Derek's Wedding

I was honored to stand as Best Man in Derek's wedding yesterday.  

It was hot, but a beautiful August afternoon.  The wedding and pictures were at the Calvin Seminary.

Since I was in the wedding and there were professional photographers I don't have very good pictures yet.  I  will do a separate post with better pictures some day.

Evelyn was a flower girl for the 2nd time in her life.  She did very well and had a blast at the reception.

 

The ceremony went smoothly.

There was near-catastrophe with the getaway car.  While trying to secure the "just married" sign less than 15 minutes before it was time for Derek and Callae to drive away, the trunk wouldn't close.  The latch had been knocked out of alignment while decorating. The accountant (Marv), chemical engineer (me), and high school graduate (Ben), couldn't fix it.  Lucking the master's mechanical engineer (James) solved the problem just in time.

 

 

 

The reception was awesome.  Derek introduced his groomsmen to the 1990's Chicago Bull's Intro music and we all wore sports jerseys over our suits.  I wore my actual 1996 MJ jersey.  

Eight years ago at my wedding Derek delivered the most memorable best man's toast I've ever heard.  I had a lot to live up to.  Without 14-year-old boyish charm I had no chance.  But I think my toast was well done and entertaining.  

Congrats Derek and Callae!  Welcome to the family Callae.

Derek's Bachelor Party

I had the privilege of planning my brother's bachelor party in late July.  All the guys in the group were athletic and in their 20's and early 30's so I decided to organize a multi-sport round robin tournament.  The sports were ultimate frisbee, basketball, big-ball baseball (mix of kick ball and softball using a flat basketball, game Derek and I made up as kids), and yard games (ladder ball, bean bags, jarts).   

 

We played 6 rounds of sports and at the end the top 9 made the playoffs.  For the playoffs we had several games of "razor blades" (brutal Frisbee game) to narrow the field to 4.  Those four played the washer toss game to narrow the field to a final 2 - David and Josh.  The final competition was to make a basket with a football from full court.

Josh was the grand champion.  He won all 6 of his regular season games and swept through the playoffs, finishing the day undefeated and untied.  Nice work, Josh.

We grilled burgers and then camped after the games.  James came up with a very creative spatula since I forgot my grilling tools.

  

July Cottage Week

We enjoyed a fantastic week at the cottage. The kids loved it, of course.  There was a lot of boat time, some great super-tubing, a few semi-successful photo sessions, and lots of good food.