Uncle Greg is getting married!

Uncle Greg is getting married so we are off to Atlanta for a long weekend of celebrations! Lots of excitement from our crew for the wedding, to see all of the family, and of course, for the plane ride, too! This trip is a big turning point since Charlotte now gets her own seat!!!  Definitely a milestone because for the past almost 8 years we have always had one child on our lap and now they are all big enough to  have their own seats!  Our bank account may not like it, but I will have to say that my lap definitely does!  It seemed so spacious this time around! The kids were amazing on the flights!  Nobody napped but they were totally content and there were no issues at all.  

 The hardest part about the traveling is when we get to Atlanta and we collect our luggage and then I stay with the kids while Rich and gets the rental car.  This process normally takes over 30 minutes and by the point every one is over traveling but they are all great sports and we just play random games or lots of "I spy" and normally finish all of the snacks and the time goes by relatively quickly.  

 The kids were happy to get some time on Friday morning, after a good night's sleep at Nonna and Pop Pop's, to play outside and explore by the creek. 

 Even Charlotte got in on the rope swing fun!

 We made our way down to the creek for a bit, too, and somehow all of the girls ended up partially naked!  Oh goodness!  

 After lunch we made our way to Athens, a little less than 2 hours away, and met up with all of the family.  That night we went to Greg and Jacqueline's house for the rehearsal dinner and the cousins had a blast reconnecting and picking up right where they left off!  It was a bonus that Greg and Jacqueline have an amazing backyard so there was plenty to explore and a nighttime football game made for lots of fun while the adults gave speeches! Ha.  

The Kids Table

 We were so touched by all of the thought that went into the wedding, especially for the kids.  I mean, a piñata at a wedding rehearsal is pretty awesome!  

 Charlotte adored Annabelle!

 So much fun to be with all of the aunts and uncles, too!  

 We all stayed at a hotel close by and the kids loved walking down to the lobby and always seeing someone that we knew!  

 On the day of the wedding the guys all headed to Greg's pretty early so Gina, Amber and I took the kids to a park in Athens. They played for a few hours and Anne Marie and her crew ended up meeting us there which was perfect.  We then went to get some lunch in the cute college town which was a great way to spend the day together.  The kids just LOVE being with one another and it was so great to catch up with the girls, too! 

The wedding was perfect!  Everything was so beautiful and just had such nice rustic yet elegant and thoughtful touches throughout.  The kids highlight were the porta potties (seen in the back of the tent picture below) because they were FANCY!!  Julia kept wanting to go back in-ha ha!

We're so happy for Greg and Jacqueline and so glad that Jacq is officially a member of the Ducote family!  

All of the siblings who were able to make it to the wedding-Brian is deployed and Justin is in an intense language school (learning Arabic!) so were both unable to make it.  They were missed. 

Some fun family photos from the day.

 

 Three generations of handsome RJDs!

The kids were loving the dance floor!  Funny story is that Charlotte actually started in the ergo asleep on my back and Julia was a dancing machine and then Chralrote woke up and started saying "me dance" so I took her out and Julia asked to go in.  Julia then proceeded to fall asleep and Charlotte danced!  We lasted until a little after 9:00 which after a full day and no nap for Charlotte I was extremely impressed with!  

 

Sunday was Michael's birthday so we had a large group of us go out for brunch before everyone went their separate ways home.  What a fun birthday celebration for him to have so much family around!  

Charlotte was loving on "baby Stella" before we said our good-byes

 and vice versa.  

 We made it back to Atlanta by mid afternoon and hung out with Nonna and Pop Pop for the rest of the day which was nice.  The following morning we visited The Waffle House with Nonna before our flight home. 

It was a fast, whirlwind type of a trip but it was great and we are so happy that we were able to be there to celebrate with Greg and Jacq.  We wish them so much love and happiness in the years to come!!