Chelsie was the official cooler slave...fetching us sandwiches and water, etc.
Jasper and Polina sat in the middle row and did math half the way. I'll explain...they are looking at buying a used Toyota four runner (sp?) and wanted to figure out if the 8 cylinder engine, which gets 2 miles less per gallon than the six cylinder one but costs 3,000 dollars less up front would make financial sense, given that the six cylinder engine dollar amount per mile of travel given a certain gas price would pay them back for the $3,000 extra. (I didn't really understand but I played along as if I did...just smiled and nodded as they computed their brains out). I think at one point, they had smoke coming out their ears...we made lots of fun of them, especially Jasper. I believe they decided that at $3.00/gallon, the six cylinder engine would have to be driven 150,000 miles to pay back the additional 3,000 up front cost... I was impressed anyway.
We all talked about the up coming trip to Russia and all that goes into planning an itinerary that works for all of us. It's amazingly complex and I am just now getting my brain wrapped around the whole process of getting a passport, our travel visas, the hotel, the flights, etc. To make matters even more challenging, Chelsie and Michael want to stop over somewhere (France) for a few days on their way to Russia and Kevin and I want to stop over for about 6 days somewhere else (Greece maybe) before we arrive in St Petersburg. So the idea is that we will consult a travel company that specializes in travel to Russia. It's such a habit now a days to book everything ourselves online...we've been doing it for years and years. A million years ago, we used to use a travel agent for everything! But I have tried to look at a few thing myself online and it's nearly impossible to navigate what we want to do. I've never been to Europe and the whole multiple cities thing is throwing me off big time. Polina and Jasper and are going to help us of course.
Once we got to the wedding, we were able to visit with all of Annette and Garry's kids (except for Garrett who was serving his two weeks training in the guard that weekend) and see Kirk and Natasha's beautiful wedding. They looked so happy.
My mom was there along with Bob and his new bride Loreen, whom I was so happy to meet. Annette did all the decorating and most of the food...did the photography and the flowers...amazing! She pulled it off without breaking a sweat. You should have seen the flowers! Red roses with pearls in the center and black feathers around the outside of the bouquets, very original. Annette had spent weeks making lasagnas and freezing them. She made the lasagna noodles too...no store bought noodles...very delicious. Her friend handled the salads and bread sticks. All in all, a very nice event.
We stayed a little while but had to drive back to Boise that night so we all piled back in the suburban and Jasper drove us home. No math on the way home though...just music and snoring to be heard throughout the car.
It's rare that we can all get together to do anything for a few hours...this was a great opportunity to just be together and enjoy each other.
