My cousin Garrick and his beautiful girlfriend Kim got married in Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend.  This event has been on the calendar for 18 months and we've been looking forward to seeing EVERYONE and partying like only the Kalemba/Tanner clan knows how to do.   This is the first time in nearly 7 years that all of us from my mom's side of the family have been in the same place at the same time.  We really loved seeing everyone and getting to know our cousin's kids better.

Friday was a pretty chill day.  We eventually made it out to Lodi to spend some quality time with Gram.  It's been ages since I've been in Wisconsin with my sisters AND my parents.  We enjoyed some time around the piano (of course) singing to our favorites with Grandma Katie.  Friday night was a BBQ at the park in Middleton followed by closing down the Oakcrest.  Although we ate a delicious BBQ we of course had to have a second dinner of fried perch (it was Friday night) and fried cheese curds.  Lee also discovered the best root beer ever - Sprecher. Wisconsin sure knows how to brew! We turned the bar into a dance party and my cousin's 12 year old son tossed his root beer cookies after trying to keep up with Collin and his root beer chugging. (It's completely legit to have babies and kids in bars in Wisconsin.  Definitely a different culture in German settled WI).   We had a great night (of course) until Lee and I crapped out about 2:30am.  We missed out on the burning of Chris' shirt below our bedroom window. I don't think listening to it counted...

Saturday was the wedding day.  After egg bagel sandwiches for breakfast (a Katie Walby specialty) we got decked out and headed to the airport to pickup Patrick and then out to Lodi for the big event.  My aunt has nearly 30 acres and the wedding was on her lawn and the dinner/party was in the "big top" tent by the barn.  It was a gorgeous setting.  The ceremony was short and sweet and the party went late and was super fun.  They had a great DJ (friend of the family) who catered to our love of the air horn.  The highlight of course was Tanner on the harmonica.  If only there were more Walby weddings so we could hear Tanner more frequently than every 7 years.  We danced all night and shut the party down around 2:30am.  The party continued at Cooper Court with double decker nachos and finally ended around 3:45am.  (Like Columbus, we stayed on PDT all weekend!)

Sunday we made a pack to sleep in and didn't get back out to Lodi until close to 2pm.  It was a pretty relaxing afternoon at my aunt's with a couple hours hiatus to  Good Sam to see my Gram.  She was in pretty good form on Sunday.  We got her to belt out the tunes and even get in a round of the hokey pokey before we had cake to celebrate her 90th birthday (August 3).  We ended the night with fully bellies at my aunt's house and a slideshow of pictures from the wedding before saying our goodbyes.

Monday passed quickly with time at Good Sam with gram again before we headed out to Milwaukee to catch our flight.  We had a fabulous weekend and can't wait for the party in 2011 when Lani and Kyle truly celebrate their knot tying.