wedding and family reunion
Firstly a family tree: Benjamin Zerbe + Esther Reddig = (in order of birth) Caroline, Douglas, Gordan, Nathan (my dad), Dorinda. Carol + Rich = Larissa & Jessica Enns. Doug + Alice = Erica & Alexa Zerbe. Gord + Wendy = Silvie Kroeker & Micah Zerbe. Nathan + Joan = Jason (me) & Andra Zerbe. Dory + Rick = Raya Zerbe & Jonas Cornelson.
August 24th: I spent some great time with my extended family this past weekend. After driving for about a hour and twenty minutes, I pulled our Buick LeSabre into a slot in front of the Country Inns & Suites next to highway 52 near downtown Rochester, MN. Checking in at about 4:30 pm, we soon realized that my dad’s sister and husband as well as their two college age daughters had already checked in. My dad had noticed their distinctive Camry with Colorado plates and sitting inside were some science text books. So my dad, sister and myself sauntered over to my aunt Carol and uncle Rich’s room. I chatted for awhile with them and decided to wait down in the motel lobby to see if any of my other cousins around my age would show up any time soon.
I have ten cousins on my dad’s side, including myself and my sister. Three of them are about five to eight years older than myself. Two of them are Rich and Carol’s daughters. The other one, Erica, is my cousin that got married to my now cousin-in-law, Andy Hoffman. (I hope I spelled that right).
Within about twenty minutes my dad’s other sister and brother showed up with their families. So now all my cousins except for Erica and her sister Alexa were at the motel. At about 6pm all of us drove about 10-15 miles over to my Uncle Doug’s house which is located in between Byron and Rochester.
When I got out of my family’s car, my cousin Alexa welcomed me rather enthusiastically and led us over to Erica and Andy. I guess Alexa was assigned that position? Anyway, we congratulated them and chatted a bit. The food was simple and great. You will have to excuse the stuff I omit, but some of it is personal or inconsequential to outsiders. There was a presentation while the guests were seated underneath the tent that was “attached” to my uncle Doug and auntie Alice’s house. The group of us seven cousins was seated under a tree somewhat at the periphery of the tent. We had raucous good time.
After the presentation, my dude cousins Jonas, Micah and myself threw a frisbee around for sometime. After awhile as the hour progressively gets later the sun set. Once it became rather dark, Doug showed off his “wedding presentation” that he had put together for this event. It was pretty good, I guess he had managed to get some images and movies from Andy’s parents as well. At about 9:30pm or so my other cousins went back to the hotel. We then commandeered the pool area from another group and had the pool and jacuzzi to ourself until we decided to leave right before it was supposed to close at 11pm.
August 25th: I got up at around 9:30am and slouched into the breakfast area of the motel. After I sat down next to my dad and aunt Dory with my food, the room started filling up with other guests. My other cousins appeared one by one by 10am. Over breakfast we discussed what we would do that day before we had to arrive at the wedding. My cousin Raya, who is next oldest among the seven of us “younger cousins” went with my mom, sister and aunt Wendy and Carol to target for some clothes and giftish stuffs. The rest of us went over to this other mall area that had a bestbuy. My uncle Gordan (my dad’s older brother) went looking for a non-ipod mp3 player. After the bestbuy visit, my dad, gord, rick, rich and their kids (my cousins) except for Larissa and Jessica went to play tennis. We played for awhile and then the adults played. We found a playground unoccupied by small children and “played” on it.
All of us staying at the motel then had some lunch, potluck style. There was some good conversation and a playground nearby where we went to eat. A block or so west of the motel on 41st street my dad had found that park while he was out on his morning walk. After lunch we got prepped for the wedding which was to start at 3pm ish.
The wedding was very well done and rehearsed. I felt a soulful pull at many points during the service. I really hope that Erica and Andy work out together. So far my grandpa has done all of the wedding services for his children, now he has done his first wedding for one of his grandchildren. The wedding is rather indescribable. It would take many pages of typing to convey the sensuousness of the experience.
After the wedding we were directed to go to the Downtown Plaza Radisson. Cocktails were to be served from about 4:30pm to 6pm. This was to cover for the picture time that was taking place at the church. I talked a whole lot during the after party. What was odd was that the alcoholic beverages were free and soft-drinks cost $1 each.
The presentations by the best-matron and best-man were good, yet a bit lengthy. The best-matron had arranged for this spoof on Andy’s previous actions. Andy had allegedly given out keys to his parents basement to many women. So the bridal attendants had passed out keys to many different women and girls in the room. Including my great-aunt Ella. There was lots of dancing and merriment as the DJ put the speakers into full swing. I went home about 45 minutes earlier than the rest of my cousins did, because my head hurt real bad.
I played some Halo 2 once my parents and I got back to the hotel room and waited until the others showed up so that we would go over to my cousin Alexa’s house now that all of Andy and Erica’s friends had left.
That evening was real crazy. Alexa was consistently trying to get over and see her “special dude friend” in her wedding attire. At one point she was convinced that I would drive her over to her boy friend and play Halo or something to that effect with him. Micah, Jonas, and Andra (my sis) kept a running conversation with him over IM while Raya and Silvie discussed stuff with Alexa while she was on the phone for about an hour. I ran around in their basement moving from one group to the next. I also had a great encounter with a massage chair in their basement. We ended up going to sleep sometime between 2 and 3 am.
August 26th: I woke up sometime around 9:30 am and went upstairs for breakfast. I was surprised to find that Alexa was the first one up after me. We ate and talked for awhile by ourselves until the rest of my seven cousins emerged out of the basement. After breakfast I did my various teeth and facial care stuffs. I then put on some socks and walked the property, eventually meeting up with my uncle Doug. I then went and chilled in a chair for awhile conversing with my grandpa Ben and great-uncle Elton. The loot care as Doug called it arrived, his 1970’s Cadillac DeVille, bearing the wedding gifts. We loaded the gifts onto a flatbed towed by his ATV and took them around back of the house. My seven cousins and two of Alice’s brothers and Doug stashed them in their pool room. I wonder when Erica and Andy are going to get around to opening them all?
The seven of us then went out to Alexa’s pool and hung around for awhile. I believe Micah was the first one to go into the 70 degree (F) water. I followed him shortly there after and that was rather shocking. I went in and out of the pool several times during the next hour or so. We played mafia while on the pool deck. I was starting to turn red so I suggested we go inside. We hung around inside for awhile.
Sometime after a dinner of leftovers from Friday’s meal, the seven of us went to The Simpson’s Movie. We were hoping to go to Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, but that was showing at the theater across town. The movie was pretty good. I took a massive dump after the movie. When I cam back out I met Alexa’s “special-friend-that-happe
August 27th: That morning it was all wet and cloudy, remaining that way for some time until around 11am. The seven of us spent most of the day inside, relaxing and doing our own thing. At around 3:30pm my dad, sis and myself left for home. My mom had left the day before at around 12pm.
August 28th: I woke up at around 8:30am to get ready for the Zerbe-Cornelson’s imminent arrival at 10am. I had just enough to get all organized. We showed them around the house and the woods (when it wasn’t drizzling). After the tour, Rick, my dad, Andra, Raya, Jonas, and myself sat down to a game of Scotland Yard. We stopped about 3/4 of the way through for lunch. After lunch we were able to surround Mr. X. I think Rick may have played a bit easy at the end just to finish the game up. Anyway, I caught Mr. X. and ended the game. Rick came up with the idea of an online version of Scotland Yard. I have it all sketched out now how it would work. Now for the coding sometime ….