Journeying

We got back last night from our big adventure. It was quite a trip! From the flying to the hoteling to the weddinging and familying, we had lots of highs and lots of lows and not a whole lot of sleep. However, now that I am not trapped on a plane with our two wiggling, kicking, crying, toy-throwing, MANIC children, I can say that it was worth it. One of those things we're glad to have done despite some traveling woes. Anyway, here's how it went.

Part I: Planes the First and Second
As we could have (and did, actually) predicted, we were all in various stages of colds by the time our plane took off on Thursday morning. Our children were both veritable rivers of snot, which was actually good because they weren't all congested and hence their ears did fine on the plane. I was starting to feel sickish (but not nearly as bad as I would feel in a couple of days) and Sacha was still in pre-cold land.

We flew to Denver and then on to Detroit from there. Let's just say it was less than fun. I don't know how other people have kids that will just hang out on a plane and look at their dvd player or play with a cup for an hour or whatever, but those are not our kids. Our kids go nuts on the plane. We brought many things for them to do and they played with each for about 30 seconds before attempting to throw it or rip it or whatever. We did have some peaceful moments (and I am talking 5 minutes max) where one or both were engaged in an activity, so we were glad for that.

Here we are in happier times, right after boarding the first flight.


Really, the only thing that got us through this part of the trip was Bena.dryl. Until recently, I was vehemently opposed to drugging your kids on the plane, but I am not anymore. It is a mercy to everyone. We just gave them enough to calm them down without knocking them out and that helped both of them take some semblance of a nap. Not at the same time, but still, it was something! And so, eventually, the two flights crawled by and we made it to Michigan in one piece. Whew!

Part II: The Family
After being met by Sacha's mom (who had just arrived) and one of her uncles, who had driven out to meet us, we all schlepped out to another aunt and uncle's house. They are the parents of the bride, who is Sacha's cousin and who lived with us for almost a year when she lived in Portland. In fact, we inadvertently introduced her to her fiance, who was the best friend of the gay law student who rented a room from us at the same time that Rachel was living with us.

Anyway, Sacha's family is wonderful and we were thrilled to see everyone again. From the moment I met the Michigan crew (7 or 8 years ago? We are coming up on 9 years together in December, which is pretty amazing...), they have welcomed me with open arms and made me feel right at home. Mateo and Natalia got to meet lots of new relatives on Thursday night and this continued throughout the time we were there. They got lots of attention and Mateo ate it up. Natalia was glued to one of us for most of time, but that was okay.

One thing I particularly appreciate about Sacha's family (and mine, too, for that matter) is that they treat Mateo and Natalia exactly the same. They don't give more attention or gifts or anything to the one they're biologically connected to. They just give both of them lots of love. It is really the best gift they could possibly give to our family.

Anyway, the family connection was the highlight of the trip. We got to see the bride and a little bit of the groom and lots and lots of loving relatives. And, we spent lots of quality time with Sacha's parents. It was nice for us all to be away from home and have no obligations other than spending time with each other.

Part III: The Hotel
We stayed in a nice hotel in the middle of a large commercial office complex. Thanks to Mateo's insistence on getting up between 6 and 7 am despite the time change, and to both kids' needs for something to do at all times, we explored nearly every inch of the place. Here we are in the early morning, looking out at the sunrise from the elevators on our floor. I tried to photograph our reflections, without much luck, but it's still kind of a cool photo.


We ran around in the lobby in our pajamas...


...charged up and down the stairs, learned about revolving doors and automatic doors, played in the pool, stared at people in the workout room, checked out the parking garage, visited the really awesome atrium in the building next door...

...and put our fingers (and, in some cases, mouths) in places that they were not meant to go. Two examples of this: Mateo learned the hard way about not pushing the "help me now!" call button in the elevator and then, a few days later, was caught by his Mama in the act of licking a mirror in a public restroom. EWWWW. I was actually taking a picture of him at the time, because it was so cute the way he was looking at himself...and then suddenly I realized he was about to lick. Bleck.


Part IV: The Wedding
The wedding was the catalyst for the whole trip. We've been to quite a few weddings by this point in our lives, but this one was a whole new experience for us. Sacha's cousin and her now-husband recently converted to orthodox Judaism. This had caused something of an uproar in the family and we weren't sure how things would go once we got there. We were pleasantly surprised to find that, by and large, people put away whatever opinions they might have had and just focused on celebrating the bride and groom and the love they obviously have for one another.

The wedding and reception made for a joyful afternoon/evening. The crowd was a mix of people from their family and friends and their new religious community. And, there were lots of new and interesting things happening throughout! Here's Mateo with the bride:


Here's part of a pre-wedding ritual called bedecking, where the groom is sung and danced to the bride after not seeing her for a week. The groom puts a veil over her face and then everyone proceeds to the ceremony from there. The bride sits on a throne...


...and a group of men comes in singing loudly and dancing the groom up to the bride. It was very intense!


I can't speak to the service itself, as I spent it at the park next door with the kids, to avoid the commotion they would inevitably cause inside! But, Sacha says that it was mostly in Hebrew and Aramaic and involved lots of symbolic movements and blessings and such. The kids and I had a great time at the park, by the way, although I had to laugh that we were romping around while dressed to the nines. Here are some photos of them in their fancy outfits:





Here they are running to Mommy as she came to get us after the ceremony. This was such a sweet moment:


I can, however, speak to the reception. It was fun and actually got pretty wild at some points. There was a partition down the middle of the dance floor, so that men and women danced separately. There was a LOT of dancing, especially in the beginning when the bride and groom entered and were immediately swept up into a joyous dance of lots of people holding hands and moving in concentric circles. This was nearly every woman in attendance packed onto the dance floor:


The other thing I didn't know about orthodox weddings is that the guests are expected to entertain the bride and groom, so there were some different stunts and little performances by various guests.

Needless to say, Mateo thought this was pretty awesome. He danced with us on the women's side and with his Poppa (Sacha's dad) and uncles and male cousins on the men's side. Here he is, trying on a yarmulke, and then with his cousin and uncle below.



As the night went on and the dance floor got more sparsely populated, he wandered around dancing and gaping at everything around him.


See Mateo in the background? He had just narrowly escaped being leveled by one of the dancers' shoes as the circle whirled around:

Even Natalia, who was very shy for most of the weekend, seemed to enjoy herself. We got to sit with Sacha's other cousins for dinner, so we caught up with them and got to meet some of Rachel's friends and generally had a lot of fun.


Part V: Planes the Third and Fourth
Yesterday afternoon, after a post-wedding brunch at the bride's parents' house, we went to the airport. We were all exhausted and the kids were overtired and the last last last last LAST thing we wanted to do was get on a plane. Especially since the flights were longer going home. But, we made it through. Even though I forgot to pack the benadryl in our carry-on. Oh, what am I saying. Not carry-on. Carry-ONS. We had so much stuff that I was like a pinball going down the plane's aisle to our seats, bouncing off one side and then the other!

However, we did make it. We tried to just take it moment by moment. And both kids did take naps again, so that helped. And we spent a lot more time walking the aisles with them, which probably helped lessen the screaming episodes. Overall, I think the flights home went better than the first ones, but we were so tired that it all pretty much evened out. This was a low moment:


Now we are home and hoping to not see a plane again for awhile. The kids and I had a lovely morning with our Tuesday playgroup at the arboretum, which was a great way to return to our normal routine. We're glad we took the trip and also very glad to be back!