Family Reunion

This has been a busy few weeks, and I'm still recovering. I've decided I'm much too old to be driving 950 miles in a day...it just takes me too long to recover.

We left Thursday for southern California in 2 cars. Kevin, Steph, Sophie, Juliet and Bruce in one car; Amy, Kerry, Ben, Ryann and me in my car. It appears Kevin has inherited my driving issues and didn't allow anyone else to drive much either. I suspect we both only managed to give up control for a few hours on the whole trip. Their car went to San Jose and stayed at son Steve's house while the girls and I (and Ben) drove straight down. So we arrived Thursday, they arrived Friday.

It was great to see all my family (with very few exceptions, but I'll see them next month). Sadly, brother Bill had some health issues and ended up in the hospital so he couldn't attend, but all his children and some of his grands did. My neice Tammy planned and executed the whole thing and it went off without a hitch. She did a great job.

My whole family and a few cousins went to Disneyland on Monday. To my knowledge we only lost one kid, but we got her back. Being the paranoid Granny I am, I made all the grandkids wear a dog-tag that I made with their names, parents names and cell phone numbers, mine and Aunt Kerry's. A lady found Pierre crying and apparently alone, saw the tag and called us. I'm not sure of the details at this point because we were all separated - but I was one of the people she called. I managed to be first to arrive at the Teacups, where she was standing with Pierre and waiting. I will be forever grateful for her kindness. We also had all the kids dressed alike so we could help keep them together. The girls wore a giraffe print (I nixed zebra) and the boys wore brown shirts all alike. We looked a little like a zoo when we traveled in a pack but it REALLY helped.

We had a few other adventures that I'll write about at another time. One that will go down in family lore is a motel in Santa Nella, California - but I'll write that one another day. It requires full telling.