Wedding

Stop confetti Start confetti

Yup, we're getting married. For those curious types, here are the dates that have defined our relationship.

Mid Jan., 2001 The meet I see Shaunna for first time in Eaton Place food court.
She is stunning.
She is alone.
I do nothing.
Damn.
A couple days later, I notice that my friend 'dree ¹ is sitting with her.
!!!
I uncharacteristically seize the moment, and sit myself down by 'dree, chatting it up.
When Mike came and sat down with 'dree and me, I was really surprised And probably quiet. I don't really remember. But I do remember thinking that he was quite funny, and after a few lunches with him and his friend Mike² and 'dree, I began to look forward to lunch, and not just because it meant I got to leave work for an hour.

Around Feb. 13th, 2001 The awkward³ asking I've won free tickets to "Love stories on 42nd Street." Being single, I ask 'dree, whether she thinks her cute and interesting coworker Shaunna would be want to go.
Sadly reminiscent of junior high, isn't it? <sigh>
Shaunna, not realizing that I don't know that she is set to move away in September, agrees to go out with me.
'dree comes up to me and tells me that Mike wants to ask me what I am doing on Feb 16. So I email him saying something to the effect of, I'm not doing anything, why'd you want to know? I agreed to go out with him because 'dree had told me that she had mentionned my plans to go to Calgary.

Silly 'dree. She forgot to mention that.

Feb. 16th, 2001 First Date Shaunna and I click.
I've fallen in love.
"She eats her steak rare!"
Shaunna tells me that she's leaving the province, thus crushing my hopes of finally having found someone.
'dree later tells me that Shaunna said something like the following: " I've never seen so much hurt and disappointment on someone's face. "
Ouch.
We went for dinner. We went for a show. We went for coffee. We hit it off. I started doubting my decision about moving to Calgary. I wanted him to kiss me. I never wanted the night to end. What more could I have asked for?

Feb.-Apr., 2001 Just Friends Shaunna and I have decided to be "just friends".
It's not working too well for me.
She's too damn flirtatious.
<gulp>
Got to turn Mike beet red on numerous occassions.

=]

Apr. 12th, 2001 Not Just Friends Shaunna: "What would you say if I told you I decided not to move anymore?".
I don't go home that night⁴.
After a good long time deliberating.. and realizing just how happy I was to play pool, etc. with him I decided to stay. I even contemplated telling him on his birthday, but I still wanted that kiss.

Apr. 15th, 2001 Meet The Family After freshly starting the relationship, what was the first thing Mike decided to do to shy Shaunna?
That's right, bring her to Easter dinner with tons of new family to show her off... I mean to introduce her to. :) I actually think that it was to see if I could handle a family as loud and outspoken as his...
I'm still not sure.
But the food was awesome!

Late April, Early May, 2001 Nadia's Social So we go to one of Shaunna's co-worker's socials. Lots of great prizes. What did I win?
The romance package :)
It included a one night stay for two at Place Louis Riel (among other cool prizes). The prize was only good for a Friday or Saturday night. Odd eh?

Cool.

A couple of days later, I asked Shaunna when we should use the prize. She whips out her date book, and points to Oct. 12th, which is our 6 month anniversary.

Oh... She already had the monthly milestones marked.

No pressure :) Well that was a fun night. We both went for the prizes, but I didn't win anything. Big surprise. :(

But Mike did!! The lucky bastard.

We won this cool romance prize. It had a gift cert for Green Gates, a nights stay at Place Louis Riel, some candles, edible body paint (which we won't tell you what we did with), and a bit of lingerie (and I mean a small bit).

It has led to some fun times... =]

May 13th, 2001 Mike's B-day My first birthday with a girlfriend. <sigh> I got everybody's cherries⁵ and I kicked some ass bowling! =]

Late May (~20th), 2001 Moving In Seeing as in the previous six weeks I had spent around six days at home, we decided that I should move in.
Or that I had moved in. One or the other.
This had been difficult for my parents. Brianna, my sister, had been getting on their cases that I was allowed to stay the day (day... night... week... whatever) at Shaunna's.
All I can say was PBBBBBT!!! :p

So eventually I moved a small portion of my vast amount of stuff to Shaunna's crowded one bedroom apartment.
Joy.
He had moved in. He just forgot to bring his stuff (such as his clothes and all that). You know, just push my stuff out of the way so that he could get his stuff in my nice comfortable apartment. It was just great for me!!!
But I prefer having him. <awwwwwww...>

June 6th, 2001 Shaunna's B-day I asked Shaunna's best friend Terra whether I should get her a promise ring for her birthday.
"WHAT!?!?!" Terra freaked and shrieked. My ears still hurt :)
She was worried that I was gonna hurt Shaunna because she currently had two other promise rings from other guys.
So I got Shaunna some nice earrings instead. I remember I had to take them out of the ring box that they came in because I was worried that she might get the wrong idea...
Heh.
I also went through hell stealing her phone book and trying to get her friends together for a surprise birthday party.
I remember that we went to one of the nicer restaurants in the city. Their steak was really good.
Mmmmmmmmmm... Steak...

