"We Are...Penn State!" A Wedding in Blue and White! COMPLETED 11/03 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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The ride out was pretty uneventful, Dad slept in the car, we grabbed lunch at Arby's and we arrived at about 3 PM. The hotel was less than a half a mile from campus, and we were quickly checked in. I had been very concerned about our room, as I wanted a suite, and not just a room. We got up to our room and it was PERFECT! A living room area with a sofa bed for Dad, and a seperate master bedroom for Steve and I. The bathroom was a good size for Dad to get around in, plus it was a straight shot from the sofa bed. We each ahd our own TV and our own heating controls. This was good, because....
As soon as we walked in to the room, it was a bit chilly. We hadn't even gotten our stuff in the room, when my father said "Get that %$#$%$# heat up It's cold in here!" Ummm...Dad?Can we get in the door first and FIND the controls? We got the stuff in, turned up the heat and he was happier.
The front of the hotel:
Steve bringing in the goods:
The kitchenette area:
The sofa bed:
The master bedroom, complete with garment bag:
We called Mike, and told them we were leaving in a few minutes to get to the chapel. With my Dad settled in a chair with the heat on and the TV remote in his hand, we took off for Eisenhower Chapel. We had to park in the parking garage and walk about 2 blocks to The Spiritual Center, home of the chapel. We found it with the help of some students, and arrived just in time to see Peggy and Mark leaving. They had arrived just a little bit before us, and had the flight story from Hades to tell. They flew into Pittsburgh and rented a car from there to drive to State College. Peggy's Mom and Dad were flying in from Nebraska, her eldest daughter Chelsea (Mike's younger half-sister) was flying in from school in Iowa and the rest of the family (Peggy, Mark and the other two girls) were coming from Colorado. First of all, they lost one of their bags, and Peggy ended up staying at the airport until almost midnight to retrieve it. Then, Chelsea's flight got cancelled and she had to reroute to another airport an hour and a half away. She was supposed to be in at 11 but didn't get into Pittsburgh until almost 2 AM! They hadn't even checked in to the hotel yet. They were heading over there to shower and change and they would see us later at the rehersal dinner. It was great to see them again (we all get along really well) and we felt bad that they had such a rough travel!
So we arrived, and everyone was there for the run through!
The chapel outside:
The chapel inside:
This is the front altar. Rumor is that there is a big screen TV behind the curtain, but we thought it might be rude to ask to have the Penn State game on during the ceremony!
The back of the chapel:
The pews:
Stained glass:
The reflective father of the groom:
The bride and groom:
The bride comes down the aisle:
Take 1:
At the altar:
Take 2:
There were two takes because the bride's mom didn't like the girls and the groomsmen standing on the steps, staggered. She wanted them on one level, which they were in the second take. I was personally fine with either way!
The rehersal ended at 5, which gave us just enough time to get back to the hotel, change, and head over to the rehersal dinner. We got back to the room and were hit with.....a BLAST of heat! Whoa! Umm...Dad? Isn't it a bit warm in here? He had found the heater controls, and it had to be at least 85 in there. He told us that he was cold, and we would just have to deal with it. Luckily, our room had a seperate contorl, which we promptly set to 68!
We changed, I confirmed Dad's dinner with Margo as well as pick up time (6:30) and we headed over to Alto. On the way, Mike texted me that Bob, who was Jess's Dad, was already there and waiting. We arrived quickly due to Garmin and going AGAINST the influx of parents and went down to the room to find Bob, Kim and pretty much the whole wedding party already there and partying! We introduced ourselves to Bob and Kim, who were awesome, and ended up sitting at our table.
I took very few pictures that night, but here are a few of the restaurant:
Soon, everyone had arrived and we were seated. They had us at two tables in the private room, which was great. Jess and Mike were on the end, Bob and Kim were next to us, the girls and Peggy and Mark were opposite us and Kyle (best man) and his girlfriend were at the end. Jess's Mom and stepdad sat at the other table with the rest of the bridal party and the minister (Jess's grandfather) and his wife. Jess's Mom and Dad don't get along too well, so it worked out really well this way.
Our wait staff took our orders. Our choices were chicken francais, shrimp scampi, a pasta dish with sausage and veal, and baked manicotti. Steve and I both got the manicotti. The appetizer choice was a green salad or a Caesar salad, but of course, my non-salad eating husband asked for and got soup!
After the orders were taken, Mike stood up to make a toast. I don't recall the exact words, but it was about how excited he was to be here, and about how much he loved Jess and how happy they both were. Then, he thanked his parents for always being supportive of him and loving him and raising him the way we did. needless to say, Peggy and I were blubbering by then. We both looked at each other and said "How are we going to make it through the ceremony if we are crying already?" We decided right then and there that there would be NO mascara worn the next day!
Mike giving the toast:
Mike with Mark and Peggy:
Mike with his sisters, Amber, Chelsea and Beth:
Dinner was great, and we split the bill with ease. We left the restaurant at about 9:30 and headed back to theresort. Dad was already back in his hot living room and we retreated to our cooler bedroom.
