August 26, 2011

Steve and Rachels Wedding in Ohio

Back in July of 2004, my cousin Chris got married. Seven years later, Meredith and I flew out to Ohio to attend my cousin Steve's wedding!

Friday, August 26th

Before we had to the airport, I hit the beach to try to get some of the pre-Hurricane Irene waves that were starting to roll in.

Not too shabby.

me, meredith — Mer and I hopped in a cab and headed to JFK a little past 1pm.

About an hour later while we were sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight, Bloomberg came on TV to announce the mandatory evacuation of where we'd been staying on Rockaway Beach. Doh!

Touchdown in Ohio.

Rental car.

meredith — Before heading to our hotel. We found a highway-side restaurant. Meredith rolled an aperitif...

...and then we had ourselves a Chinese feast for two!

meredith — FRIED DOUGH!

"There are cold leftovers in your future."

Saturday, August 27th

dad, mom — The next morning, we headed to an early breakfast with my family!

Cracker Barrel chocolate chip pancakes for the win.

They were fixing the sign behind our hotel.

Local papers are awesome. Front page news = "Picnic a comfortable way for new students to feel welcome." Complete with "Man on trial in rape case" leering at the kids enjoying their comfortable picnic.

A little after noon, per my mom's suggestion (probably spotted in the local paper)...

...we drove to a nearby garden that was exhibiting...

...a bunch of differently-painted garden gnomes!

Homunculus gnome inside a gnome!

Garden exploring with Elyse and my mom.

meredith, mom — There were a whole bunch of gnomes scattered and hidden all throughout.

Rudbeckia hirta!

Huge bumblebee.

me, meredith — Me and Mer getting our gnome on.

elyse, mom — Steph & Elyse!

A little after 5pm all the wedding guests piled into the shuttle...

...and headed over to the country club where the ceremony was being held.

Golf cart get-a-way vehicle in-waiting.

dad, meredith, mom — Mer and my parents sitting pretty.

steve b

steve b — Steve up front waiting for the bride to arrive!

steve b, uncle bruce — Father and son.

chris b — Chris and Laura.

rachel — Here comes the bride!

uncle bruce — Bruce watching to soon-to-be newest Battjer!

rachel — Rachel and her father.

rachel, steve b — At the altar!

chris b — Chris was the Best Man.

Sisterly reading.

Musical interlude.

rachel, steve b — Vows

Blamo! You're married!

rachel b, steve b — Congrats, Steve & Rachel!

Perfect wedding day.

After the ceremony, we headed over to the nearby reception hall.

meredith, mom — Cake inspection team.

me, mom — Related!

dad, meredith — My dad and Mer.

elyse, uncle bruce — Bruce and Elyse.

After a few drinks and snacks, we went inside to welcome in the wedding party. Rachel's parents!

uncle bruce — Steve's parents!

chris b — Brother of the groom with the sister of the bride!

I forget your names, sorry!

rachel, steve b — The brand new Mr. & Mrs. Battjer!

Running the congratulatory line....

...with a kiss at the end!

rachel, steve b — The did the whole cake thing...

rachel, steve b — ...with NO cake-smashing funny business!

rachel, steve b — Chris gave an awesome speech...

...followed by the Maid of Honor who had a great slide show of photos!

rachel, steve b

Cheers!

First dance!

dad, mom — Shortly after hitting the dance floor...

dad, mom — ...my parents cut in with a high-five...

steve b — ...and stole the bride and the groom for a dance!

After dinner the dance floor...

...started to heat up!

Everyone dancing to that song that goes "to the left, to the left...to the right, to the right"...

...that I don't know and it makes me go "Oh, this is what getting old feels like!"

rachel, steve b — The wedding isn't complete until the bride and groom...

rachel, steve b — ...have a dance off!

rachel, steve b — Haha.

elyse, uncle bruce

Get low!

dad, elyse, mom, uncle bruce — My parents with Bruce & Elyse.

dad, me, meredith, mom — When everybody is all dressed up my parents like to take a group photo so they can include it in the Holiday email my dad sends around (which is like the newsletter version of this site for older people. Haha).