Aug. 4th, 2001 Mom-In-Law visits Original plan: Faith (Shaunna's mom) will come down on the 11th and stay a week with us.
(Remember, tiny apartment.)
Shaunna and I book off the week to show her around and entertain.
Monkey wrench: Faith, trying to become a silly american, is notified that she has an immigration meeting on the 15th. Shaunna can't change her vacation time. Stupid Aikins.
New plan: Mom comes up on the 4th, we all go down to Boise, Idaho on the 11th.

So, when all was said and done, we had a fun time with Faith up here. We visited the forks, taught Faith how to play "Trivial Pursuit for Shots⁶," and learned how to be really quiet :)
Also, I finally bought Shaunna her promise ring. For some reason I had never noticed that she had stopped wearing the old promise rings. Real attentive, I is.
By-the-by, I won Trivial Pursuit for drinks. :) <gloat><gloat> I can say this with utter certainty, seeing as all the other participants were seriously messed up by the end.
I actually preferred the new plan over the old one. It meant that I would be able to spend more time with Mom. Which is pretty hard to do, since she lives in Boise. Boise is in Idaho. Idaho is a state south of Alberta, and if you are still lost, I can't help you.
We had a lot of fun with Mom. Going to the Forks wasn't as much fun as it normally was, but that was because I hung over from the games of Trivial Pursuit that we played. But all in all it was great.
As for the promise ring (which had an emerald, that unfortunately wasn't the quality we originally thought it was and doesn't look as great as it could beside my other ring) I absolutely love it. That and he got it for me, with Mom standing beside us when he paid for it.
That is really cool. A guy that isn't scared of my Mom. Or that my Mom didn't try to scare off. :)

Aug. 11th, 2001 Skipping town Ugh. Hot. Fortunately it was drier than the 'Peg, which we just left.
I got to participate in my very own Red-Neck Soap Opera. Other than that, it was cool. Our Canadian dollar bit the big one, but we did get to go White Water Rafting.
Squeet⁷!
We also learned how to be even quieter.
Ahhhhh, the beautiful warmth! It was great, I got to be warm. But I think that Mike was dying.
The white water rafting was awesome. I haven't had so much wholesome fun⁸ in a good long time.
And we got to go shopping!!!! Yay!!!
Poor Mike...

Oct. 1st, 2001 Movin' on up, to the East side... Moving Day!

Shaunna and I are finally moving out of her cramped one bedroom apartment. We had to wait for the lease to finish you see.
In fact, this is why she originally was going to be moving end of September before. Glad I changed her mind.

We've managed to find a nice two bedroom apartment, with a couple of cool amenities, that's close to both of our works.

The move went exceptionally well considering that we only had a two hour window on Monday morning to move.

And neither Mom nor Dad could help (it being Monday).

And Shaunna had to be at her new job at 10:30. So we got up at 6 am, and by 6:30, everything was getting packed (such as our dirty clothes etc.). Shortly after I finished that (Mike took off so that we could have another truck), Terra and Frank showed up (THANK YOU!!!) and we started to lug things downstairs. My brothers got there a little late (but they were still a big help, lugging the most downstairs) and Mike, the other Mike, was great too. I think Mike's Uncle was there too, but after we got the first load in the elevator, me and Terra got to bring most everything in.

Fast forward a bit and we finish early enough for me to change for work, get in a truck and go to work. I was still on time for 10:30. Amazing!

When I got home that night, we had most of a kitchen and a bed in the bedroom, compliments of Mike and his family (another THANK YOU!!). That night we moved the dressers to where we wanted them, and unpacked some clothes. Then we collapsed on the bed.

Oct. 12th, 2001 Six months This was the night that we were going to use our prize from the social (mentioned earlier).

