You Can Dance If You Want To.

Okay, soooo...The wedding day itself. There will be tons of photos in this post, but I will try to talk less than I normally do. You're welcome.

Sunday started pretty early for us. We got up around six and then drove to a Hy-Vee in Rock Island for some fruit and then to a Dunkin Donuts in Davenport for coffee and doughnuts to bring to the "gettin' ready for the wedding" party.

Stinky used to be a receptionist at a local cosmetology college and as her gift, two of the instructors offered to do her wedding hair and make-up for free and would charge the wedding party a nominal fee to do ours. So, we had doughnuts and bagels and fruit and coffee and it was a damn good thing we were fortified because I was in that hot hotel room from 8 a.m. until 1:30'ish. Yeah, it all took a while and I went last so the wedding party could get to pictures at 1. I figured it wasn't super important to get photos of me.

All that primping seemed to really pay off. Both my girls looked lovely for the big event.

It was also really fun to hang out with the maids of honor. They were all really sweet and adorable...Even if they did make me listen to too much Shania Twain.

Picture courtesy of Kim Lesinger.

I was finally read and got in a couple of the wedding party pics. I love the one above with Stinky's new and wonderful mother-in-law. Except, I wish I'd remember to keep my arm away from my body. Hello, middle aged lady arms.

So, we finally got to the part where we walked our baby down the aisle. I won't talk about any of the weird family dramas that went on before or during the ceremony. Suffice it to say, that when you bring a few large families together, things can get a little...Colorful along the way.

The most important thing is that my girl got hitched to a man she is madly in love with and I got to walk her down the aisle to start all of that.

Thanks for the photo, Kim Leisenger.

It was so damn hot that day, but right before the ceremony it looked like it might storm. We got lucky and the storm went just North of us. I guess Bettendorf got some serious hail. Whew! All it did for us, was cool things down a little.

The reception was lovely. Stinky's uncle was the DJ and he played such great music, there were tons of people on the dance floor all night.

Thanks for the picture, Tom Rodgers.

We were lucky that all my siblings could make it. I hadn't seen my sisters at the same time in the same room in years. Even though I didn't get to talk to them as much as I would have liked, it was great to see them.

Hey, John wore a tux for the first time in his life! It was pretty warm in the room, so by the end of the night, the tie and the vest and the jacket came off, but it was there for a while and I documented that shit.

Thanks for the photo, Chelsea Bilskemper. This was exactly  how the end of the night felt.

By 11 o'clock and after about five hours of dancing, the reception was over and we all headed over to the rooftop bar. It was a nice place, but since it was Sunday, it closed at midnight and the kids weren't able to get any food. And they REALLY needed some food.

John and I decided it was time to go home and leave the young kids to their adventures. I was amazed at how much we danced and how late we stayed up. Not bad for a couple of old folks.

The next day was another bike race for John. Sure, he was tired and he had had a few beers the night before, but he said it was the dancing that really killed his legs.

He was a stud and raced anyway. He wasn't as strong as he would have been, but it was great to watch him race and hang out with some friends and it was also wonderful to finally get home and work in the garden afterward.

So, now my daughter is hitched and we have the rest of the Summer to play and work and live and I might have a little more time to be better at all of that.