After we had settled in, I was playing on the computer and Steve was watching TV. His text message alert went off, and we got the following text from Mike:
Quote:
We love you guys so much. I'm very lucky to have parents like you! Not everyone is as lucky...
That, of course, started off more tears. I decided to just close up the computer and go to sleep! I had been so worried about today and everything went so well. The weekend was rolling, and there was no going back now!
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I was up at around 7:30 Saturday morning. My father was up waaaaay before that. He is an early riser (although his bedtime is usually around 8:30! ) I made coffee and played around a bit on the computer. Steve got up around 8:30 and we all got dressed. We got breakfast at the hotel. They had a continental breakfast. It was PACKED, but an older couple saw me with my Dad and his walker and graciously gave us their table. My Dad was standing off to the side, and I had to call him three times to come over to the table. It wasn't that he didn't hear me, he just kept saying he was fine where he was. He couldn't eat breakfast standing up. The woman who had given us the table smiled at me and said "Been there, done that". I thanked her again for the table...a brief moment of sisterhood in a crowded hotel lobby! Steve made himself a waffle, Dad just wanted a bagel and coffee, so I got him that. I asked him if he wanted juice and he asked what kind. I said apple or orange. Now, instead of just saying orange, he had to make a loud nasty comment "Yuck! Apple. I don't want apple. That's gross. Why would anyone want apple?" Sigh. Just tell me what you want. I got him set up and got myself a bagel, coffee, juice and a yogurt. The yogurt was in a chafing dish with ice under. My Dad insisted that this dish held hot food and that I hadn't asked him if he wanted eggs. I explained to him that it held the yogurt. "No, it's a hot dish. Can't you get me eggs?" I finally had to stand up, go over to the dish and show him the yogurt before he believed me. It was going to be a long day.
After breakfast, we settled Dad in the room and decided to go for a walk. There was football on TV, he was thrilled. I stopped housekeeping in the hallway and told her that my Dad was staying in the room but to still do the room. More on that later....
State College is a beautiful town, located in the heart of the Nittany Mountains. Penn State University is a sprawling, diverse campus with incredible architecture, awesome views and a fantastic stadium! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day to walk off some of our anxiety.
We headed up our road to College Avenue. It was all uphill, but at least we knew it would be down on the way back. We walked past the frat and sorority houses, to the Arboretum and one of the Ag buildings:
Over to the PSU Shrubbery:
Steve roars like a lion:
And on to Beaver Stadium, home of the Penn State Nittany Lions:
Senior entrance:
Steve and JoePa's statue:
Mike proposed to Jess at the Michagan State/PSU game:
The team motto:
Some campus shots:
By now, we were getting a bit tired and hungry. We decided to try the famous Berkey Creamery and it's world renowned ice cream!
It was one-size-fits-all, either cup or cone, and we opted for cone. Steve had some sort of peanut butter ice cream (I can't remember the name) and I had Arboretun Espresso:
We both declined to try the most famous flavor, Joe Paturno Peach!
After our ice cream, we headed back to our hotel. We passed the arts center, which was beautiful:
Check out those lion paws!
Through the garden of sculpture past the arts center:
Passing the Nittany Inn, which is now on our list of things to do:
And down the road to our hotel:
We got back to our hotel to find Dad in the same position. I noticed the sofa bed wasn't made up, nor was our room. I was a little annoyed that we didn't have housekeeping. My Dad said she was there, but he didn't know why she didn't clean. When I pressed him a little harder, he said that she had asked if he only wanted the bathroom done and he said that was fine. So I really couldn't fault her, neither could I say anything to my Dad because he didn't realize what he had said. Oh well, I've made beds before, I just made up this one too!
We decided to get a Domino's pizza for lunch. Steve called and ordered it and it was there in 20 minutes. I ate a half a slice. I was still full from the ice cream and I was getting too nervous to eat. By now it was 1:30 and we were T minus 2 and a half hours. The guys finished the pizza, and then we all got ready.
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Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
Sounds like it's party time! 
A living room area with a sofa bed for Dad, and a seperate master bedroom for Steve and I. The bathroom was a good size for Dad to get around in, plus it was a straight shot from the sofa bed. We each ahd our own TV and our own heating controls. This was good, because....
We got the stuff in, turned up the heat and he was happier.
They hadn't even checked in to the hotel yet. They were heading over there to shower and change and they would see us later at the rehersal dinner. It was great to see them again (we all get along really well) and we felt bad that they had such a rough travel!
and went down to the room to find Bob, Kim and pretty much the whole wedding party already there and partying! 
We introduced ourselves to Bob and Kim, who were awesome, and ended up sitting at our table.
and we retreated to our cooler bedroom.
He couldn't eat breakfast standing up. The woman who had given us the table smiled at me and said "Been there, done that". I thanked her again for the table...a brief moment of sisterhood in a crowded hotel lobby! 
The guys finished the pizza, and then we all got ready.
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