But I planned something a little more special. After having done a little ring shopping⁹, I was ready to propose to the love of my life. For our anniversary we had decided to go to the Keg downtown, because then we could both drink before going to Louis Riel.

At the Keg, we had our normal steak dinners and were being particularily coochie-coo love birds. One of the things that I remember most was Mike asking me if I knew how much he loved me and I said "Lots." He said "I love you this much," holding his hands maybe two feet apart. I said "That's it?" I was expecting the arms to be held to the limit, stretching to encompass the size sort of thing. Then he said "The world is this big," and held his fingers an inch or two apart. I melted.

Later we ordered cheesecake for dessert and Mike moved from across the table to sit beside me, so that it would be easier to share the cake. Sometime while we were eating, Mike moved the chair out of way and was kneeling on the floor eating. After we finished eating, he turned to me and said, "You know how much I love you?" I said the bit with the world being tiny and all. He said "Nope, I love you this much" and popped the ring box open.

What can I say? I hugged him and said "yes!" a bunch of times cause I didn't know if he could hear me.

The ring was gorgeous. It was the one that I had really eyed up when we were shopping.

Then we went to the hotel and celebrated. =]

Nov 27th, 2001 Saying goodbye I got the call at 6:30 PM from the nurse at St. B's. I rushed down to Shaunna's work and drove her straight there.
It was a rough night, with many restless nights to follow.
All of us took a turn spreading a handful of ashes at the farewell. Even my Dad took a handful, later saying that it was the closest he'd ever get to shaking his hand.
Mom and Dad never got a chance to meet John. They were going to have him over for Christmas, but sadly that never happened.
This is the day that my Dad passed away. We were all at the hospital (well minus two cousins) when it happened. It was pretty cramped. But we were there and we all got the chance to say goobye.

We had a really nice farewell in Assiniboine park and then a potluck at Chris's apartment.

I miss him.

And I am really glad that Mike (and his family) were there when I needed them.

Dec. 25th, 2001 Christmas! My first Christmas away from home... Felt very odd. Definitely not used to not being at the parents for Christmas morning, but I managed :)
We were absolutely spoiled rotten by both sides of the family. Woo hoo!
Well, this was my first Christmas that I wasn't with either of my parents. But Mike's parents treated me like their own (and man, was I spoiled!!!)
But it is pretty weird not going "home" or to the parents for the holidays.

Dec. 31, 2001 New Year's Eve Another first "event with girlfriend" for me. Shaunna was really HOT!
Got mildly drunk and did lots of karaoke.
(Not neccessarily in that order :) )
Shaunna got really drunk and sang REM's Losing My Religion with me. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop shaking all night. Silly Shaunna...
After work I went home and got all gussied up for the New Year's Eve's party @ Jonathan's. I had a lot of fun, got really drunk. Drunk enough to do karaoke! Oh my god!!!<blush furiously>

Jan. 5th, 2001 Boise, the attack of the killer potatoes II What is it about Boise and plans? They don't seem to mix...
The plan:All seven of us (Shaunna, Mike, Frank, Ken, Frank [different], Terra and Farai) are going to drive down to Mom's wedding. We'll rent a minivan and have three drivers, so we can drive straight through, 23 hours, with driving shifts. Road Trip!!!
Monkey Wrench:Frank (the brother) can't afford to go. Terra, Frank (not the brother) and Farai have bought a car and also can't afford to go (as well as dealing with immigration for Frank)
Final revision:Three of us going down, two have expired beginners. I had to drive 5000 km round trip (actually came out closer to 5200 or something) by myself.

I ended up driving 14-15 hours the first day down, and the first day back up. I needed to have the car (2002 Gold Impala, sweet car for the trip...) back by 4 PM Friday. So I drove as far as I could the first day, and ended up getting back in the 'Peg by 2:30. On the way down I was just practicing :)
All in all, the trip went quite well. With the Impala and cruise control, I wasn't even feeling worn down when I finished driving for the day.
Ken, Mike and I went down to visit Mom for her wedding. We didn't fly down like we did before. We drove. Technically, Mike drove, while Ken and I tried to keep him entertained. I'm sorry you had to do that Mike!
The wedding itself was really nice and Mom made a very beautiful bride =]

1. Yeah, that's her name. Proper punctualization and capitalization. 'dree.

Strange chicky-poo.

Back

2. Yup, my best friend/best man is named Mike as well.

Confusing? Then I won't introduce you to my cousins Mike Fuellbrandt and Mike Lippens. :p

Back

3. That can't be the proper spelling can it? It is? What a weird word. Have you ever tried spelling a word, look at it and say to yourself "Man, that is so not right!" only to have it turn out to be right?

