Summer Vacation Part II - Neal & Ivana's Wedding

Last week we took the second part of our summer vacation...traveling to the Chicago area (Mount Prospect/Arlington Heights to be precise) to attend our nephew, Neal Sieroslawski's, wedding. It was an absolutely fantastic time. In addition to all of the activities, we were able to see our youngest grandchild, Awnya! She has grown so much since our last visit, and is talking more and more. What a delight to watch her interact with her parents and her other little cousins, and share her "observations" regarding Elmo!

We were graciously hosted by the groom's parents, my brother Gary and my terrific sister-in- law Terry. We even had our own lower level "suite" with all of the privacy in the world. Hours spent visiting in their lovely yard was one of the highlights of the trip (second only to teasing the heck out of Gary).

The weather was wonderful, the wedding was beautiful, and it was so much fun to see all of the family and get to know the newest member .... Neal's wife Ivana.

Neal is one very special man. He and our son Erik were very close since they were teens. Neal said he wanted Erik to still be part of the wedding day, so he distributed small pewter lapel pins in the shape of a plane for all of the men in the wedding party to wear, (in the place of a boutonniere) as well as the fathers of the bride and groom, all the men in our family and one for our daughter Kari and me. It was so touching. Something we will always remember. Neal's wife, Ivana, is just as caring. She shared her thoughts about Neal and Erik's relationship with us in a letter....it made us feel that much closer to her.

Another great aspect of our trip to Chicago was to be able to visit with two friends from Sitka, AK. Theresa, friend of Neal and Erik, and Morgan a friend of Erik and Theresa. By the end of the visit the whole Sieroslawski clan had incorporated both into the "family."

The weekend went way too fast, arriving on Thursday night and departing on Monday at noon. But we managed to have three great visits with all the family members, attend the wedding, the brunch the following morning, walk to a farmer's market, have Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and be with our granddaughter (even though she was not feeling very good:-( What a great way to end our summer! It was one to really remember.