I haven't had much time for writing here during the past days, so now I'll try to update you about what has happened Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Friday morning we began with breakfast from McDonalds, right across the street from Hilton. Then I spent some time in the pool before it was time to pack our things and check out. Then it was time to do some driving again....
This time Janne and I drove Tony's car, while Linda, Lois, Kim, Ashley and Cass were in Lois car. And we had no aircondition.... :( Anyway, we drove to a place called La Bou where we had some lunch, I had clam chowder and the rest of the group had sandwiches. Then we drove home to Derik and Andrea and saw their new house. Janne and I borrowed Tony's car again and went to Old Navy to do some shopping and when we came back to the house it was time to get dressed for the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Before that we gave the wedding gift to Derik and Andrea.



Driving to the rehearsal was terrible, Tony, Kim, Janne and I were in the car without aircondition and we could not move or talk on the 30 minute drive to the church. We just concentrated on surviving. Finally we came to the church and saw the rehearsal, and then went in Lois car (much cooler) to the dinner which was at Mark's and Monica's Sports bar. I had pasta, which was very good. We stayed there for some hours and then it was time to drive into Sacramento and to check in at the Sheraton.

We could hardly believe that we were going to stay in such a nice hotel and the room was really wonderful. I have never stayed in a better place. I could easily live there for weeks. We slept really good but woke up early Saturday morning, just like usual.

We started the day by walking to the Amtrak station to pick up our train tickets for the next day. On our way there we had breakfast at Denny's, which was in the chinese part of the city. From Amtrak we walked to Old Sacramento where we spent the next hour walking around looking at the different things, like the old houses, the river, little cute shops etc. Next stop was Downtown Plaza, a shopping mall just next to Old Sacramento. We went to Disney Store, GAP and some other stores before it was time for coffee at Starbucks.

After coffee we walked back to our hotel and started to get dressed for the wedding. At 15.00 we went outside and were picked up by George (Tony's sisters husband) who took us to First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, where the wedding took place. One of the grooms showed us to our seat and then it was finally time for the big moment. It was a really beautiful wedding, and very short compared to the weddings I have been to before. It only took about 20 minutes and then Derik and Andrea were a married couple.

We went back to Sheraton with George, and first of all there were hors d'heuvres outside the room where the dinner was going to take place. Lot's of cheese, crackers, stuffed mushrooms, crabcakes and other food. We also signed the guestbook and got our picture taken for it. After an hour or so, Derik and Andrea and the rest of the wedding party arrived (they had been taking pictures in the rose garden in the Capitol park) and it was time to sit down.
First Derik and Andrea danced their first dance together and after that dinner started. It was very good, first a salad, and then chicken, and after that wedding cake of course. After the dinner we danced until midnight, and we really had a lot of fun! Being at an American wedding was a very nice experience.



Sunday morning we were a little bit tired, but we got up in time for brunch (also part of the wedding) and said good-bye to everyone. That was the sad part of the weekend:( Then we went out on town and walked to the Capitol building and looked around in the park there. We saw the rose garden, the Vietnam monument and some other monuments. And lot's of squirrels! Later we walked to Downtown Plaza again and bought some Pooh stuff at Hallmark:). Lunch at Subway, before we took a taxi to the Amtrak station.

The train ride went fine even if it was a little bit cold onboard. We came to Turlock at 18.07 and George met us at the "station" (It's not really a station, just a quick stop for the train) and took us home. There we were treated to a really nice dinner and joined by Linda and also Janice, Finn, Abbey och Soren.

Today, Monday, we have spent the entire day outside at the pool. After a busy weekend, it's been nice to just relax and do nothing. This evening we went to Javi's mexican restaurant for a very nice dinner.