Wedding and farewell to MI

On the big wedding day, before heading out to the hotel, Lola, Emmett, Vanessa, my mom and I spent the morning that was supposed to rain in the beautiful sunshine at the war memorial having a very productive morning selling sari saks www.sarisak.com , scarfs and jewelry from India. Vanessa and I then headed out to the hotel. I hung out with the boys. This is Mike and team Tony below.

The boys headed over in a limo and then got to hang out for a bit before the wedding ceremony began. I didn't get the memo that grey is out.

Wow! Who is that good looking couple? At least one good looking one on the left.

The groomsmen and Mike. That is a face of anticipation for his future wife.

Luckily I made it through the 4th grade and could do the reading for them, which was truly an honor to do. I went with the normal voice since Mike vetoed my James Brown blues brothers preacher voice...although his siblings were all up for it.

It's all happening. The moment of truth. Don't they look great!!!!

Mike is just so happy that she went through with it! Walking to the reception hall as husband and wife.

The bridesmaids. Beautiful.

My parents with the Hess's. Are my parents that short or are the Hess's that tall. The important thing is that everyone is smiling :)

After some delicious food, the dancing has begun.

Was great catching up with some other friends that I don't get to see so often. Mike G and his lovely wife Stacey.

We all managed to keep these guys quite busy throughout the night. Most popular drink of the night was ginger beer with rum.

Mom and Dad doing their signature dance. Hard to keep these two off the dance floor...especially when Vanessa is around.

The dancing went late into the night and we just wanted to remind everyone "peace".

Mike is one of my best friends and it was great being such a part of this day for him. He married such a wonderful person; Jill, who I have known since high school. I am so happy for both of them and know they will have such a wonderful life together, and I look forward to meeting up with them in San Diego in just a few weeks. Thanks Mike, Jill, the Kaselitz and Thomas family for being who you are and letting me, Vanessa and my family be part of your special day and your life. I love you guys!

While in Michigan, I got to hang out more with Bob, Tammy, Two shoes, Jimmy, Emmett and even celebrate U. Jim's bday. I also got to see my cousin Shay and her kids as well as Aunt Marge and Kathy.

A week in MI, seemed like I did the amount that people would do in months. It was a lot of fun and a bit tiring at the same time. It's never enough time and I thank my parents and sister Chris for being patient with my hectic ways while home.

Emmett and Lola & Mike and Jill (rehearsal dinner)

Anytime I get to hang out with Lola and Emmett is a good time and laughs in store. We all made some dinner together with everyone doing their own jobs.

Then we had some reading time. Lola has been teaching Emmett reading and is a strict, but patient teacher.
Relaxing and discussing friends, school, favorite games to play and all of life's big topics.

They then decided it was time for me to get a new hair make over. You will notice that Emmett can barely take it...it was just to funny for words.

We got a chance to meet up with Erin (EB), her son Conner, my aunt Pat and Jan and my mom. We all went out to lunch together.

Jan, Erin, and Conner.

Mom and Aunt Pat.

Arriving to Mike and Jill's rehearsal dinner, this is my Men's Warehouse ad picture.

Vanessa is a natural in the fashion pictures. As you can see, beautiful setting for the wedding.

Great reuniting with Mike's parents and family.

Mr Kaselitz's speech at the dinner, very touching and appropriate.

He offered the open mic and then looked over and said in a questioning voice "Howson", so I said a few words and told a couple stories that can to mind.

As long as Mike and Jill were laughing, then the stories were ok.

His brother Timmy, who I spent a lot of Trees to Please time with...and his new wife, Liz.

Mike's sisters, Katie and Kristen.

Mike and Jill, both incredible friends and genuine people. They look great too!!! I felt privileged to be invited to the rehearsal dinner and it was a celebration not to be forgotten. It means a lot that Vanessa gets to meet these people in my life that mean so much to me and hope it helps her to get to know me better.

The adventure begins and is off to an incredible speed.

Whenever a bit of time has gone time before visiting Michigan, there is not enough time even in a week, to see everyone I want to see.

Let's rewind for a minute. Before heading to Michigan, we drove a few hours north of NYC to attend a wedding. This was a friend of Vanessa's, which means I am a plus one. I love being a plus one. There is such little pressure for anything. I can talk to anyone, not watching that I don't say the wrong thing, dance the night away, and Vanessa likes it, because I can give her all my attention without trying to catch up with a million people in a night.

While others booked a room in the wedding hotel, we opted for a bed and breakfast stay which we found on www.airbnb.com This place sat in the country on 6 acres and was a beautiful house owned by former Germans. They were so welcoming and made it feel like we were at home and extremely comfortable. Each time heading in and out of the house, we would see a handful of deer run past, along with a large group of pheasants. With a local taxi service we were also able to let go and have a few drinks, since neither of us had to drive.

After going back to New York and packing and saying goodbye to Uncle Lou, we were off to Michigan bright and early in the morning. We were picked up at the airport and headed directly to the Lions game with Mom, Dad, and Chris.

They ended up winning, 48-3. That's right, The DETROIT LIONS! The Lions fan is quite a crew. They are tough, loud, and not shy to yell whatever the alcohol had lead them to think at each and every moment. Sitting between my sister, Chris and Vanessa, I have never felt as smart about a sport I didn't play in all of my life. Firing answers back and forth about the ins and outs of football and the rules. (Yes, there are different players for offense and defense...and even a separate one for special teams...this lead to explaining what special teams was). At one point after our quarter back scrambled and threw the ball away before getting hit, I was asked "why did he throw it out of bounds away from everyone?" After carefully saying "he didn't want to get hit or they would have to start farther back than the last time, so he threw it away from everyone so that the other team didn't have a chance to catch it", the big football fan in front of us turned around, looked at me like I was an idiot and said "the quarterback didn't want to get sacked, but he can throw the ball away when he is out of the pocket!" Chris thanked him and then turned to me and said "what is a sack and what's the pocket?"

After the game, we headed to hang out with Dan-o, Mags, Adam, and Carrie for a street festival, dinner and just to catch up....it was great!!!

Months ago, Pete had sent an email with this picture of a boy in India. India is a hotspot for blackmarket clothes...and misspelling words. Someone there got ahold of the Detroit Pistons name and while not paying close attention to spelling this is what came of it along with off colors and since winnie the pooh was easier to download than the pistons mascot, this is the finished product. After Adam got ahold of it, he had this shirt made for us.

The next day we went to walk farms and see some beautiful country land with my parents. The colorful clothing was due to it being hunting season.

We were then off to visit the Hess's (Footer and Giggles). It was a great visit catching up with laughs and to get back to one of the great lakes (Huron). While Vanessa remembers great lakes as "HOMES"...as do many others, I decided to remember it is MOESHA, with the a standing for awesome which is what you yell when you finish saying the lakes.

Kermit just contemplating life.

So different than being in the middle of NYC

You can stay in this lighthouse for $250 for a week, but then you are in charge of giving tours of the lighthouse.