Feb. 28- March 15, 2015 Marco Island Jason and April’s Wedding

 

Greeks Folly will be docked as Rose Marina for these 2 weeks for a very important occasion.  Our son Jason will be married to April on Saturday, March 6.  We have arrived a week prior to the wedding to help the couple prepare and will stay a week after the wedding to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Vivi Erikson and her sister and brother in law from Sweden. Jahn is our only known international follower of our blog.

 

The week prior to the wedding was very busy.  Jason and April will get married on their property, and they are preparing the food for the celebration so Tom, the chef, will be using his catering skills for an important event.  Preparation includes doing yard work, which has become foreign to us while living on a boat, building a bar out of wooden pallets,

Building the bar from pallets

The finished bar with young bar tenders Wyatt and Colton

 

cooking and slicing 2 huge cones of gyros meat, stringing decorative Christmas lights on the fencing to provide atmosphere, making 200 cake pops,

Cooking the gyros before the wedding

Quality control on the cake pop production line

 

building an easy wooden arbor, picking up beer and cocktail supplies, as well as meeting up with family and friends who are flying in for the event, many of whom are trying to escape the cold and the snow of Chicago and Calgary. 

The wedding ceremony and celebration was wonderful.  As parents we could not be happier or more proud of Jason and April and their blended family (Colton, Wyatt and Wyatt).  After a simple ceremony, there was a buffet dinner consisting of pulled pork, gyros, cheesy potatoes, coleslaw salad and a lettuce salad.  Of course, cake pops for dessert.  The food was delicious.  The music and dancing were very fun.  The DJ was a friend and he played any and all types of music and even searched for songs that were requested.  We enjoyed dancing to rock and roll, Spanish music, the jitterbug, the Macarena, Cha-cha Slide, the Hokey-Pokey,  and the chicken dance.  All of the family stayed late, danced enthusiastically, and laughed and smiled all night long. 

The new bride and groom with their boys

The Kataras Family

The reception area on Jason and April's property

 

 The following day we worked clean up, enjoyed food leftovers and even had time to go to the hotel and enjoy the pool.  We thank all the family who traveled to Naples to celebrate this event. (Pete, Gary, Cindy, Joy, Sammy, Mike, Bonnie, Jody, Tim, Timmy, Liz, Theo, Anne, Tommy, Jane and Grandma)

Some relaxation down at the hotel pool with Tommy, Peter, Me on the bottom and Wyatt, Wyatt, and Colton on the top

 

The next week Tom and I spent on Marco Island – mostly.  The grandsons came to the boat one day and enjoyed the beach, a dinghy ride and playing pirate.  We spent a day with Jody and Tim on the beach and sharing their beach umbrella.

Sister Jody and husband, Tim from Calgary, Canada enjoying the Hilton Hotel

 

  We visited Bruce and Pat on Vanderbilt beach and enjoyed a boat ride to Ft. Myers and didn’t even mind getting caught in a downpour rain.  We also enjoyed riding in Bill and Nancy’s boat to a small island south of Marco to do some “shelling” and “relaxing” on the shore. 

Some of the Marco gang out shelling

 

  We had Sunday dinner with Jason and April, one more time, in a much relaxed atmosphere.

The time and wedding celebration in Naples and Marco Island was wonderful.  We had been looking forward to this event to celebrate and see family and friends .  The 2 weeks were perfect!!!