Three days after I got back from my week-long backpacking trip with the scouts we went to "mormon night" at Dodger stadium. We left in the 7th inning (we were losing anyway) to go pick up Venessa's dad, step-mom Cara, and sister Lexi. This was their first visit to us in California so we packed in as much fun into the short visit as possible.
We got home late from the airport and then got up early the next morning to spend Venessa's birthday at Disneyland! (Insert mental picture of Venessa having fun in the magic kingdom with her family). It was Jeremy and Chloe's first visit and they loved it, despite the heavy summer crowds. Jer loved Pirates and Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters and Chloe was enthralled with It's a Small World (picture giant glazed eyes with dozens of little animatronic people in the background).
Sunday was a relax day, except for me, I had a talk in church. It went well, but I had zero time to prepare. So I was up early in the morning to work on it. After church we had a BBQ and a birthday party for my lovely wife. She got a Nook Color and her beloved tea cakes from Martino's bakery in Burbank.
On Monday we were up even earlier to drive to Long Beach to board a ferry to Catalina Island. Jeremy loved the big boat. We walked around the shops, enjoyed some awesome fish and chips on the pier, played in the water, got some ice cream, went on a glass bottomed boat (insert picture: thousands of fish in a kelp forest), and did some kayaking. Everyone had a blast (except for Chloe's little stuffed tiger she called "kitty". Kitty is swimming with the fishes now, since Chloe threw her overboard on the glass bottomed boat. It was very sad.) We were conked after our Catalina trip so we spent most of Tuesday around our house. It was really nice to have them here to play with their grandbabies.
The Smith clan caught an early morning flight back on Wednesday and I had to go back to work while Venessa did some major cleaning. On Thursday my side of the family was coming in for a family reunion - at our house. That means Grandma Monte (it was for her 80th), Grandaddy, my parents, Kristal, Casey and Kami with baby Boston, and Jean and Bob and their 5 kids. And they were all staying at our house. We found room for everyone to sleep and it was a blast. We don't have any pictures right now, but my dad always takes plenty so I should be able to get some from him later.
On Friday we all went to Hurricane Harbor (next to Magic Mountain). The water park was pretty packed, but the kids didn't seem to care. On Saturday we went to Castaic lake to go boating with the Mowers who graciously shared their boat with us. The cousins all had a lot of fun tubing together. Later that night we gathered to watch pictures of Grandma Monte projected on the wall and to listen to her talk about her life. I think we all learned something we didn't know about Grandma. Then we gave her book with letters and pictures from all her kids and grandkids and had some homemade ice cream.
Early the next morning Venessa and I had to head to the airport to catch our flight to Alaska (next post) while everyone else stayed at our house. They all went to the beach on Monday and then my mom brought Jer and Chloe to her house for the week. It was very nice of her to watch them, we know what a handful they can be.
UPDATE:
So, some time after Rye wrote this post, I was fiddling with our old camera (which luckily is still functional), and I found a few pictures of my birthday from when my family was here. I'd totally forgotten I'd used that camera that day (couldn't find the other one at the time). So here you go; proof that they were here.
Eating our teacakes YUM!
You're never too old for party hats.
Opening presents
Course the kids got presents too b/c they're just that cool!
My NOOK! :-)
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