minnesota, the reason

The wedding day finally came.

It was a beautiful, perfect day. Every detail was taken care of. Best of all, we all had a great time.

My family. The wedding party.

Eva was flower girl. I didn't know that I love dahlia's so much.

My kids sporting their special smiles that they save just for photos.

They had the wedding in the Minnesota History Center. The setting was perfect.

The American ceremony.

My dad. Close up.

My parents brought a bunch of kimonos and set them up. They were so pretty. The bride and groom made sure to make the whole event included a little bit of Japanese, Hmong, and American culture.

They had a kids table complete with treats, coloring, toys. Seriously, every detail was taken care of.

My brother's friend is a writer. He read a poem that he wrote for the bride and groom. It was amazing.

The food. Of course. All fancy and tasty. They served Walleye. Walleye makes me giggle because the only time I had heard of it was on Prairie Home Companion. I ordered it just for that reason.

The cake. The cake close-up. I wish I didn't know what those marks were. I wish I didn't know who did it. I wish I didn't have to cover it up with a leaf. I am pretty sure everyone was having such a great time that they weren't bothered by it.

Dancing. Loved seeing my family dance. They got my parents to dance. Turns out, my mom loves to dance. Turns out, my dad can find ways to make himself busy and disappear so no one can make him dance anymore.

My nephew was the life of the party. He loves to dance.

Karl loves to dance, too.

The scarves everyone is wearing are gifts from the bride and groom. They used them to decorate our chairs and then we got to take them. Beautiful, thoughtful, genius.

The limbo. Karl is good at the limbo. I got to see my mom do the limbo. My nephew was hilarious. He kept crawling under it.

Of course, my nephew won the limbo contest. Just like a good life of the party should.

Bro in law and niece are counting money from the dollar dance. Bo totally won.

Eva dancing with my brother.

Karl and his new found friend, Bo's cousin from France.

At one point he did a rap. So it was a Hmong guy from France doing a rap in America. Where else can you see that?

Oh, and where else can you see a Hmong Elvis impersonator serenading your daughter.

He was trying to get Eva to dance but Eva said she didn't want to.

Samuel pulled out his infamous Swiffer Sweeper move. It started in the middle of the dance floor. And it wasn't so much then that I was embarrassed. Or even when he started moving across the dance floor. It was more when he started going off the dance floor. And straight into the dining area that I really felt embarrassed.

The Hmong dance.

My bro, nephew, and dad (who are apparently and coincidentally non-dancers) were busy taking care of the car.

The whole event was so much fun. My brother said something to effect of, "I had a blast! Who has fun at their own wedding?"

The flight home.

Seats come in sets of three. Karl sat with the kids on the way there AND the way back. Was like a mini vacation for me.

I remember after I had Eva and I was on the airplane with her and feeding her, holding her, changing her, comforting her, cleaning up her spew. I remember looking at a lady in front of me who was all relaxed and reading a book and wondering, "Will I ever be able to read a book on an airplane again?"

Looks like my time has come.

Unless, of course, I have to sit with the kids both ways the next time we fly because Karl did this trip.