Day 2: Carmel, CA

Today was a busy day for us Hoaglunds. We started off Thursday morning with a breakfast at a restaurant called From Scratch. I had the best fruit parfait ever - pictured to the left. Homemade granola, vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit. I think the fruit in CA tastes better than anywhere else I have been. The strawberries were seriously like candy. I am sure it helps that the strawberry fields are right down the road.

We then headed over to the hotel that most of my family was staying at called the Carmel Valley Ranch. This is where the wedding is being held and is such a beautiful place. We were on our way to Janine's Bridal Shower hosted by Helen, Janine's mom at the house they rented in Carmel. Scott, Hannah & I picked up Mom and Connie and left Nate with my brother Jon. Scott was dropping us off at the shower and heading back to hit the pool with Nate. The shower was a lot of fun. We met a bunch of Janine's relatives and ate a great lunch. Hannah met so many new people and since she is the flower girl, got a lot of attention. She also got to hang out with Nana and Aunt Connie for a while. I found it so cute that she wanted to hang out with her soon to be Aunt Janine alot as well. The shower was a great success!




After the shower, we had to head back to the Carmel Valley Ranch for the rehearsal. It was a fairly quick practice and in true Gettinger form, lots of laughs and jokes were to be found. I think some people found our "humor" created more stress for them. It didn't for us. The weather was so perfect, no wonder people want to live here all the time.


After the rehearsal, we all had to hurry back to our hotels to gear up for the Rehearsal Dinner. It was being held at a restaurant called Casanova - Carmel's most romantic restaurant. We had the entire back open courtyard for our dinner. We all were sat at the table with Rob, David's best man and his wife and their 3 daughters. They were so great and funny. Nate and Hannah got along so well with them. Well, Nate was charming the Leah, the youngest of the girls until they ran into a problem. She loves bugs and bees. Nate said he didn't like bees and in fact, he kills bees. She basically stopped talking to him after that and told her Mom that there was a problem with Nate. Later, I tried to coach Nate about not giving out too much information too soon. Live and Learn! We had a wonderful dinner with lots of heartfelt speeches to be found by the Gettinger clan.

After the rehearsal dinner, it was back over to the Carmel Valley Ranch for a cocktail, dessert party with many of the wedding guests. I met many more of my brother and Janine's friends. Nate was mesmerized by the drum and guitar player. People kept talking about it all night long. He sat down on the ground and watched the drummer for quite some time. He also tried out his breakdancing skills much to the delight of everyone who witnessed him. Hannah and Nate played with some other kids that were there while Scotty and I mingled with the crowd. It was such a nice night.