fAMily-a-thon (emphasis on the A & M)

Last weekend Cody and I engaged in what I call a family-a-thon. Friday night we picked up Jacob and Adam (Cody's step-brothers) from the airport and kept them overnight at our house until their Dad returned from his trip the following morning. On the way to our apartment from the airport, Adam (10) recalled that he had been to our hotel-room once before. Cody and I burst out laughing because our apartment actually is about the size of a hotel room. We now refer to it as our hotel room as much as possible. Cody got up the next morning and told them that he wanted to play Game Cube with them. To this Adam replied, "are you serious?!?" I think this was a treat for all involved: I got to sleep in, and Jacob, Adam, and Cody got to do their favorite past time--Game Cube.

After their father Kevin retrieved the boys, Cody and I got ready for his cousin Laura's wedding reception at Bexar Hall just outside of San Antonio. This was an awesome experience! Bexar Hall is a social hall/bowling alley that is a popular place for Cody's family members and other local folk to have weddings, retirement parties, and whatever else you need a giant dance hall for. It was perfect for Laura and Ryan because they had over 700 guests! The bowling alley is "manual". I use the word manual to better describe the way that they employ children to sit on stools at the end of each lane and wait for each ball to hit the pins. Once the ball knocks down a few, the child will jump off his stool, clear the knocked over pins, set up all the new pins, and place the ball on the ramp to be returned to the bowler. I don't know why I even mention the bowling, though, because it was used as a food serving area during the reception. We also noted the beer tap coming out of the wall, free for anyone who can reach it. Literally. I had to laugh at the sign above the tap, which said "You must be '21' to use the tap." I said to Cody, "Why is the 21 in quotations? I'm picking up a little sarcasm from that sign!"



Bexar was decorated nicely with lots of lattes work, tule, Christmas lights and maroon and white flowers. I must explain that Laura and Ryan (the bride and groom) both recently graduated from Texas A & M, hence the blog post title. The groom's cake was a German chocolate (of course, since BOTH families are of German descent) with plastic figurines of ducks, deer, elk, and other animals. I was confused. Cody explained to me: hunting game. Ah ha. The Aggies' colors are maroon and white, therefore, so were the wedding colors, naturally. All of the bridesmaids were in maroon, the bride's cake was white with maroon roses on it, oh and the koozies were maroon. It is a popular thing in Texas to provide koozies, which are essentially insulated sleeves to hold your beverage, for those of you who aren't familiar with koozies. They are usually monogrammed at weddings, as well. Laura and Ryan's said

Laura and Ryan
07.21.07
To have and to hold
To keep the drinks cold

Luckily, for people who were repulsed by the idea of touching a maroon anything (namely University of Texas graduates or fans) there was another option: cammo. Cody and I both chose the cammo variety of monogrammed Koozie.

The bride and groom arrived in an antique car, which was pretty awesome. They greeted guests and cut the cake and then dinner (BBQ, naturally) was served. Toasts were made, all the Aggies were invited to do some special dance while the fight song was played, and the dancing began. Country music was definitely in the majority, and Cody and I learned to "Texas two-step!" We also learned to Polka, as German music was the runner up. The DJ mistakenly played "Old Time Rock and Roll" and I have never seen a crowded dance floor vacate so quickly! We also took part in the "Grand March", a Scheel (Cody's family) wedding tradition. You really have to experience it to understand it, but it is basically a large scale follow the leader, with German music playing. Everyone has a partner and you start linked arms with your partner following the person in front of you wherever the leaders take you. In this case, we went through the bowling alley, outside, and snaked around the entire hall. Cody's favorite part is the "tickle bridge" where everyone makes a big tunnel by holding their partner's hands up--kind of like London bridge is falling down. When people come through the tunnel, they get tickled! Very hard to picture, I am sure, but also hilarious. This Grand March was so big, and had so many people in it that the DJ had to start the music over. Some people don't make it through the entire thing; they have to drop out to rest and have a drink. We had a blast at the wedding--I might even say that it was the most fun we've had at a wedding!



We stayed the night at Cody's Grandparents' house which is down the road from Bexar Hall, because the next day was the big family picture. Cody's great-grandfather, who in his nineties, and all of his descendants went back to Bexar Hall for a family picture. Since Cody's Grandmother has 10 siblings, this meant A LOT of people in this picture! Their family numbers each member, based on when they "joined" (either born or married into) the family. Cody is number 53 and I am number 124. At this moment, there are 135 members!

We had such a blast at the wedding! Sorry there are not as many pictures.... bad lighting in Bexar Hall!