Behind the Three Point Line: Its a Nice Day for a Critter(less) Wedding

Well the wife and I were able to head down to Sarasota the weekend before Christmas without the Critters, well at least after we dropped them off with the Grandma's at Wildwood (quickly becoming a hot spot with the Critters). While the Critters were heading to Orlando we were off on our baby less escapades.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn a few minutes before we were to leave for the Rehearsal Dinner. We decided to start the weekend in style by heading to the hotel bar. Two beers later we were on our way to the Rehearsal Dinner at Marina Jacks. Rian and I had a great time there and the food was fan-freaking-tastic. A few (many) beers later we hoped on the bus to head back to the hotel, but low and behold we stopped at the Ritz (the other wedding hotel) to drop some folks off and the shuttle driver asked everyone if we wanted to grab a drink at the bar. A few drinks later we were once again off for our destination hotel.

Nine thirty the next morning came very quickly. Rian and I got ready for the day and headed off for a restaurant called Yoder's. I was unaware of this at the time (it must not be widely published) but there is large Amish community in Sarasota. While I was disappointed about the lack of horse drawn buggies, those Amish folks can make a mean meal. After breakfast we headed down to the ritzy shopping district to look around. We popped in a few stores and quickly realized the Tallahassee and Sarasota are quite different. After a little while we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the big shindig later that night.

We were off once again in the shuttle heading to the wedding/reception site. (Note: a shuttle is a very nice feature for parents on their first Critterless venture.) The ceremony was held outside at the Lakewood Ranch Country Club. Unfortunately we were told if we were 5 minutes earlier we could have seen a good size gator crawl out of the pond and into the brush. After a wonderful ceremony we headed inside to the reception site. Off to the bar. Let me just say that the band they had blew away any other wedding band I have seen. Another great time had by all, but we retired a little earlier because we had to hit the road and pick up the Critters. We headed to the Serving Spoon that morning for breakfast and were off to Wildwood. We had a great Critterless weekend but couldn't wait to scoop up the little guys and head home. Even better, I only had a three day work week when we got back, then off to Orlando for Christmas.

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