California Adventure: SoCal

Since Lauren got married early in the morning, her reception was likewise early in the day and the festivities were finished by 2 pm.  We spent a few (hot) hours cleaning up, then loaded into cars to caravan down to Simi Valley.  

[A little background: the framework for this trip was largely my doing.  If we were going to make the long drive down to California, I wanted to make sure that we made it to Southern California to visit with my Mom's family.  And if we were going, then, (by golly!), so should everyone else! It took some finagling and persuading, but it all worked out wonderfully in the end.]

We finally arrived at my Aunt Emily's home in Simi Valley around 9:30 pm.  We still had to finalize sleeping arrangements (the Graff brood is rapidly expanding!), and by the time we settled that my family was sleeping in Emily's RV it was nearly 10 pm.  We got the kids settled and Mark stayed with them, while Kira and I made a very late-night trip to the grocery store to get necessary supplies for the next few days.  Which made night two of collapsing into bed around 1 am.  

Aunt Emily, who graciously let us overrun her home

Bryce and Aubree's favorite activity at Emily's: riding the exercise bike

The next morning, Sunday, was Mother's Day.  I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day than in the company of my mom, my grandma, my sisters, and my own little family.  We had previously assigned out the responsibility of meal prep amongst my siblings.  Mark and I were in charge of Mother's Day breakfast.  Everyone gathered at Emily's for french toast.

By 11 am we were all dressed in our Sunday best to attend church with Grandma Joni.  Our crew definitely swelled their Sacrament meeting attendance!  Since it was Mother's Day, the talks were predictably, all about mother's and their sacred roles.  The talks and musical numbers were great, but my pregnant, exhausted self finally hit the wall.  For no good reason, (except for being pregnant and exhausted, of course), I was excessively emotional and just couldn't handle anything very well.  By Sunday School time, I claimed Thane (who was on day 5 of no nap and equally messed up), and we retreated to the mother's lounge to "rest."  We emerged, much refreshed, in time to enjoy a lovely mother's day luncheon served during the Relief Society hour.

Grandma Joni

That evening, we all went over to Grandma Joni's and Kira put together an amazing dinner of mashed potatoes and tri-tip.  In addition to our group, our Aunts and Uncles and their kids also joined us for dinner and chatting.  Apparently, everyone was so busy talking, that no-one took any pictures.  

It was a perfect Southern California evening, and the kids all played together happily in the backyard.  Aubree discovered an ancient Pram, and spent the evening pushing around her American Girl doll with her almost 2-year old cousin, Elizabeth.  I really enjoyed catching up with extended family, though my feet and legs were so swollen and uncomfortable that I was pretty much useless in terms of helping out.

Monday morning we were all up and out the door as early as we could to head to the USC hospital to visit with my dad in the ICU.  The kids weren't allowed to enter the ICU, so they had to stay in the waiting room.  That was hard for my dad - to know they were all so close, but he couldn't see them.  It also ended up limiting how much time we could spend, because the kids could only stay in the enclosed area for a small amount of time before turning into monkeys.

We split into two groups to visit.  Dad still has a lot of recovery ahead of him, but he looked much better than I was expecting.  He wasn't able to talk because of his trach, but was able to mouth words and generally make himself understood.  It was good to see him, even though the visit was short. We're proud of how hard he is working to try to regain his strength.

After leaving the hospital, we had a fancy lunch in the backs of our cars in the hospital parking garage.

Then we went to the Los Angeles Zoo for another afternoon of fun with family.  I must admit that my family has become quite acclimated to Seattle weather.  The California heat was a little hard to handle at times, but we still had a lot of fun. I was a little worried about my legs/feet, but the combination of not traveling on Sunday, getting to bed "early," and walking around made a huge difference! The swelling went away and didn't come back for the rest of the trip (hallelujah!). 

Aubree imitating the flamingos

With so many kids and adults, the kids spent a lot of time stroller hopping.  They'd stick with one cousin or parent or aunt/uncle for a while, then switch around to someone more exciting. As usual, Kylee and Bryce were especially silly together.  

When we left I asked the kids, "what was your favorite animal?"  Bryce answered, "the elephants!"  Aubree was more evasive.  "I'll give you a hint," she said, "it wasn't an animal, but it is a mammal ... It's Piper!!!"  Yes, Aubree's favorite part of the zoo was getting to sit in the stroller and hold Piper.

We had to leave a little bit earlier than the rest of the party in order to drop Mark off at the airport to catch a flight home.  It was sad to have him leave, but I guess work is kind of important.

We made it back to Emily's in time for a specially planned spaghetti dinner.  

Aubree imitating a walrus

The "point" of this dinner, I was informed, was for the kids (the 2 year old cousins specifically) to get really messy faces and then have a great photo-op in the bathtub.  I was a reluctant participant, but eventually relented and had to agree that the pictures turned out cute.  It was during this photo shoot that it occurred to me, "one of these kids is not like the others..."

Thane, Tyson, Elizabeth, & Anna

Notice all the blond hair, blue-eyed cousins?  Not so much my Thane.

The next morning, I took the Keske's to the airport so they could get back to Utah (boo!), then continued on to visit one of my favorite friends - Jenni.  I met Jenni and her three amazing kids in Florida and they've since relocated to the Long Beach area.  Jenni is the one who motivated and coached me when I was training for the 5K's and she's also one of the main reasons I decided to home school; she home schooled her kids and did such a fabulous job that it was a great example and inspiration to me.  

I could kick myself for not taking pictures at her house!  But alas, we were too busy catching up!  Her youngest daughter (Amanda), despite being 11, is one of Aubree's favorite people.  When we arrived, Amanda immediately took Aubree and Bryce upstairs and entertained them for the duration of our visit.  Thane (as a testament to his utter fatigue), put his head on my shoulder and took a nap while I talked to Jenni.

Unfortunately, we had to leave before we we'd had our fill in order to try and beat LA traffic (an impossible task, I soon learned).  We drove up to Camarillo to spend the night with my Grandpa Bunker and Grandma 'Lis.  Kira and Katie and their kids met us there (by this point, we were all husband-less).  Though we'd only been apart for the day, the kids were thrilled to reunite with their cousins.  Aubree took her usual place with Piper, and Bryce and Kylee became best buds once again.

Grandpa and Grandma 'Lis provided an excellent dinner, and we managed to get all the kids to bed at a relatively decent hour. Then we adults stayed up late playing games (a tradition with the Bunkers).  Loved it!

The next morning Grandma 'Lis had to go to work, but Grandpa made a special breakfast of Aebleskivers.  To say the kids loved them would be the understatement of the month!  Aubree had ten (!) and the other kids weren't far behind her.  Grandpa had to made an extra batch to satisfy their insatiable appetites.

One fun surprise of our short visit was how much Thane immediately took a liking to his Great Grandpa Bunker, who he'd never met previously.  When it was bedtime, I took Thane down to get a drink of water and he jumped out of my arms yelling, "Grandpa! Grandpa!" and ran over to sit on Grandpa's lap.  Thane's not usually overly fond of "strangers."  By the next morning, Thane was Grandpa's shadow and especially enjoyed "helping" him vacuum seal some meat.  And Grandpa was such a great sport (it's not always easy having a two-year olds "help").

Before we left, we had to get some pictures of Grandpa with some of his Great Grandkids.