The weekend started with an early exit from work and school to make a meeting with Pastor Mike at the church. Amy and her family pretty much grew up in this church and Pastor Mike married us as well as Amy's sister, Nicole, and Martin. We talked about what it all meant and gave Clara a chance to meet with Pastor Mike.
Next up was dinner with Amy's parents and her grandmother up from the Portland area. We spent much of the evening there before heading to the airport to pick up Nicole and Martin fresh from a long flight from Louisville. We all got back to North Bend and fell into bed.
To begin the day on Saturday we had pictures taken and although Clara looked extremely cute in her gown (the same one Amy and Nicole wore at their baptisms), she was not terribly interested in smiling for the camera. I guess those are the artsy shots.
Back to the Borucks' for lunch, then down to Safeco Field for the Mariners-Orioles game. The Mariners have been a tad weak lately (heck, they lost two of three to Tampa), but they crushed those goofy East Coast birds. We sat a few rows into the upper deck in right field and enjoyed splendid weather and the company of Amy's cousins from the Portland area.
Dinner was with Clara's great grandparents on Amy's side in Kirkland followed by a return to the homestead at the base of the mountains.
Wow. Two hard days, but it wasn't over yet. We got to the church early to get set up, find our seats, and try to remember exactly how the ceremony was supposed to go. Since that didn't really take all that long, we spent the rest of the time greeting our friends and family as they arrived.
The ceremony itself was quite short. Clara was an angel in Pastor Mike's arms as he baptised her with water from Source Lake (the source of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie) and introduced her to the congregation. She did, however, decide she had a tiny bit of the devil left in her so I took her out of the sanctuary where she promptly bazooka burped. Luckily, I got a fair amount of help and we were cleaned up without much notice.
After all that was over we all headed back to Amy's parents' one last time, but this time it was for a celebration with oodles of folks joining us. There was too much good food, but the weather was good so we lounged around outside watching various folks try out the new Montana Golf game.
Montana Golf? Supposedly it comes from Montana (well, duh) where they would throw rattlers at barbed wire fences. Over time it's become a little less offensive to the PETA folks. Now we throw a pair of golf balls separated by 15 inches of rope at a "fence" made of PVC piping. (If you want to see the rules and the instructions for building it check out thesnakegame.com or usscouts.org.) I'm no good at it, but it's a blast and just about everyone at the festivities took part.
We bailed out of there late in the evening to get home in time to catch the end of the University of Kentucky vs University of Louisville game. In spite of Martin's current enrollment at UofL he was rooting for UofK. Sorry, Martin, but it wasn't a good day for you. (Details.)
Now it feels like it's midnight, but it's only 9:30. Clara's snoozing away and we're trying to recover. Thank goodness we've another day off tomorrow.