No?

...

Oh. Screw you then.

Back

4. And feels only slightly guilty that it's his parent's anniversary.

Oh well, they wanted him "out of the house."

Back

5. Get your mind out of the gutter!!

Back

6. Boozaliscious! But we aren't drunkards...

Honest!

Back

7. What? <shrug>

Back

8. Are you trying to say something about my brand of fun? (Shaunna: "Yes")

Back

9. I am the KING of subtlety.

Back

Mid Jan., 2001	The meet	I see Shaunna for first time in Eaton Place food court. She is stunning. She is alone. I do nothing. Damn. A couple days later, I notice that my friend 'dree ¹ is sitting with her. !!! I uncharacteristically seize the moment, and sit myself down by 'dree, chatting it up.	When Mike came and sat down with 'dree and me, I was really surprised And probably quiet. I don't really remember. But I do remember thinking that he was quite funny, and after a few lunches with him and his friend Mike² and 'dree, I began to look forward to lunch, and not just because it meant I got to leave work for an hour.
Around Feb. 13th, 2001	The awkward³ asking	I've won free tickets to "Love stories on 42nd Street." Being single, I ask 'dree, whether she thinks her cute and interesting coworker Shaunna would be want to go. Sadly reminiscent of junior high, isn't it? <sigh> Shaunna, not realizing that I don't know that she is set to move away in September, agrees to go out with me.	'dree comes up to me and tells me that Mike wants to ask me what I am doing on Feb 16. So I email him saying something to the effect of, I'm not doing anything, why'd you want to know? I agreed to go out with him because 'dree had told me that she had mentionned my plans to go to Calgary. Silly 'dree. She forgot to mention that.
Feb. 16th, 2001	First Date	Shaunna and I click. I've fallen in love. "She eats her steak rare!" Shaunna tells me that she's leaving the province, thus crushing my hopes of finally having found someone. 'dree later tells me that Shaunna said something like the following: " I've never seen so much hurt and disappointment on someone's face. " Ouch.	We went for dinner. We went for a show. We went for coffee. We hit it off. I started doubting my decision about moving to Calgary. I wanted him to kiss me. I never wanted the night to end. What more could I have asked for?
Feb.-Apr., 2001	Just Friends	Shaunna and I have decided to be "just friends". It's not working too well for me. She's too damn flirtatious. <gulp>	Got to turn Mike beet red on numerous occassions. =]
Apr. 12th, 2001	Not Just Friends	Shaunna: "What would you say if I told you I decided not to move anymore?". I don't go home that night⁴.	After a good long time deliberating.. and realizing just how happy I was to play pool, etc. with him I decided to stay. I even contemplated telling him on his birthday, but I still wanted that kiss.
Apr. 15th, 2001	Meet The Family	After freshly starting the relationship, what was the first thing Mike decided to do to shy Shaunna? That's right, bring her to Easter dinner with tons of new family to show her off... I mean to introduce her to. :)	I actually think that it was to see if I could handle a family as loud and outspoken as his... I'm still not sure. But the food was awesome!
Late April, Early May, 2001	Nadia's Social	So we go to one of Shaunna's co-worker's socials. Lots of great prizes. What did I win? The romance package :) It included a one night stay for two at Place Louis Riel (among other cool prizes). The prize was only good for a Friday or Saturday night. Odd eh? Cool. A couple of days later, I asked Shaunna when we should use the prize. She whips out her date book, and points to Oct. 12th, which is our 6 month anniversary. Oh... She already had the monthly milestones marked. No pressure :)	Well that was a fun night. We both went for the prizes, but I didn't win anything. Big surprise. :( But Mike did!! The lucky bastard. We won this cool romance prize. It had a gift cert for Green Gates, a nights stay at Place Louis Riel, some candles, edible body paint (which we won't tell you what we did with), and a bit of lingerie (and I mean a small bit). It has led to some fun times... =]
May 13th, 2001	Mike's B-day	My first birthday with a girlfriend. <sigh>	I got everybody's cherries⁵ and I kicked some ass bowling! =]
Late May (~20th), 2001	Moving In	Seeing as in the previous six weeks I had spent around six days at home, we decided that I should move in. Or that I had moved in. One or the other. This had been difficult for my parents. Brianna, my sister, had been getting on their cases that I was allowed to stay the day (day... night... week... whatever) at Shaunna's. All I can say was PBBBBBT!!! :p So eventually I moved a small portion of my vast amount of stuff to Shaunna's crowded one bedroom apartment. Joy.	He had moved in. He just forgot to bring his stuff (such as his clothes and all that). You know, just push my stuff out of the way so that he could get his stuff in my nice comfortable apartment. It was just great for me!!! But I prefer having him. <awwwwwww...>
