California Trip

The last Saturday of May, I took the kids out to Sacramento, CA to visit my brother and his family. The weather was beautiful and we bummed around the house, went shopping, ate frozen yogurt, smoked chicken, and had a great visit. Then I rented a car and drove down to San Jose, where we picked up Daron from the airport and met the entire Janis family at the Los Altos Residence Inn.

It was Daron's parents' 50th anniversary so the reunion was planned in California, where they both grew up and where they raised their family. Events included driving tours of homes they had lived in, schools the children attended, and places filled with memories. At each stop, we would read about the humorous or interesting experiences that had happened there. One evening we ate pizza at the hotel and watched a documentary that my sister-in-law had put together about Mom and Dad Janis. It was fabulous to get to know them better and to watch clips from previous reunions and of all the grandchildren as they joined the family.

On Saturday, we drove from Los Altos through Morgan Hill, where Daron spent his life from 2 to 14. The drive down the mountains to the beach in Watsonville was gorgeous. The redwoods and cypress trees smelled heavenly! (I love associating places that I love with smells or sounds. For example, San Diego will always bring the aroma of orange blossoms, Williamsburg the sound of fife and drums, and Boston the crunch and smell of autumn leaves.) And the weather was gorgeous - in the 60s and 70s each day we were there and no humidity.

Neither Esther or Nathan enjoyed the beach. The water was still pretty cold and Nathan did not like the sand at all. It didn't help that he hadn't had a regular nap for several days already. He spent most of his time sitting on my lap snacking on crackers or standing on the sand crying. We did get one picture of him smiling, though!

That evening we held an anniversary party at the chapel where they used to attend church. Old friends from way back when came to help celebrate their anniversary. On Sunday we all went to church together and then went back to the hotel for lunch and a special tribute to Mom and Dad Janis.

I love that I get along so well with Daron's family. They truly have become my family as well. I have been so blessed to have two marvelous extended families!