Lucas' first wedding and his just desserts

This is a long posting, so if you don't have time, suffice it to say that we all had a good time at the wedding of Kimberley and Dan. And we stayed late enough to enjoy cupcakes and watch the first dance. Yes, even Lucas.

Our good friends Dan and Kimberley got married on Sunday. I felt like I needed a good personal challenge, so with Kevin gimping around from his recent hip surgery and an active 3-year old, we all piled into the car and headed off to participate in our friends' nuptials. As an added incentive I told Lucas there would be cupcakes at the wedding.

We settled in among the redwoods in the back of the seating area. Kevin could stand throughout the ceremony, unnoticed, and there were ample exploring opportunities for Lucas among the trees. Lucas immediately started asking about the cupcakes. I told him, "After they're done talking, we'll have snacks, dinner, and then cupcakes."

Snack time was a "new food" food fest for Lucas. He gobbled down the "pizza", which was bruschetta with shiitake mushroom sun-dried tomato tapenade, endives with sweet pea mousse, and the shrimp cocktail. He got the hang of it so that when he was done, he tracked down one of the servers to put the shrimp tail in their empty cup. If he couldn't find the server, he just tugged on someone's coat and to give away his uneaten shrimp tail.
After filling up on the snacks, Lucas didn't touch the main course that was specially prepared for him and the other guests under age 5: mac 'n cheese and veggies with ranch dressing to dip them in. So Lucas cajoled the under 5 club to join him outside to play soccer: the flowergirl, Lindsey (Kimberley's niece), the ringbearer, Ben (Kimberley's nephew), and Anna.Whenever a ball went under the bushes, Lucas was the first to scramble under the bushes and retrieve the ball. Here are Lindsey and Anna looking to make sure Lucas didn't fall into the 4th dimension. Except one time when Lindsey got there first. Lucas first tried to helpfully pull her out by her feet. But then he gave up trying to get her out as she was determined to get the ball, flowergirl dress and all. I guess he figured the best he could do was hold up her dress for her as she wiggled under the bushes to get the ball.

After about 1/2 hour of running around, a couple of nasty spills (Lucas) and torn tights (Lindsey), we were all hauled back in to hear the family speeches.

Throughout the entire night, Lucas had been stalking the beautiful cupcake tower. He took the disposable camera I gave him and was even taking pictures of the cupcakes. So, finally, after the speeches were finished, Lucas finally got his cupcake.

We left shortly after the first couple dances. With a gimpy husband and a tired 3-year-old in tow, we headed home before 9 and Lucas fell asleep right away.

The next morning, I asked Lucas if he had fun at the wedding. His response, "Yea, it was fun, I liked eating those little shrimpies."