Laura Topp's wedding

I'm still running about a week behind...but last Saturday we attended Art and Gayle's daughter's wedding in Vero Beach. Art and John have known each other since 1st or 2ND grade...so naturally Laura and Brenna have been friends since day one.
Laura went to Eau Gallie High...Brenna went to Melbourne High...so they each had a different circle of friends, but they've always remained in touch with one another. Brenna was pleased to be asked by Laura to be a bridesmaid. We booked a room at the hotel Costa de Este...which is where the reception was going to take place. (no need to drive anywhere!) The weather for the weekend was PERFECT!(...well...a tad windy...but otherwise perfect.)
After a wild trip home...canceled flights, missed connections, etc...Brenna ended up changing plans and landed in West Palm Beach instead of Orlando. She managed to set up a car rental en route...and arrived to find a van waiting for her. The clerk told her "It will hold all your stuff!"...that was great...except all her stuff was on the other plane..haha She did have a sundress and the bridesmaid dress with her...she brought them with her down to Vero Beach on Friday night. The rest of her things were delivered by Delta directly to the hotel...so it all worked out.
We arrived Saturday early afternoon. In time to check out the preparations.

Gayle's sister-in-law Nancy joked that Gayle was like an addict without drugs...when they told her she was not allowed to take ANY pictures during the ceremony! She took plenty before and at the reception...haha
The ceremony was at the Riverfront park in Vero Beach. I had never been to that park...it was huge!...They had reserved one area with a large Gazebo (with one smaller one one each side)
Art and Laura walking up the "aisle"
Laura and Frankie walking back.

Lindsey (the brides sister) and A.J. - Frankie's son)
Brenna & Christy & ?
the flower girls...they were cute...on the way "up" they were tossing the petals around like crazy...they all ran out long before they got close to the crowd...one was kind of pouting about it...haha
back at the hotel they had an open bar for an hour...while the photographer(s) finished up. When the group got back...Gayle was armed and ready with her camera...took this nice shot of us.
pretty flowers
Lindsey and Brenna...(Brenna was in between Laura and Lindsey they are all about 1 year apart) I think
Laura and her mom, Gayle
Gayle made a nice video for the bride and groom...here's a picture of her and Lindsey watching it. It was a little long...but then again Laura and Frankie have been dating since Laura turned 21...she'll be 28 in May. It was nicely done...Gayle is good at that...and we all know there was no shortage of pictures! haha
Brenna with Frankie and Laura at the reception.
Glenn and Cathy's daughter was also in the wedding...she and Laura went to school together and were good friends for many years.
three of the bridesmaids
There was lots of dancing...the DJ was great. Once he got people going...he kept things moving...I didn't know all the music...but he made it fun...and again kept the momentum going. He did a great job. I have been to other receptions where I knew and liked all or most of the music (Brittany and Zach) and we ALL danced and had fun...but I have also been to some where I didn't really know the music and the DJ was terrible...I won't mention any names... I just liked the way this guy mixed up the music a bit...but played mostly what the bride and groom wanted and managed to keep everyone happy. (maybe the older old folks got left out...there wasn't much slow dancing going on)
Art and John. Art was glad to not be responsible for anything else at that point...haha...and John was saying something like "One down and one to go."

Last Day in Tahoe

Here's a few shots of our afternoon of sled riding on the golf course.
We also made some snowmen...since this was the perfect kind of wet snow for packing together snowballs or snowmen. John made one.
and I made one a little smaller.
Here's John in between his and the bigger one we saw when we first got there.
Looking down from the top of the hill. You can actually see some slopes in the back ground...we think they were part of Diamond Peak.
Lots of sledders.
The day we left, I was watching this little bird looking for the little red berries (look closely!) in the little tree out back.
We had to put the chains on to get out of town...we pulled over for faster moving vehicles a couple of times...and looked down at the lake.

Winter Wonderland

It snowed all night and when we woke up it was a wintry wonderland. Very quiet...just a few birds...still no bears...haha

remember that little tree out back?....it was transformed. Since I still had a (kind of) hurt knee...I decided against walking around too much in the back...rocks and pine cones all on the ground, covered in snow, could have been hazardous...
we did walk back down to the beach...because now the sun was out...and we wanted to check out the lake again. In case anyone was interested in swimming.....haha
Look at the beach now

powdery snow...but John tried again to make a snowball...if you got snow really close to the water...it was a little moist.
you can't have all that snow and not at least try to make a snowman.



I didn't make a snowman...but I did get a little corny
Here's the park after the snow
My friend Leigh ann told us to check out this local spot. We went for lunch the first day...and back for breakfast the next. It kind of reminded me of Pop's Casbah, a local spot that used to be in downtown Melbourne.
the backyard of the condo now covered in snow
The condo owner told us there was a sled in the garage and if we were interested we could head over to the Country Club golf course and do some sledding....so of course we did. (John was very tempted to go snowboarding at Diamond Peak with 2 feet of fresh snow...but he knew I couldn't ski with my hurt knee...so he went sledding with me instead. (after all we were there "celebrating" our 30th anniversary...he didn't want to take me all the way to Tahoe, then ditch me to go do his own thing...haha)
John only tried this once....I told him he was going to break his neck...then we'd both be hurt...also didn't want to give the local kids any bad ideas! haha

Incline Village, Nevada

we left Kirkwood on Friday morning (16th)...and here's what it looked like out the window.
we had to buy snow chains and we were hoping we'd make it over the pass. We were headed to Incline Village , Nevada. Megan, Maris, Maris, Gannon, Ian, Martha and Tony loaded up their vehicle and headed in to Reno.
here's the view from the front seat.
Check out the sign at the entrance.
We made it..and arrived at Incline Village a few hours later.
A friend at Story time told me about the place...John got a condo for two nights.We were in Bear Country...(but we didn't see any...too bad)
Here's the view out the back door of our place. I went out and walked around...looking at the big pine cones, listening to the birds, etc
then then storm started moving in here
big globs of snow started falling...it was great!
so...of course I had to go out!

I don't remember how many times I went in and back out....it was too fun to stay inside!
eventually I did come inside and we made a plan for the evening. The Hyatt hotel and casino was a few blocks away from our place. The beach was a block and a half.
we walked to the beach to check out the lake up close.

John was a little cold...but he humored me and walked around a bit
we decided to go see the pier at the Hyatt. If had been a good night...we would've sat out by the fire pit and had a cocktail.
Instead we went in by the fireplace

I had a delicious champagne cocktail...John had a specialty martini and then we headed back to our place to get ready for dinner.

it was snowing a little harder...and we had to stop along the way for some photos...haha

Before dinner...here's what the back looked like...the snow was starting to stick