Wedding season...

...has begun!

We made it to NC this past weekend for the wedding. Yay! Ava's fever subsided so we got on the road Friday night after work (and pizza & beer).

We thought it would be a brilliant idea to travel at Ava's bedtime so she'd sleep in the car. The plan was for her to sleep in the car and then we'd sneak her into the hotel room and she'd sleep through the night. Yeah, didn't work. FYI - not a good plan. Of course we had to get through the hotel lobby - complete with bright lights and loud hotel music. Then we had to make it up the elevator. She was bright eyed and bushy tailed when we arrived to our room at 11:30 p.m. Mama and Daddy were zombies.

We watched cartoons and ate more goldfish than you care to know about. Then she got cranky - you know, over-tired cranky. It was 1 a.m. and we were in a booked hotel so I wasn't about to let her scream her head off (this kid has lungs like you can't begin to imagine). So, we toured the hotel. We visited the giant fish in the lobby. We rode the see-thru eleveator up and down and up and down and up and down....all in our PJs. Still cranky. We eventually resorted to the car. We drove for an hour all around Cary, NC. Cute town, btw. We were exhausted at this point and Ava was sitting behind us singing and pointing to everything out the windows. Clearly, our plan wasn't working.

We sat in the parking lot for a while. Chris debated running up the room and grabbing pillows so we could sleep in the car. We made our way back up to the hotel room and decided to watch her in shifts. I volunteered to take the first 2-hour shift (stupid, stupid Michelle). After several tries and a couple hours I got 25 lb Ava to fall asleep in my burning arms. I oh-so-carefully laid her on the little nap mat we prepared for her on the floor (she's anti pack'n'play). She didn't move. Praise Jesus!

After some deep, yet silent, breaths and much stretching I began to wonder where I was going to sleep. I didn't want to go back in the bedroom and leave her on the floor in the living room place. I resorted to the floor, sans blanket, next to Ava. I passed out. Apparently Chris got up shortly thereafter to begin his shift and much to his delight he realized Ava and I were both passed out. Wouldn't you know that Knight in Shining Armor tucked his cozy booty back in bed and left me on the floor?! Yeah, I'm still waiting for THAT apology.

Anyhow, after about 3 hours of sleep on the gross hotel-room carpet we all woke up...with puffy eyes and head-aches. We quickly showered and made it to the complimentary breakfast.

We got some caffeine flowing through our veins and headed out to visit Aunt Zsa Zsa. Chris was elated to drive through his NC State stomping grounds again. Ava and I got to listen to him reminisce the whole way... Court's place is super nice and she has done a fabulous job decorating it. We met Jean-Pierre (who has since passed) and Ava got showered with gifts (bracelets and clothes). We spent a lovely morning at the mall and had a nice lunch together.

Grandma Fescoe met up with us and I'm quite certain that Ava is obsessed with this woman. To say that Ava was happy to see Grandma would be an understatement. Unfortunately, Grandpa Yoda wasn't quite in traveling shape yet after his surgery so we didn't see him. Uncle Chad stayed home to care for him. They were both missed!

We quickly headed back to the hotel and got dolled up for the wedding. We met Jeff and Rach and headed to the wedding. It was fun to see old peeps again and the bride was naturally beautiful. We ate some good food, listened to some good music, tore up the dance floor and dug into the groom's cake (Krispy Kreme donuts).

Ava thankfully slept through the night that night!!! We got to hang out with Uncle Kyle and Aunt Lindsey too which was a wonderful surprise.

We had a safe and uneventful drive home. Can you believe I only took ONE picture during this whole trip. Believe it. I get majorly grumpy without sleep. My ONE picture is below...

I cannot believe how much I just wrote. I'm spent!