We have arrived at the penultimate day of the Wedding Stories week. The morning was clear and the sunshine was bright. The temp was cool. We stepped out on the patio for a sip of coffee and were just in time to see the hot air balloons rising over our BnB.
A beautiful sight. Jake and Audrey took off early and drove into the town of Temecula for a „just the two of us“ breakfast - a well deserved break from the madding crowd. That left Mark in charge of the group breakfast. He pulled yesterday‘s roast potatoes from the fridge, chopped them up and tossed them in the huge skillet to create hash browns. Next a dozen eggs were beaten to a slurry froth with a bit of mild for creamy scrambled eggs; the toaster was pushed into duty for toast and bagels, while the last of the bananas and oranges were prepped. A good start to what is shaping up to be a busy day.
Chris, Avery and Spenser hopped into the swimming pool for a bit of relaxation, Abby broke out the knitting needles and ended up finishing a good eight inches of the sweater she is working on. Mark Cleaned up from breakfast and started some loads of laundry - this crew burns thorough pool and bath towels like no other! In the late morning, Darcy, Avery and the boys head into town for a look around. Audrey chooses a bit of a nap, Jake works on some computer stuff, and Abby decides to order some Del Taco to be delivered for her lunch. Just as the delivery driver left her order, the other kids pulled in with their own Del Taco run fortifications.
After the lunch hour, we cleaned up and then headed out to the first scheduled event of the day‘s activities, a wine stop at Doffo Winery just up the road from our BnB. A unique venue with an entire garage of vintage motorcycles to view. We enjoyed one glass of wine and then visited with some of the wedding guests we would see tomorrow, such as Ed‘s buddy Jeff Spicka and his partner Krishna, who had arrived from Omaha, also Ed‘s former room mate Robby, in from D.C. We took our leave after one glass and headed back to the home base. Darcy and Deb then left for a grocery run to forage for additional provisions for the weekend crowd.
At 4:30, the van loaded up with those who are in the wedding ceremony, leaving Audrey, Darcy and Abby to follow a bit later. We arrived at the wedding venue, Montserate Winery, just shy of our 5:00 schedule to meet the entire party for the rehearsal.
After a couple of practice runs, we then journeyed over the mountain to the neighboring Ella Rose Farm where the rehearsal dinner and the rest of the families, including the three we left behind gathered for cocktails and the arrival of the Taco Truck for our dinner. Lynne Covert and her daughters, Claire from Lincoln and Jessica from Chicago had arrived to fill out the final Covert contingent.
Brother John Covert, due to his aversion to airline travel, was left to go to Lincoln to help out with the dogs, kids, and to binge watch some good TV on the Bybee channels with James and the grandchildren, Seth, Genesis and Emily. The food was good, speeches were made, thank you’s to all the gathered friends and family were handed out by the feted couple and then, due to the breeze and chill in the air, the party broke up and headed back to home base.
While we were at the dinner and rehearsal, our friends Glenda Pierce and Jeff Kirkpatrick arrived at our BnB from Omaha. We sat with them for an hour or two (your author is not sure of the exact time, as he wandered off to his bed) and spent some time rehashing our weeks long list of activities. We are now ready to face the wedding day, hopefully refreshed and rehearsed. Tomorrow will go smoothly if the lead up is any indication.
