FRIDAY
- 12:30 PM Pile four kids in car (mine + niece Nicole), drop Leelo off at school
- 1:00 Leave Deadwood.
- 2:00 Stop in Gilroy for reinforcements: drive-through triple latte
- 2:05 Hit snarly Garlic Festival traffic
- 3:00 Leave Gilroy
- 3:30 Did they give me decaf? Pull over to side of road and tell big girls to watch Mali while I take a short nap
- 4:00 Onward, stopping every 30 minutes - hour for some reason concocted by the big girls. Decide that I no longer like listening to Henry the 8th I Am (Iz and Mali's constant request) or Rehab (Nicole's)
- 9:30 Arrive at my brother's place in Orange County
- 8:30 Wake up everyone so as to gear up for the beach
- 9:30 Phone call from Dee as I'm getting in the car: Apparently the World Cup of Surfing is taking place at the beach we'd targeted
- 10:00 Beach!!!!!! Dee was there with family, so was Mr. and Mrs. Bakery, and we even had a surprise showing from Joshua and family, whom I hadn't seen since their wedding in '02. The very best fun was had, all the kids were cute, and I was reminded once again that SoCal beaches trump those up here.
- 2:00 Ack, time to go to the restaurant! Mr. Bakery rode with me and the kids. On the way we debated the etiquette of flatulence, seeing as Nicole was bombing the car every five minutes. Mr. Bakery averred that it was silly to hold them in as it would give you bad cramps. Mali's response: "Are you serious?" Everyone in the car laughed.
- 2:20 We picked up Godfather M at his mom's house. His sister was there, too as was their new beagle puppy! The girls went into cuteness apoplexy.
- 2:30 At the restaurant. Met up with Dee's family, Mr. & Mrs. Bakery (sans kids; they'd been jettisoned to a relative's), and also Riane and Ima from our high school class. Much photo taking took place. The kids were all cute little bugs, especially Dee's Lecia, who is almost two and narrowly escaped being eated up by me because she kept requesting that I sing "Wouldn't it Be Loverly" and the cuteness, it was too much. The ticket for all those people plus quite a bit of Sangria was around $60. I still owe Godfather M my share.
- 4:30 Hit my brother's house. My mom, her dog, my pilot brother, his two kids, his heavily pregnant wife, and her mother had arrived in my absence so that the cousins could all play together. Much jovial mayhem ensues.
- 5:30 Ran into the bathroom to scrape, scrub, and shellack myself.
- 5:35 Looked at the bright red water running from my head and realized that not only did I forget to bring the dark towel I had been using as a pillow cover into my brother's white bathroom with me, but that all of his towels are either snow or milk colored. (And if you get that reference, I'll send you ten dollars.)
- 5:40 Used a white hand towel, to dry first my body and then my head. Tucked ruined towel into a plastic bag to sneak home.
- 6:00 Okay, now I'm ready:
- 6:05 Kat, my date, arrives with her two kids so that they can be part of the frolicking.
- 6:15 We drive all the kids to the local park, where they will meet my sister-in-law Bree and her two kids in my absence.
- 7:15 Kat and I arrive at the reunion.