About our California trip

Liam and I went to California in June for some family events, and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. Will stayed home, so it was just me and Peanut on the airplane, and he was amazingly well behaved. Okay, he was basking in 4 1/2 hours of Mama's undivided attention and a steady supply of snacks. Who wouldn't be cheerful in this situation? My parents picked us up at the airport, and installed Liam in a luxurious car seat, which was graciously lent to us by a local family.

The next day Liam spent some time with his grandparents while I got together with my friend Lisa, who now lives out there. We got pedicures. This was my first pedicure, and I was a giggling snorting mess. They have this massaging chair, and one of the settings really gets you shaking...well, I guess you had to be there. I got flowers painted on my toes.

That night was my cousin Jamie's wedding. Here's a picture of her with her husband David. The wedding was at a beautiful golf course in the hills east of San Francisco, and it was all very elegant. It was a no-kids wedding, so my mom's friend Regina and her husband "Grandpa Duck" watched Liam and his two cousins.

The next day was my grandma's 90th birthday. We threw a party, organized mostly by my mom and the church ladies, at Grandma's church in Sunnyvale. A man who is a member of their church offered some musical entertainment. He played the keyboard, sang Grandma's favorite song (In The Garden) karaoke style, and generally hammed it up. He reminded me of a TV evangelist. I have to include this picture of him; notice the tie with the Bible verse calligraphy, which you can see better if you click onto the picture. As we were being seated for his performance, Liam tugged the top off his sippy cup and spilled water all over me. No problem, only water, I toweled off and sat down next to Dad. Then, as the lounge act began, I think Dad tried to elbow me or something, and suddenly there was airborne green punch! It was the kind of punch with lime sherbet, and Liam and I and Dad had blobs of sherbet in our hair, on our clothes, everywhere. So, for the second day in a row, I was a giggling snorting mess.

The rest of the trip was pretty routine, but enjoyable. It was nice to be with that whole branch of my family and not have anything to do except talk and play with the kids.

Here's Grandma, looking good at 90: