Mabel's Wedding

In late April we had the pleasure of traveling to Toronto for Gordon's cousin Mabel's wedding. I absolutely LOVE visiting Gordon's family in Toronto. His Grandmother (Pau Pau) lives there along with one of his Aunts and three of his cousins: Fred, Mabel and Kevin.  Every time we go up there to visit they all treat us extremely well.  And I just love love love Toronto - what a fantastic city!

This visit we spent all of our time in Markham, where Pau Pau, Baat Yee (Aunt Erica, mother of the bride), Fred (brother of the bride) and Mabel (bride) live.  We arrived on Friday night and went immediately to a family dinner.  G's Aunts from Ottawa and Newfoundland also came along with more cousins from New York and Newfoundland.  Sadly his Uncle and cousin who currently live in Europe couldn't make it due to the volcanic ash/air travel debacle.  G's brother and family wre also unable to attend due to work obligations. We were all bummed that they couldn't be there with us.

The wedding was held in Toronto at Palais Royale - a really beautiful venue.  It is located on the shore of Lake Ontario which makes for some really great views.  Here are some outside pictures taken just after the ceremony:

Lily and I with the Siu girls, Idela and Leslie
(I love how I am STILL the shortest person)

Pau Pau and her daughters

G and Q

Both kids had a great time at the wedding. G and I also had a blast, but I was again reminded of how unglamorous motherhood can be. The ceremony got kicked off a little late so Quinn was kind of hungry and had a hard time sitting through it. Immediately after Yeh-Yeh took him and made sure he got lots of the yummy hors d'oeuvres that were being passed around (and they WERE yummy - the food was great). Despite his best efforts though Quinn slowly began to melt down and just wanted to nurse. So I took him into the bathroom which was sufficiently swanky with a good couch. I proceeded to untie my halter dress to nurse him crossing my fingers that none of the gorgeous young women attending the wedding would stroll in to find me sitting there in a state of total "not put togetherness".

Instead of nursing as usual, Q decides to give me a little nip - which was odd for him. So I pulled him away for a minute and asked him what was up. He then proceeded to spit a mouthful of chewed up hamburger that he had been storing in his cheeks into my hand. He smiled at me gratefully and got back to the business of nursing in earnest. I guess he had been saving it just in case something better didn't come along - and then it totally did. So now I'm sitting there, in a swanky bathroom, surrounded by cute, put-together girls with my halter dress undone and a pile of chewed up meat in my hand. Ah - motherhood. Thank goodness the baby is cute, so most people don't really notice me.

Quinn partied so hard he lost a shoe

Also: Thanks Auntie Corinne for finding this cool shirt for me to wear!

Eventually though, Quinn crashed - and was lucky enough to find two adoring grandparents who were very happy to give him a comfy place to sleep:

Lily, on the other hand, kept going until we finally dragged her out. I can't even describe how much fun she had. Lily's always been a big fan of cousin Mabel. Last time we were in Toronto (when she was about 18 months old) she would only refer to her as "My Mabel". But I think the sight of Mabel in a beautiful dress surrounded by pretty girls in hot pink dresses was almost too much for her. She was completely mesmerized by the bridesmaids and soon they all knew her. When she wasn't busy chasing her little cousin Owen around outside she was making friends with the other guests and getting them to dance with her. She latched on to one woman in particular, her new friend Jen:

For a few weeks after the our trip Lily changed her usual princess game in which we play "Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine and Ursula" to playing "Mabel and Von". Sometimes I got to be Mabel, sometimes she did. She would hang out in her playroom and then announce to me that she was "at her wedding". One day I asked her to do something with me and she replied "I can't Mommy. It's my wedding today and I'm very busy." Well, alright-y then. As most kids her age do she explored marrying Mommy, Daddy and Quinn, but was never all that put out when we told her she couldn't marry her family. "Well I'll just marry Von then", she'd say.

One night, Gordon was giving her a bath and I was in the bedroom. I overheard this conversation:
Lily: Daddy, I'm a breastmaid
G: a what?
Lily: a breastmaid
G: umm... a milkmaid?
Lily: NO DADDY A BREASTMAID
G: like Mommy has? a BREASTmaid?
Lily: No, not like Mommy, a BREASTMaid - like the girls in the pink dresses
G: OH!! A BRIDESMAID
Lily: yeah yeah a Bridesmaid. My name is Michelle.

Thank you Mabel and Von for throwing an awesome wedding, for inviting us to celebrate with you and for giving Lily some new imagination game material! The princesses were really wearing me thin. Although it was a fun little stage when she would tell strangers at the park that her name was "Michelle".

[Oh and for any family who are interested, Gordon's full set of photos from the wedding weekend are here]