Casini Ranch Family Campground

At Casini Ranch Family Campground, Duncans Mills, CA

We felt lucky to have found the Casini Ranch Family Campground, in Duncans Mills, to stay at for the wedding…it could not have been any more convenient.  The park is what is says, a “FAMILY CAMPGROUND”.  I have never seen so many kids in campground before!  And because of all the kids, EVERYONE obeys the 7 mph speed limit, that is for sure…or kids would be run over.

    

This is the first campground where I think the tents outnumbered the RVs over the weekend.  LOTS and LOTS of tents.  By today (Monday) the RVs outnumber the tents…and the park is only 40% full…waiting for another Friday to show up with a crowd of people.  We have an electric and water site, and for our four night stay it ran us around $230…which included a $2 per day per pet fee, and 50% discount for Sunday and Monday nights due to Passport America.  Now that is like nearly 3 weeks of staying up at Huntley Park…and there we did not have to deal with the kids…did I mention there are LOTS of kids here?

But we were here for family reasons…it was a great wedding, great to see the kids all together again, and always hard to say goodbye…as Stephanie and Ryan are doing in the picture above.

    

Those who stayed over for Saturday night were down at the River Sunday.  Marcia stayed at the motorhome since walking on the rocks was not going to happen for her…and I went down there just long enough to have a very slight sunburn on my forehead, and to enjoy the company of family.  Got back to the Campground and found it to be less crowded, much quieter, and time for us to just sit back and rest up for the trip back to Sacramento on Tuesday.

A longtime blog follower, Kim and her husband Chuck came by this evening to meet us.  They too have a Dynamax Isata, but theirs is a newer, longer, diesel version where the front end looks more like a truck where ours looks more like a van.  Anyway, they live over in Occidental,  just past where the wedding was held, and both work in Santa Rosa. It was sure nice meeting them, and Kim that jerky you gave us is fantastic!  Thank you so very much...

Wedding Day – Michael and Anna

At Casini Ranch Family Campground, Duncans Mills, CA

Michael and Anna were married in a ceremony which was very much theirs, not a traditional ceremony which many have because that is the way it is suppose to be.  No, it wasn’t so nontraditional that it was from a distance…this picture above was taken by me as their photographer was taking wedding pictures before the ceremony…not after the ceremony like many do.

When Marcia and I arrived at 2:45 for the 3:30 ceremony…not knowing exactly how Marcia was going to be able to maneuver the facilities it was being held at (GoGo or walk type of issues—ended up being able to just walk, which was good), I was pleasantly surprised that Michael and Anna were down in the woods getting pictures taken…and I was able to get a few too from above without interfering with the two professional photographers they hired for their pictures.

The ceremony and reception was held at this community building which is part of Camp Meeker, which is an unincorporated community in Sonoma County located on the Bohemian Highway, population of 425 people.  Eighty chairs were set up, tables for food and beverages were set up, and everything was ready for the folks who were there to witness and celebrate this wonderful event.  With little parking, they had rented the services of a bus to bring folks to the wedding from the lodge where many were staying about 6 miles away. 

Inside the building tables were set up with no chairs…after the ceremony, people were asked to take a chair or two into the room, and it became a nice cozy area for folks to gather and eat.

Everything went off without a hitch…except for the bus being late.  Scheduled to arrive at 3:20, with a ceremony time of 3:30…the bus arrived around 3:50.  No problem, the setting and atmosphere made time pass as people visited, and the single acoustic guitar player gently strummed away adding to the atmosphere...and we took advantage of the time for some pictures.

    

 

Above pictures include brother, sister, aunts and uncles, and mother and step-father of the groom.

As we waited, why not get a few pictures of the groom, bride and the officiant.

What a lovely bouquet of that Anna held for the wedding ceremony…(the officiant held it for Marcia to get a nice picture.)

My three kids…blue seemed to be the color of the day.

Are they next???  Only time will tell…Kaelyn and Ryan make a wonderful couple…(hint hint) 

   

Finally the bus arrives, the seats will be full…the service, which lasted about 6 minutes took place.  Now I had a choice…take pictures of the ceremony, or take a video of the ceremony…I chose the latter, so that mom and dad, who just could not physically endure the trip to the wedding, could view it from the comfort of their reclining chairs. Not going to post the video, but we did get some pictures as the professionals were taking family group pictures.

 

Yes, that is about as “dressed up” as this old guy will get anymore, at least I guessed the color of the day!  Casual dress wedding means casual to me.  And I was not the only one dressed so casual…

And I love this picture because Anna shows that even casual weddings take a lot out of the bride…as she steps aside for a 5 second break so that they could get a picture of Michael and Stephanie and Ryan…

  

On the left, Michael’s mother’s side of the family…on the right, Anna’s mother’s side of the family.

Michael and Anna wrote their own vows, they were very heartfelt, humorous, and both included the following statement which is very thought provoking…

“ . . . it is a long, long time to be gone, a short time to be here, and I am so happy to be here with you . . . "

Pre-Wedding Festivities

At Casini Ranch Family Campground, Duncans Mills, CA

Michael met Anna at Cal Berkley where both of them were getting their Masters in Public Policy.  Anna was about a year ahead of Michael…the story goes that she was a Teacher’s Assistant, and gave Michael a “B” on an important paper/project that he had done…it was love ever after.  Now, they both live in Sacramento, he works at the State Capital, she at the State Water Resources (or something similar to that).  They bought a house this past January.  Prior to this he worked for the City of San Francisco, she at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.  Buying a home in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in an area they would want to live in, was just not going to happen…hence, the move to Sacramento.  Anna got her job nearly two years ago, Michael just over a year.

They are having a very casual, simple wedding.  No maid of honor, no best man…they hosted this BBQ dinner Friday before tomorrow’s wedding, which will be in a Redwood Grove in Camp Meeker.  Tonight’s BBQ was held at the Rio Cafe Take 2 in Monte Rio, about a mile down from the Lodge most of the family are staying at, and 3 miles from the Campground, Casini Ranch Family Campground, where Marcia and I are staying at, and six miles from Camp Meeker.

Above I captured this picture of my son Ryan (far left) and his girlfriend Kaelyn (bending down), my daughter Stephanie (back to camera), their mother Shelley and her husband Bryan.

Here is a better picture of Kaelyn and Ryan…today was the first time I met Kaelyn, she is a very likeable person.  Both of them are in Chiropractic College, Ryan in Kansas City, Kaelyn in St. Louis.  Both should graduate next year, he in April, she in August.

To the far right in this picture is Anna’s mother Ruth.  Ruth is an American Classics scholar, a Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan.  The other two are longtime friends of the family.

The gal to the far right at the table above is Anna’s cousin, and her mother, dark glasses, is Anna’s aunt.  She also had two uncles and aunts who came, one pair flying in from France where they have lived for 13 years now.

Tomorrow is ‘their’ day…about 45 people showed up tonight, and probably 70-80 will be showing up tomorrow.