A few more photos...

Juli & Kerne, dancing in front of the chuppah:

My brother, Jerry, and wife Kellie:

Niece Bonnie & boyfriend Jason:

Bill, Pam, Aileen and Cathryn:

Tyra, Christy, Beorn & Jason:

Tyra and her dad, Bill Fahey:

Juli and Kerne's brother, Beorn:

A picture is worth a 1000 yada-yadas...

We have been imbibing mass quantities of "Leftover Wedding Champagne" (well, SOMEONE has to do it), while uploading candid shots of the wedding. I suggest you join me by pouring your fave beverage, and share in the random chaos of my brother's and my photos of the wedding/reception (in no particular order).

My beautiful daughter, Juliana, emerging from her dressing room to get ready for the ceremony:

Bonnie Sink, Angela Sink and Tyra Fahey; the bride's attendants, in full blur:

Kellie Sink and Aileen Sink, prepping for the reception:

Part of the beautiful ceremony the bride and groom devised, involving a glass knife, a pomegranate, and a chalice:

An assembly of friends: Beorn, Kerne, Juli, Tyra, Christy, Ben, Summer, Matt, Alex, Sharon & Doug.

Alex Plemitscher and friends Marivic & Sharon:

Aileen Sink (grandmother of the bride), taking a break from being a kitchen-slavey:

Bonnie Sink and boyfriend Jason, showing the rest of us how to "dip":


Alex Plemitscher, dancing with his grandmother, Aileen:

Bonnie, Kellie and Alex, taking a breather in the kitchen:

Kerne & Juli (with half of Tyra) at the head table:

Juli and her brother Alex, dancing together:

(Some sort of group bonding...I have no information):

Aileen, Doug & Sharon:

Juli & Kerne cutting their wedding cake:

Alex & Marivic showing us how to dance:

Juli & Kerne:

Pam and Juli, in a moment:

What's going on to the right?

Pam and Angie, cooking up a storm:

Juli and her dad, sharing a dance together:

Bonnie Sink, Beorn Fahey, Alex Plemitscher, Marivic, Angela Sink, Matt

Kellie and her youngest daughter, Angela:

Alex dancing with Gran; Anthony snapping photos of Kerne & Juli:

THE CAKE:

Juli and Christy:

Bonnie Sink, and maternal grandmother Meme (Cathryn Williams):

Meme, Angela, Kellie, & Bonnie (Ben in the background):

Juli and Alex Plemitscher:

Pam, fussing over potatoes:

Bill and son-in-law, Kerne:

Bill and daughter Juli:

The groom and his men: Brother Beorn and brother-in-law, Alex (and don't forget that awesome chuppah!):

The bride and groom, Juli & Kerne:

When I'm more coherent, I'll care what order the photos are in. REAL photos from the REAL photographer to follow, in the fullness of time....

Mission Accomplished!

Well, those two youngsters finally got hitched on Sunday at noon.  Bill and I just got back from Seattle about an hour ago, so I will upload pictures tonight of some of the reception.

I was too busy crying my eyes out during their beautiful ceremony to think of snapping photos, but the photographer will be setting up a website within the next few days so everyone can see and go "Oooooh!" and "Ahhhhhh!"

I am so happy for them, and so happy that all of this is finally over! Thanks for all the lovely messages of support and prayers for success during this very exciting and trying time. 

I may have to spend a few days getting things in shape, but we're hoping to travel before the weekend and start finding our way home.

More later...

W-Minus 30:00:00

I do believe we're going to pull this off, this time. 

I took the kids back up to Seattle yesterday, and the city is starting to clear out some of their snow-mess.  I was actually able to drive up and down Queen Anne Hill (though not able to turn, park or pull off--I just stopped in the middle of the street and let Juli & Kerne out by their apartment), and West Seattle was clear enough to take Alex to work by car. In Olympia, a neighbor came and plowed the driveway, and another neighbor took it upon himself to plow the uphill entrance to the development and one lane through, so we can all get out with our front-wheel drive vehicles. It has been raining, and the temperature got above freezing for the first time in recent memory.

Last night, my mom and I prepped all the apples, par-cooked them and put them in the ice chest here, since I was not able to drop them off yesterday. Today, everything left gets transported up to Seattle including Gran, Bonnie and Angela, Bill and myself, all our clothes, all the beverages, and miscellaneous last-minute, just-thought-of-it things. And the chuppah, which Bill has modified and painted. Tomorrow, Jerry and Kellie will bring themselves, Kellie's mom, Bonnie's boyfriend Jason, and Anthony, the photographer. The "plan" has changed so many times, we're all confused, but I think that's the latest version.

I am planning on cooking a boneless pork loin roast, as the pig from Portland will most likely not arrive. The weather south of here is still awful, and Bill's friend Jun can't make the trip. This may actually be a blessing in disguise. A few days ago, another colleague of Bill's from the ship called to ask "is Jun cooking a pig?" and he wanted to know where the wedding was being held. I think we just missed having our daughter's wedding crashed by several dozen hungry Filipinos, looking for Jun's pig.

Kellie managed to get Juli's dress steamed yesterday on short notice, so that is taken care of. Who knew it was going to be so difficult to get to the cleaners because of the snow?

Now I have to go pack a bag for the hotel and start supervising the loading of our stuff, so nothing gets forgotten. 

We're on final countdown now.

Happy Christmas to All!

Jerry and Angela went up to collect the kids for Christmas Day (and scope out Seattle street conditions for the wedding on Sunday). It continues to snow, but we are hopeful that the never-ending precipitation will turn to rain tomorrow and melt some of this mess.

Angela, singing her gift-song to her dad, as Bonnie laughs along:

Christmas knits for everyone!

(Alex, Bonnie, Kerne & Gran)

Kellie, Asher and Angela:

The motley Christmas crew, Aileen, Jerry, Kellie, Kerne, Angela, Juli, Bonnie, Alex and Bill:

Christmas Dinner:

I am thankful for my friends and family, snug and warm in our love for each other.

Happy Christmas to everyone!

"It's Christmas Time in the City"

Kellie and I were actually able to get to the gym yesterday. The roads are getting a little better in town, but when we returned from our "huff-and-puff," the dry-cleaning delivery van was stuck in our driveway. After several hours of men-standing-around-with-shovels, a tow truck was finally called to extricate the poor guy.

Jerry is driving up to Seattle tomorrow to collect Juli, Kerne and Alex for Christmas Day in Olympia. The public transportation up there has broken down completely, and they are unable to make their way down by bus or train. Alex's roommate Christy says that bus routes are totally random--you may be able to get on a bus that the internet says is running, but then the driver decides where he or she feels like going, depending on the road conditions. She rode a bus for two hours and never got near her destination. She finally ended up walking back downtown and spending the night in the hotel where she works. I saw pictures on the internet of people sledding down the middle of Juli's Queen Anne Hill (which has been closed to traffic for more than a week now).

(Photos of Queen Anne Hill, from the Seattle P.I.):

(Juli lives in a building that backs up to the base of that tower)

We are planning to take them back on Friday, and move wedding stuff from their apartment to our hotel near the wedding venue. Then on Saturday, we will go up to stay in the hotel, prep the food for the reception, and get this couple married on Sunday. Come hell or more snow, it's happening.