So we flew out to Altadena last week, and saw this happen…
Congratulations Ben and Jenny!
We flew out early last Wednesday morning, meeting Emmi, Kyle & Iris, and David & Noemi, at the airport for our 6:30 flight. We were all flying together, Allentown to LAX by way of Chicago, followed by an hour or so drive to our hotel in Pasadena. (Anne and I also gave one of Ben’s friends a ride from the airport to where he was staying, but we were still checked in at our own place by around 4:00.) Dinner was at a local salad restaurant, and that’s where Ben and Jenny caught up with us.
The next few days were sort of a routine: up early and breakfast at a local cafe, then fun time with Iris — we really got to know the local parks and playgrounds. Afternoons were spent doing touristy things: Thursday at the South Pasadena farmer’s market (followed by a dinner party at Ben and Jenny’s), Friday at the Santa Monica Pier, including a trip to the aquarium where I got to pet a shark. (Coming home Friday night was also our first real taste of LA traffic…)
Saturday started with our typical morning routine, then we were off to the wedding venue, a park near Ben and Jenny’s home in Altadena. We got there a bit early and helped with setup, met more of Jenny’s family etc, and finally the big moment came. The wedding ceremony was lovely, and very personal, a mix of Quaker and Iranian Jewish traditions, with the mountains of the Angeles National Forest as backdrop. Afterward we all went to dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants.
This was unfortunately where Iris reached her limit. She’d been a real trouper up to this time — on the flights, in the hotel and around town, but she’d finally had enough and started melting down; Emmi and Kyle took her home not long after we arrived. We stuck around quite a bit longer — the food and the company were great, and Jenny’s family were an incredibly fun bunch.
Sunday morning we were all scheduled to go to the nearby town of Ojai for some sightseeing and a visit to the hot springs, but Anne and I offered to stay back with Iris to give her some chill time (and her parents some grown-up fun time). She got in a three-hour-plus nap, and then we just had fun playing in the hotel lobby and watching cartoons (and eating cookies) in our room. The downtime did her, and us, a world of good.
Emmi and Kyle came back to the hotel around 7:00, with Ben and a bunch of fun stories about their time in Ojai. We had dinner in our room, then went down to the hotel bar where we met Jenny and some of their friends from the wedding. This was a little bittersweet, our last time all together — we were flying home in the early morning — so we laughed and talked, and stayed up maybe a little later than we should have…
Monday was a long day, and it was all business: driving to LAX through the leading edge of rush hour, flying to Newark, and finally taking a bus back to Allentown. We were home by 10:00 PM, and we were toast.
