Bachelor Party and Rehearsal Dinner

Sorry, I promise we'll get to the actual wedding.  Eventually.  But it was the very last day of the trip and I like to keep things chronological!  I'm not actually trying to build up suspense or anything, I'm just kind of boring and methodical when I blog about trips...

Anyway, while we were running around the Pacific Science Center, the rest of my family held a concert for the little kids and Brian roamed the streets of Seattle taking awesome pictures of architecture.  And I'm totally going to steal some of his photos to post here.  (If you ever want to order some amazing art photography, definitely check out his website, brianmadden.zenfolio.com.)  All the really amazing photos in this post you can assume are Brian's.

Once we'd had enough of the science center, Craig left to meet up with Brian and I drove the kids back to the ferry and hurried home to Natalie's dinner of baked ziti.  The boys were all heading to Adam's bachelor party.

Ian and Brian

And Ian and Craig!

Adam had decided that he wanted to show all his besties how you prepare crab, so that was what the bachelor party was all about.  Craig commented that, given my family's aversion to seafood, we probably would have been less disappointed if Adam had just hired a stripper.  Ah, well.  The men had a great time, even if us Bentley girls were kind of disgusted by the whole thing!

Yum?  I guess?

They had fun.  I made sure Craig brushed his teeth REALLY WELL before kissing me.

Friday morning we headed back to Natalie's.  My cousin Anne and her 5 kids were coming to town, and we'd agreed to all meet up at Natalie's place.  Our friend Juliana Hogan also came with her toddler (and husbands for both of these ladies, obviously!), so we had a LOT of people.  I think we had 17 kids running around the house?  It was insane.  But awesome.  But apparently it was so nuts that we never thought to take any pictures.  So you'll just have to imagine that, I guess!

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, and Natalie had arranged for our youngest kids to be babysat at her house.  That way they could hopefully get a decent night's sleep and not be crazy for the wedding.  Also, sleeping at her house meant we didn't have to deal with the ferries for getting to the temple in the morning, which was nice.  Her awesome babysitter showed up and we explained where each kids' pajamas and sleeping quarters were and wished her luck.  Then we drove into the city (with Bentley and Kendra) and met up at the docks on Lake Union, where Tracy and Adam had arranged a dinner cruise for their immediate family.  It rained almost the entire week we were there, but for Friday we got PERFECT weather.

Ferries and mountains.  That's my island!

First time we'd seen Mt. Rainier all week!

We had gotten there pretty early (thanks, Natalie!) so we stood around waiting and enjoying the sunshine.  Tracy, Adam, and both sets of parents arrived on a sea plane (!!!) and then we all got on the boat and it got on its way.  And it. was. so. FUN.

This isn't the actual plane they arrived on-- we kept waving at all the planes not knowing which one was theirs.  But it looked just like this!

The happy couple

Me, Mom, and Rachael

I like this shot of Craig and I

We got to meet Adam's brothers and sisters and parents and eat super yummy food.  And the captain played tour guide and would tell us all about some of the amazing houses we were seeing-- Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are the main people I remember hearing about, but there were a few others, too.  It was fun seeing their homes (and boats with helicopter pads on top!).

I think this is Bill Gates' dock?  It was made out of purple heartwood, which I've never heard of, and cost a million dollars.

In between courses, Tracy and Adam had planned various forms of entertainment.  Here, my sisters and I are reading a poem I wrote (I'll probably post that on the old blog eventually-- I can't resist showing off).

And here Adam's family is performing a song that they wrote.  (I LOVE that his Dad plays the banjo!!!!!!!)

The kids table-- I was glad I didn't have to worry about my little guys

MC-ing the whole thing-- I think here they were quizzing the families to see how much we knew about our soon-to-be-in-laws.  Fortunately we could help each other out!

This gives you a better feel for the size of our group and everything

The captain let the kids come up and steer the boat for a bit, so they loved that!

I might need to frame this shot.  This was where the boat went from Lake Union to Lake Washington.

Or this one...

Or this one!  These are all Brian's pictures

We had the BEST time.  That was probably my favorite activity of the whole week (not including the wedding).  I'm so glad the weather cooperated for us and that we got to enjoy everyone's company for such a lovely evening.

We got home and hurried to bed.  The babysitter had done a great job.  The kids were all asleep.  And tomorrow was the big day...!