Saturday

Wow was this ever a busy day in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. The morning started with great weather with some clouds which held the temps down to the high 70's. After a 7 AM wake up we got ready and headed down to the restaurant for some tasty breakfast which came with the room. After making sure all had eaten we headed out to sister Dee and Mike's beautiful place so the kids could run in their huge yard. Their 2 doggies helped to make sure the kiddos got plenty of exercise as they chase them around outside.

We played and visited with them until it was time to head back to the motel so we stopped and purchased a few items at Wal-Mart before deciding to have a lite lunch at Subway. We knew it would be hours before we would eat again as the reception wasn't due to start somewhere around 5-6. After lunch we headed back to the motel and sure enough Gabe went down for a nap as his eyes were heavy with sleep. Bob and I took Annsley down to the indoor pool for an hour or so of swimming  as she and Bob had to leave early for the 3 PM wedding. Jill had been gone most of the morning doing the makeup for the wedding party so we never saw her until it was time for them to leave for the church.

Gabe continued to sleep so finally around 2 PM we woke him up and got him dressed then set out for the church which was about 30 miles away up in the mountains. Yikes what a beautiful drive as this is the country where I use to run these hills. My how the area has changed so much since I left home in '64. Lots of the old farms and homesteads are falling in and abandoned as well as lots of new houses everywhere. There aren't to many farms still in operation. I recognized a couple I use to farm on with making hay, etc that are still a working farm.

We made it to the church about 5 minutes before the ceremony started and wow was there ever a crowd. The setting was just beautiful outside between large maple trees that are along the edge of the cemetery. We were in the shade the hold time with a nice gentle breeze. Bobby did an excellent job as he brought these two together before us and GOD and married them. While the ceremony was short and unique it was a tear jerker for me as well as others. Nancy and I kept Gabe as Annsley was the flower girl and did she did a wonderful job and was cute as a picture.

We broke down the chairs and all the wedding stuff and loaded it in a large trailer afterwards as there were plenty of men to help with that project as the pictures were being taken before heading out to the reception hall which was about 5 miles away. The reception had us snacking on cheese trays, fresh fruit and peanuts. After all the formalities we ate buffet style pulled pork sandwiches, chicken salad on a croissant, mac and cheese, pork and beans, diced spuds, yikes all this was homemade and plenty for seconds.

The dancing started and lasted until lots of the guests who where from out of sate had to made very early flights out of Washington D.C. the next morning left. So we once again broke down the reception hall and loaded the remaining arrangements and left overs and left the hall clean as a whistle. It was nearly 10:30 by the time we dropped off what we where carrying back to the Dillon residence and then headed back to the motel. Finally after a shower I hit the sack and Nancy was still wired with her picture taking so she was still on the computer when I did lights out. LATER