delicious brunch at Gus O'Connors in Rochester. I would highly recommend anyone in the area try it out some Sunday. We had quite a large party: Pete and Teri, both Grandma's (Remenicky and Stewart), DLCnM, MPnA, Melissa, Mark and Kelly, and the three of us.

We headed home after brunch, and after his nap and snack, we spent the rest of the day outside. I blew a tube on my bike, so Michele got to pull Jake for the first time in his trailer. I rollerbladed along beside them, and we went up to a local park. Jake got to swing, slide, and play in the wood chips. We then got out his new water table when we got back home, and let him splash around in the water until dinner time.

Here's a little video that I took of Jake playing around on the piano on Saturday. I didn't realize it was going to turn out so dark, but you can get a good idea of how much fun he was having. You'll want to make sure your speakers are turned on so you can hear his masterpiece!

Happy Birthday Michele

(Please click on the photo to view more images.)

Yesterday, Michele celebrated her 29th birthday! Before we get to that, let's go back another weekend...

So, the main reason there have been no blog posts is related to the fact that I am getting old. Last weekend, while Michele spent time with her family, Mark and I went up to Boyne with some of his buddies for Mark's bachelor party. Between Friday and Saturday, we golfed 54 holes. We spent time at the casino, ate some great food, and drank probably a bit more than we should have. It has taken me nearly a week to recover from the sleep that I lost over the weekend. We had great weather for golf, and the three courses we played were gorgeous.

Back to the present past, Michele celebrated her birthday yesterday with Jake and I, and the Pruss family. Michele chose PF Chang's for her birthday dinner, so while she was getting Jake ready for bed, Jason and I went and got the takeout. Today, she is heading to Lansing to see her girlfriends, while I take Jake up to GB so he can finally meet Ryan and Heather Luna (along with the rest of the Schwartz clan).

Jake had a pretty big week at daycare. He has moved up from the Infant room to the Transitional Toddler's room. We think he'll be in this room until we pull him out for the summer. He was getting a bit too big to be in the same room with all the little babies. His teachers said he did great getting used to the new room throughout the week, so we'll see how next week goes when he is in there full time. He moved up with one other little girl, and a few other kids moved there a couple weeks ago, so he'll recognize plenty of the other children in the new room.