A Birthday and a Wedding

Aiden's birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  Normally, that would be ideal... we'd plan a party with friends and family and have it on his actual birthday.  But this year we were also invited to Tim & Wiley's wedding on that same day, so we had to find a way to work in both the wedding and a celebration for Aiden.  The best solution was a mid-day party at the camp on Lake Champlain (where, incidentally, Aiden has celebrated 4 of his 6 birthdays), then a 2.5 hour drive to the Kendrite nuptials in Dover, VT.  And what did the birthday boy want for lunch when Grandma asked him during a skype session in which we were planning the weekend?  Lobster, of course!  Well, she did say anything...  Thankfully, lobster is currently at a rock-bottom price and twenty crustaceans did not break Hapa and Grandma's budget.

Christian and Alex sitting down to their lobsters

Lobster lunch is served

On the dock

Sunset at the lake

Haley loves her daddy

Christian with a perch!

Haley and Edward watch the fishing

Lisa Yang and her three boys Alex, Christian and Edward also came to celebrate, along with the Pottmeyers and Gerritt.  The boy/girl ration was slightly skewed at 5/1, but Haley did not seem to mind.  She had a good time watching the outdoor fire with Edward and playing in the kiddie pool on the lawn.  All the kids went swimming in the lake several times (not as easy as usual since the water is VERY low and two feet of razor-sharp zebra mussel shells are exposed on the exterior of the dock), the boys ran around and shot water and "click" guns for hours, everyone enjoyed fishing (and catching!), and bonfire smores were heartily constructed and consumed.  And did I mention the weather was late-summer perfection?  It was.

Aiden trying his luck

Birthday toes anxiously awaiting cake 

Haley birding at Dead Creek

Dead Creek

The only bummer of the weekend was that Andy and I felt a bit lousy leaving Aiden's birthday party in the middle of the day to jet down to the wedding in Dover.  Once we arrived at the Grand Summit hotel and boarded the yellow school bus to take us to the ceremony and reception, though, we were absorbed in a great wedding celebration for Tim and Wiley.  They were married under a quintessentially Vermont covered bridge, with heartfelt original vows and lots of (happy) tears.  The reception was just as fun as you might imagine a groom-groom wedding reception to be!  There was more lobster for dinner, a dance-off between table 4 (ours) and table 11, a bonfire and smores, and even late night pizza to get everyone through the post-midnight hours.

The colgate girls

Tim and Wiley

Best woman!