The Wedding of Our Cousins, Jocelyn and Daniel

Minnesota, May 28, 2016

Above, all the Slattery first cousins, and first cousins once removed, who could be gathered in one place.

 

We'll take any excuse to visit our Minnesota family, and Jocelyn's wedding was a great, festive weekend! We flew in on Friday night and went straight to the Mystic Lake Casino hotel, where almost all the out-of-town family was staying. We quickly ran into Aunt Nancy's sisters, brother-in-law, mother, and nephews, in from North Dakota, in the lobby, and then also Dave and Candy, in from Chicago.

Breakfast the next morning was a long affair, with some people coming early and staying late, some leaving early, and some arriving late. Robert and Samantha hit the pool for awhile, and then Jennifer, Aurora, and Candy went out for pedicures, and then Uncle Frank, Aunt Martha, and Brady arrived just in time for lunch. Eventually everyone made it to the golf course, just in time for rain, and the lovely ceremony was held indoors, but no one minded. We got to visit with Great-Aunt Annie, and to meet Aurora's husband Thorn for the first time, and there was a lot of laughter and conversation.

Samantha had been told that some children would be asked to distribute programs at the wedding, so she nominated herself to make the programs. She spent the plane ride, and much of the morning before the wedding, hard at work; finished "programs" also included stickers, Dan's name, and a number indicating which of the limited edition each was (she made a total of thirteen before she ran out of paper). At the wedding, we helped her target people who would especially appreciate a hand-made creation.

After the ceremony, the sun came out, and the kids ran out to play on the golf course. Brady, at thirteen, felt very important "watching" the littler ones, and Uncle Frank came out to chat with Samantha for awhile. Mostly the kids ran around stealing rock candy from the candy buffet and finding golf balls--and one turtle, and had a great time. Brady at one point recruited Mitch (now firmly in the realm of "big" cousins) to pose with him and Marcus and Nancy's nephews in the photo booth.

Aunt Jen fed Samantha the frosting from her cupcake, Samantha and I danced at the edge of the dance floor for awhile, and everyone was thrilled to meet Helen (she's yawning, not yelling, in the picture below with Candy).

Everyone slept well that night!

On Sunday morning, about forty five of us met at the hotel buffet for brunch. Hans, the German manager, was very friendly, and the food was great. When people started dispersing--many to take naps in the afternoon--we went to Fort Snelling, where we watched 1820s infantry demonstrations, learned about lucets and old-fashioned stethoscopes while doing a kids' scavenger hunt about technology of the 1820s, and then admired this crazy tricyle/motocycle parked next to our car as we left.

Dinner Sunday night was at Brian's new house, with more family gathering to visit and relax.

Babies are true celebrities in these parts.

Monday morning, Robert talked Uncle Frank into taking his pontoon boat out on Turtle Lake so Marcus and Samantha could go fishing. At the front of the boat, Uncle Frank's neighbor Ray helped Marcus improve his casting, while Samantha and Uncle Frank talked a mile a minute, times two, to each other at the back of the boat.

Uncle Frank gave each kid $5 as a fishing "prize"--Marcus, for catching the biggest fish, and Samantha, for "catching" the most fish. There were about twenty sunfish in all, which ended up going home with Ray while we all went to the nearby Culver's for burgers and frozen custard and cheese curds for lunch.

There ended up being about twenty of us at Culver's, and we said our goodbyes and took final pictures from there, before heading to the airport to fly home. I couldn't imagine a better Memorial Day weekend!

 

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