June 6th, 2001	Shaunna's B-day	I asked Shaunna's best friend Terra whether I should get her a promise ring for her birthday. "WHAT!?!?!" Terra freaked and shrieked. My ears still hurt :) She was worried that I was gonna hurt Shaunna because she currently had two other promise rings from other guys. So I got Shaunna some nice earrings instead. I remember I had to take them out of the ring box that they came in because I was worried that she might get the wrong idea... Heh. I also went through hell stealing her phone book and trying to get her friends together for a surprise birthday party.	I remember that we went to one of the nicer restaurants in the city. Their steak was really good. Mmmmmmmmmm... Steak...
Aug. 4th, 2001	Mom-In-Law visits	Original plan: Faith (Shaunna's mom) will come down on the 11th and stay a week with us. (Remember, tiny apartment.) Shaunna and I book off the week to show her around and entertain. Monkey wrench: Faith, trying to become a silly american, is notified that she has an immigration meeting on the 15th. Shaunna can't change her vacation time. Stupid Aikins. New plan: Mom comes up on the 4th, we all go down to Boise, Idaho on the 11th. So, when all was said and done, we had a fun time with Faith up here. We visited the forks, taught Faith how to play "Trivial Pursuit for Shots⁶," and learned how to be really quiet :) Also, I finally bought Shaunna her promise ring. For some reason I had never noticed that she had stopped wearing the old promise rings. Real attentive, I is. By-the-by, I won Trivial Pursuit for drinks. :) <gloat><gloat> I can say this with utter certainty, seeing as all the other participants were seriously messed up by the end.	I actually preferred the new plan over the old one. It meant that I would be able to spend more time with Mom. Which is pretty hard to do, since she lives in Boise. Boise is in Idaho. Idaho is a state south of Alberta, and if you are still lost, I can't help you. We had a lot of fun with Mom. Going to the Forks wasn't as much fun as it normally was, but that was because I hung over from the games of Trivial Pursuit that we played. But all in all it was great. As for the promise ring (which had an emerald, that unfortunately wasn't the quality we originally thought it was and doesn't look as great as it could beside my other ring) I absolutely love it. That and he got it for me, with Mom standing beside us when he paid for it. That is really cool. A guy that isn't scared of my Mom. Or that my Mom didn't try to scare off. :)
Aug. 11th, 2001	Skipping town	Ugh. Hot. Fortunately it was drier than the 'Peg, which we just left. I got to participate in my very own Red-Neck Soap Opera. Other than that, it was cool. Our Canadian dollar bit the big one, but we did get to go White Water Rafting. Squeet⁷! We also learned how to be even quieter.	Ahhhhh, the beautiful warmth! It was great, I got to be warm. But I think that Mike was dying. The white water rafting was awesome. I haven't had so much wholesome fun⁸ in a good long time. And we got to go shopping!!!! Yay!!! Poor Mike...
Oct. 1st, 2001	Movin' on up, to the East side...	Moving Day! Shaunna and I are finally moving out of her cramped one bedroom apartment. We had to wait for the lease to finish you see. In fact, this is why she originally was going to be moving end of September before. Glad I changed her mind. We've managed to find a nice two bedroom apartment, with a couple of cool amenities, that's close to both of our works. The move went exceptionally well considering that we only had a two hour window on Monday morning to move. And neither Mom nor Dad could help (it being Monday). And Shaunna had to be at her new job at 10:30.	So we got up at 6 am, and by 6:30, everything was getting packed (such as our dirty clothes etc.). Shortly after I finished that (Mike took off so that we could have another truck), Terra and Frank showed up (THANK YOU!!!) and we started to lug things downstairs. My brothers got there a little late (but they were still a big help, lugging the most downstairs) and Mike, the other Mike, was great too. I think Mike's Uncle was there too, but after we got the first load in the elevator, me and Terra got to bring most everything in. Fast forward a bit and we finish early enough for me to change for work, get in a truck and go to work. I was still on time for 10:30. Amazing! When I got home that night, we had most of a kitchen and a bed in the bedroom, compliments of Mike and his family (another THANK YOU!!). That night we moved the dressers to where we wanted them, and unpacked some clothes. Then we collapsed on the bed.
