recap

For my own record keeping purposes I need to get this down...

We left home after school on Wednesday and arrived in Buffalo at Robert's door step about 8 am the next morning. The kids slept most of the time and Jordan and I managed to split the driving and each get a little sleep.

Once we got the tour of Robert's place he and Jen took us out for breakfast at their favorite local diner. We each ate a full breakfast for $1.99. yeah.

Then Robert wanted to show us around the city some. Of course because it was Robert this itself was an adventure. To start with, before we could leave his house he insisted we take a potted flowering plant from his door step. So we traveled around Buffalo for the rest of the weekend with a potted plant in our van.

Our intent was to head to the harbor to see the boats but we made some detours prior to that.

We were following Robert in our vehicle...no small feat.

First we swung past the Buffalo zoo and ran across a busy intersection to see some giraffes through the gates of the zoo. Then we swung past a Frank Lloyd Wright home and then somehow ended up in downtown Buffalo viewing the capitol building and climbing up like 27 flights of stairs to get the view of the city from the observation deck.

We never did make it to the harbor. I'm telling you...Robert as a sight seeing guide is a cross between an episode of Seinfeld and the Twilight Zone.

And I. Loved. Every. Second.

At about 1 pm we checked into our hotel and all fell asleep. That night the rest of the family arrived and on Friday we did Niagra and that night was the rehersal and dinner. Saturday was the wedding of course and we headed out of town on Sunday late morning for Chicago.

The weekend was a whirlwind as most wedding weekends tend to be...but I loved being with my family and seeing Robert just about as happy as I can possibly imagine him being.

There were gaping holes in the weekend...like the absence of my dad. When someone is missed so strongly on 'ordinary' days...their absence is all that much more noticeable on days when family members are added. There were moments when we would make eye contact with each other and it seemed we were all thinking the same thing...'if only dad were here'...

But just as he would have wanted...we did not let his absence keep us from supporting and loving Robert, welcoming a new sister and creating memories that we'll all treasure.