Commemorative wedding beer koozie? Check!

Reverse side! Haha.

meredith — Dance partner.

elyse, uncle bruce — Bruce & Elyse on the dance floor.

Last dance photo of the night.

Meredith turning the glass on me.

A little after midnight, we piled into the buses and headed back to the hotel.

chris b — Chris bringing reinforcements...

rachel, steve b — ...to the hotel room after-party!

steve b — Married!

At 2am, Meredith and I noticed the neon glow of a 24 hour diner from our room and decided to walk over...

meredith — ...for some late night eats!

Meat angel?

Healthy late night snacks!

Squirrel <3s Rhino.

Sunday, August 28th

On Sunday morning, we headed over to Cracker Barrel to have breakfast with everyone before everyone headed home.

You know you've got it bad when seeing something like this makes you miss your hound.

We were supposed to fly back to New York, but our flight was indefinitely delayed by the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. So instead, we decided to keep our rental car for a few extra days and drive back to NYC from Cleveland. Since we had some extra time...

...we drove outside of Cleveland to go visit...

meredith, sue s — ..Meredith's grandmother, Sue.

We went to lunch and then to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Rodin.

The only time I've ever said the sentence, "Wow, that's a an amazing tea-service!"

Julian Stanczak.

Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel for a quiet Sunday evening in a hotel in Cleveland.

Monday, August 29th

We hit the road on Monday morning! But since we weren't in any rush to get back to NY...

...we decided to take a few hours drive in the opposite direction to check out Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.

me, meredith — It's the amusement park with the most roller coasters in North America! Woooo!

First stop, Mantis!

Decent hanging coaster.

me, meredith — Ice cream break!

We spotted this guy from afar and decided to go in for a closer look.

The park is right next to Lake Erie and this huge tower, called THE WINDSEEKER, is right on the waterfront. It's basically like a 300 foot tall version of the swings, but it was actually pretty terrifying to be up that high just blowing around on the swings.

At 4pm, I went out to the parking lot so that I could TAKE A MEETING for work! Let's hear it for the mobile office!

meredith — Afterwards, we came back in to get something to eat...

...and to strategize about which of the CLASS 5 coasters were left for us to try out. Haha.

First, we hit up the big wooden roller coaster!

Here we go!

View of the lake on the way up.

There was hardly any wait so we decided to go a second time!

meredith — I dared Meredith to hop the fence and ride this cow. She was on it before I'd even finished daring her. Haha.

This ride also = crazy.

Before the park closed, we just barely had time to wait in line to sneak in Millenial Force...the 300 foot-tall world-record-breaking coaster!

meredith — Meredith's expression before boarding. Haha.

Thirty stories is an INSANE roller coaster drop.

meredith — All smiles aftewards!

We left the park a little after 9pm...

...and started the long haul back towards home!

Made it through five hours of driving before we were ready to call it a night! First some...

...middle of the night breakfast!

After eating, we admired all of the fine fantasy weapons available for purchase in the gift shop.

Personal fave.

Gonna get mar-ar-aried!

Our bellies nice and full, we drove around until we found a nearby motel with vacancy.

Bingo.

After a day of coasters and driving, this guy was calling me.

Tuesday, August 30th

On Tuesday morning, I set up a motel mobile office and took a few meetings...

meredith — ...while Meredith picked up a sweet truck-stop thank you gift for our dog-sitter. Haha.

Time to hit the road again!

Gas & lunch somewhere in PA.

More truckstop tees.

Me stretching it out at a rest stop.

meredith — How Meredith spends most road trips.

maddy, meredith — As soon as we got back into town, we picked up our hound and then got on the subway to head back to our Rockaway Beach rental for a few more days.