Oct. 12th, 2001	Six months	This was the night that we were going to use our prize from the social (mentioned earlier). But I planned something a little more special. After having done a little ring shopping⁹, I was ready to propose to the love of my life.	For our anniversary we had decided to go to the Keg downtown, because then we could both drink before going to Louis Riel. At the Keg, we had our normal steak dinners and were being particularily coochie-coo love birds. One of the things that I remember most was Mike asking me if I knew how much he loved me and I said "Lots." He said "I love you this much," holding his hands maybe two feet apart. I said "That's it?" I was expecting the arms to be held to the limit, stretching to encompass the size sort of thing. Then he said "The world is this big," and held his fingers an inch or two apart. I melted. Later we ordered cheesecake for dessert and Mike moved from across the table to sit beside me, so that it would be easier to share the cake. Sometime while we were eating, Mike moved the chair out of way and was kneeling on the floor eating. After we finished eating, he turned to me and said, "You know how much I love you?" I said the bit with the world being tiny and all. He said "Nope, I love you this much" and popped the ring box open. What can I say? I hugged him and said "yes!" a bunch of times cause I didn't know if he could hear me. The ring was gorgeous. It was the one that I had really eyed up when we were shopping. Then we went to the hotel and celebrated. =]
Nov 27th, 2001	Saying goodbye	I got the call at 6:30 PM from the nurse at St. B's. I rushed down to Shaunna's work and drove her straight there. It was a rough night, with many restless nights to follow. All of us took a turn spreading a handful of ashes at the farewell. Even my Dad took a handful, later saying that it was the closest he'd ever get to shaking his hand. Mom and Dad never got a chance to meet John. They were going to have him over for Christmas, but sadly that never happened.	This is the day that my Dad passed away. We were all at the hospital (well minus two cousins) when it happened. It was pretty cramped. But we were there and we all got the chance to say goobye. We had a really nice farewell in Assiniboine park and then a potluck at Chris's apartment. I miss him. And I am really glad that Mike (and his family) were there when I needed them.
Dec. 25th, 2001	Christmas!	My first Christmas away from home... Felt very odd. Definitely not used to not being at the parents for Christmas morning, but I managed :) We were absolutely spoiled rotten by both sides of the family. Woo hoo!	Well, this was my first Christmas that I wasn't with either of my parents. But Mike's parents treated me like their own (and man, was I spoiled!!!) But it is pretty weird not going "home" or to the parents for the holidays.
Dec. 31, 2001	New Year's Eve	Another first "event with girlfriend" for me. Shaunna was really HOT! Got mildly drunk and did lots of karaoke. (Not neccessarily in that order :) ) Shaunna got really drunk and sang REM's Losing My Religion with me. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop shaking all night. Silly Shaunna...	After work I went home and got all gussied up for the New Year's Eve's party @ Jonathan's. I had a lot of fun, got really drunk. Drunk enough to do karaoke! Oh my god!!!<blush furiously>
Jan. 5th, 2001	Boise, the attack of the killer potatoes II	What is it about Boise and plans? They don't seem to mix... The plan:All seven of us (Shaunna, Mike, Frank, Ken, Frank [different], Terra and Farai) are going to drive down to Mom's wedding. We'll rent a minivan and have three drivers, so we can drive straight through, 23 hours, with driving shifts. Road Trip!!! Monkey Wrench:Frank (the brother) can't afford to go. Terra, Frank (not the brother) and Farai have bought a car and also can't afford to go (as well as dealing with immigration for Frank) Final revision:Three of us going down, two have expired beginners. I had to drive 5000 km round trip (actually came out closer to 5200 or something) by myself. I ended up driving 14-15 hours the first day down, and the first day back up. I needed to have the car (2002 Gold Impala, sweet car for the trip...) back by 4 PM Friday. So I drove as far as I could the first day, and ended up getting back in the 'Peg by 2:30. On the way down I was just practicing :) All in all, the trip went quite well. With the Impala and cruise control, I wasn't even feeling worn down when I finished driving for the day.	Ken, Mike and I went down to visit Mom for her wedding. We didn't fly down like we did before. We drove. Technically, Mike drove, while Ken and I tried to keep him entertained. I'm sorry you had to do that Mike! The wedding itself was really nice and Mom made a very beautiful bride =]