Shannon and Jimmy Wedding - Take Two
Nosebleed seats but hey, we're at the Brewer game!
Shannon and Jimmy got married in September of 2020. Although the original plan was for a big wedding, their date turned out to be at the height of Covid, before the vaccine. They had to scale way back. Sandy went of course but I stayed home with Abby. There was no big celebration, just a very few close family members. They decided to wait a year and hold the big celebration the following summer of 2021, hoping that the pandemic would be over by then. Not exactly, it turned out, but close enough that restrictions on travel and gatherings were eased. With most people vaccinated and holding much of the event outdoors, they were hoping that they could safely have the large wedding they had wanted the year before.
I'm not sure what to call it though. It seems a bit too soon to talk about "renewing vows". That's what a couple usually does after many years, not a few months. I finally decided that "wedding reenactment" was the best description.
Shannon and Jimmy at the wedding ceremony
Sandy left a week before the Big Event so that she could help with last minute preparations. I followed a few days later, flying to Chicago on Tuesday afternoon. It was my first trip since the pandemic had started. I didn't mind wearing a mask in the airport and on the flight except that it meant I couldn't wear my glasses. They fog up almost instantly when I have a mask on. Unfortunately without my glasses I couldn't read, which is how I spend the time while flying. The best I could do was nap all the way on the flight from Boise to Chicago. Since Mickey was flying to Chicago the next morning, I just stayed overnight at the airport Hilton so I could meet up with him when he landed. In my hotel room, I was even able to catch the end of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, which the Milwaukee Bucks won to become World Champions. I still remember watching the last time that they won, fifty years ago.
Family picture at the wedding
Mickey flew in from Baltimore the next morning. He is a bigger sports fan then I am so he was really excited about the Bucks. I had worried a little that if he celebrated too much he might miss his very early flight, but he made it with no problems. He's young and he's tough.
After getting a rental car we were on the road and heading to Milwaukee by mid-morning. The Brewers had a game that afternoon against the Kansas City Royals and we had tickets. We actually got to Milwaukee too early so we had time to stop for a late breakfast at George Webb on Forest Home Avenue, near my parents old house. It's a chain of restaurants that's local to Milwaukee so it is always nostalgic to stop there when I go back to visit. When I was a kid it was a splurge to eat at George Webb, where a hamburger was nineteen cents, instead of at McDonald's, where hamburgers were only fifteen cents.
Ready for the game in her Brewer jersey
After eating we were driving down Oklahoma Avenue when we passed a guy setting up to sell Bucks Championship tshirts in a parking lot. We stopped but he was too busy getting ready and didn't want to be bothered with us so we moved on. Closer to the ballpark, on Blue Mound and Hawley Roads we found another guy selling tshirts in a parking lot. We stopped and each got one for ourselves and one for our significant others. It was at most twelve hours since the Bucks had won the championship and we already had bought tshirts for it. Criticize it if you want but capitalism can be pretty amazing sometimes.
It was a nice day for a ballgame, maybe even a little too hot. We were in the third deck in the cheap seats but at least we were in the shade. There was a big pole right next to my seat but since there weren't many people at our altitude we were able to move over a seat. It was fun to be at a Brewer game, even though the game turned out to be pretty boring. They didn't manage much offense and lost 5-2.
I had parked in the lot on the far side of the freeway so we exited onto Blue Mound Road. That was very convenient because we had a straight shot to Barbierie's Italian Inn, my favorite restaurant while I was growing up in Milwaukee. We stopped for dinner, which was worthwhile in itself and allowed the rush hour traffic to clear from the freeways.
We even got a Brewer souvenir for Abby
After dinner we had a two and a half hour drive to get to Yorkville Illinois, where Shannon and Jimmy live. Mickey was able to hook his iPhone up and show his map application on the display in the car. I'm not a big fan of navigating by phone but I had to admit it was pretty cool and worked well. He could also play music from his Amazon Prime account through the car stereo. We both share a weird sense of humor so "Black Wedding" by In This Moment was our favorite song during the trip.
Next day Mickey and I went to my brother's house in nearby St. Charles. My sisters had both come for the wedding so we had a family reunion. It had been a while since we had all been together so we were able to do some catching up. Before dinner Mickey and I had to leave to head back to the hotel. We needed to get dressed up because there was a rehearsal for the ceremony that evening. Since I was immediate family, I had to practice marching in with Jimmy's parents. The venue was a place called Ashley Farm, which actually is an old farm fixed up to hold events. The ceremony would be outside, which was quite pretty and probably a good idea given Covid wasn't completely over.
I got better seats since Sandy was along
After the rehearsal we went to Whitetail Ridge Golf Club for dinner. Many of the out of town guests were invited so we had our own (mostly) Boise table, with Sandy and I, Mickey, and our friends Mary Beth and Laura and John. Dinner was a buffet and one of the items was pasta. That and an open bar meant that I was happy.
Next day was the ceremony. Fortunately the weather was good since the event was outside. We had a lazy morning. Even though we had to be there "early", that wasn't till mid-afternoon. Sandy was helping Shannon so Mickey and I just hung out. We didn't mind since the bar was open. Several other family members had to be there early too - Jimmy's dad and Shannon's dad. It was a little weird standing around and chatting with Sandy's ex, but our conversation was pleasant.
The ceremony was nice although it seemed a little long to me since it was hot in the afternoon sun. I was glad when we could get back in the shade. Afterwards there was a dinner in the converted barn building, followed by music and dancing. All in all it was a nice event.
Mickey and Sandy at the game
We had one more day before leaving so Mickey, Sandy and I drove back to Milwaukee for another Brewer game, this time against the Chicago White Sox. Before the game we stopped at Kopp's Frozen Custard, another Milwaukee institution. Sandy had some bad luck - right after she got her custard it fell off the cone. I thought that only happened to little kids in movies but it can happen in real life and is just as sad. The Brewer game went better. This time they won. Since it was a night game, with the long drive back we didn't get to our hotel until after midnight.
The next day we had breakfast with Shannon and Jimmy and then drove Mickey to the airport. He had an afternoon flight home so he could be back at work on Monday morning. After dropping him off, Sandy and I drove up to Madison to visit with her parents. We had one full day and I took advantage of it and managed to get to Noble Knight, one of the best game stores in the country, to pick up a wargame. Late that evening we drove back to Chicago, turned in our rental car, and stayed at the airport Hilton again. We had an early morning flight and were back in Boise in time for lunch.
It was a nice trip. We got to see a lot of family and friends. Shannon and Jimmy got to have their big event, which went well. I even got to see two Brewer games. And it was good to be able to travel again after being trapped for over a year by the pandemic.
