NYC #2

So Saturday, 9/20 in NYC was my sister's wedding. My brother's semi-official anniversary is 8/13, mine is 10/20, my sister's is now 9/20. Easy enough, eh?

We arrived at the venue about 2 hours before the wedding was set to start. This was designated Picture Time, but the bride's wedding dress was notably absent so that didn't happen so much. Instead we took some of our own pics.

The wedding was at the Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Nice place, nice ceremony, everybody was happy. The DJ apparently had some commitment issues and showed up a couple hours late, but it all worked out. Dancing was done, with the Grand March, the Flying Dutchman, and the Chicken Dance thrown in as a nod to our Western Kansas roots. The kids took advantage of the dancin' as well:
After the reception it was off to Coney Island. We rode the subway in all our wedding gear, which created quite a scene. Also it took forever. We had dinner at Nathan's, where the Coney Dog originated. The hot dogs were tasty as advertised. Then it was off down the boardwalk to the WonderWheel, where the happy couple was engaged. We rode in a "swinging" car, after being promised it wasn't *too* scary. It was fun, and the kids' screams of "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!!!!" were full of laughter. Here are the newlyweds on the Wheel:
No account of the trip would be complete without mentioning Rhiannon. She's a girl my sister knew and spent a ton of time with in San Jose, and she flew all the way to NYC to be a part of the festivities. She and Mr. K bonded in the way that kids in a crowd of adults will, and he developed quite the little 6-year-old crush on her. It was cute, and we can only hope he's able to move on since losing her to the ending of the weekend.Saturday was a laaaate night, with the longest subway ride ever back to Manhattan with an exhausted family, wife, and kids. But we made it eventually and crashed hard. Sunday morning was the final event of the weekend, a brunch hosted by Matt's mom. Steph and the kids stayed behind at the hotel for some much-needed relaxation prior to the return trip. The Bean was much much better on the trip home, and we made it back to bed in Denver without incident.

All in all it was a great trip, if a bit exhausting. My new family has now met the remainder of my original family and it all went well. It sounds like we'll all be together again for at least part of the holidays and I can look forward to that now.