Weekend Review

Another weekend's come and gone in a flash!

This past weekend, MG and I were back in the car to drive up to Avalon, NJ (also called "the shore"...just not that Jersey Shore).

One of MG's best friends from growing up and his wife and two kids were up there for the summer with his family. He and his brother had planned a surprise 60th birthday/36th anniversary/vow renewal for his parents. MG was part of the surprise so we made our way up late Thursday night and got in around 11:15.

Our friends who had gotten married in SC the weekend before were in the area on a mini-moon and everyone was out at a bar nearby, so we got in, changed quickly and walked over to the bar to see everyone that we'd seen the week before!

Since it was already late, we only hung out for a little over an hour but it was fun to see everyone, especially since we usually see these friends only about once or maybe twice a year if we're lucky. Two weekends in a row was pretty impressive!

I didn't take any pics. Slap my hands!

Friday we woke up to the most perfect weather ever, and had a day at the beach with our friends and their kids before the festivities that night.

This has become my view on a relatively regular basis lately, and I've got no complaints with it (and neither does the tan I'm sporting now):

There was lots of playing in the sand and in the water....a trip to the ice cream truck, and then even a buried human in the sand:

At one point in the day, their 4 year old son (in that pic) said to his parents "this is the best beach day ever"....melt my heart! :)

We all headed back to get ready for the surprise that night. MG and I went to a bar nearby to wait out the family leaving to to take family photos. I was ok with this view and a sweet breeze while we waited:

Once the family left the house, we hustled over to help with everyone else that was 'behind the scenes' to set up and decorate while they were busy taking pictures.

In the end, they were incredibly surprised when they walked up to the house and everyone was outside, yelling "surprise!"

MG played the alter server, and another of Kev's friends was the 'minister'...It sounds weird, but this was all based off of a joke that Kev's dad had said that if he ever renewed his vows those were the two people he wanted--you have to know this family to know how fun they are.

In the end, the renewal ceremony was funny and sweet:

After watching such a great surprise and special moment take place, both MG and I spoke about how we hope to have kids one day who love us enough to do something special like this. 

The rest of the night was full of fun, food and friends/family. Not a picture was taken because I was having too much fun to even think about it. Plus my purse was in another room :)

Sunday MG was part of a guys' fun day and my friends from down here happened to be up in the same area...4 blocks from where MG and I were staying. So I got to spend some time with my friends from back home:

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it was pretty overcast, and started to sprinkle a little bit. We made the best of it, stuck it out and had some wine on the beach, and just hung out. So funny to "run into" my friends from 4 hours away, right down the street from us up there!

Later that night I was back at Kev's family house where we had dinner together and played A$$hole (the card game) with a huge group of people which was really entertaining and lasted until around midnight when we could all barely keep our eyes open anymore.

Sunday morning we were up around 8 and ready to get on the road. We said good bye to the family and our friends who had a flight back to Minnesota that day too. 

Luckily we had a smooth ride back home. We picked up Cooper and then had to go and pick up a piece of furniture from my coworker/friend in DC that she was giving to us. 

She and her husband had us up to see their place and have a coffee....all of a sudden it was 2 hours later! (Guess thats what happens when you hang with good company :)

MG and I drove home, picked up Chipotle for dinner, and totally relaxed on the couch for the night. We re-watched Gravity On Demand, but this time we watched it in 3-D which was really cool. The movie was still as good the second time around!

And here we are, back to a Monday! We've had a ton of fun the past 3 weekends, with friends we don't get to see very often, but now I'm so glad that we don't have any travel plans for next weekend. 

Don't forget to link up with these lovely ladies: