Adventures Abroad: The Promised Land

Our family just returned from almost 8 weeks in California, or as I like to call it, The Promised Land. Why? The sun always shines, the people are fit and smiling, and the food is delicious.

Here are some highlights:

A wedding!
My sister, Ashley, married a lovely man, Pat. We couldn't be happier for them. Because our family is small, everyone had a role in the wedding. I was the Matron of Honor (wow, that sounds really old), Maddy was the flower girl, the boys were ring bearers, and Ryan did a reading during the ceremony.

At the rehearsal they were perfect! During the ceremony, Owen could only
be coaxed to go down the aisle with a lollipop and in my mom's arms.

My mom and her brother.

The gorgeous couple.

Post-party.

A reunion!

The Kirchner clan reunited in Petaluma for a weekend at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Renee's Rancho Vitta Bella (RVB). Mike and Renee decided that hey, housing and cooking for 26 people ain't no thang.

Boys being carted around by Grandma Barbar.

Cousin Wes spent 90% of his time at the RVB on the
tractor. Owen and Tyler loved riding with him.

Vanessa proving once again that she's an aunt extraordinaire. She
bathed them, she played with them, she put them to bed! We love her.

Maddy and her cousin were so happy to be reunited!

Grandma Renee had a great idea for a family garden. We painted rocks,
birdhouses, and planted flowers.

We also took some family photos. I made an organised list so that picture taking would flow smoothly and had a vision that the pictures would turn out like this beautiful Shutterstock family:

With so many people, most of the photos turned out like this:

But we managed to get one decent photo of ~~all~~ most of us:

And a bonus picture with both boys smiling!

Another reunion!
And speaking of long lost fathers, my dad came out to visit us while we housesat in Pacifica. The reunion went something like this, "Hi! It's so good to see you after 30 years. Now I have to go chase my kids." Fortunately he and his wife, Janet, were ready to step in and chase after little ones with us.

The kids are so lucky to have another set of grandparents. In total we have:

Grandma Roxana
Grandma Barbar (Geebs) and Grandpa Joe
Grandpa Mike and Grandma Renee
Grandpa John and Grandma DJ
Grandpa George and Grandma Janet

There's always room for more! Any other takers?

And more reunions!
Living abroad we don't see people that frequently, but when we see them, we REALLY see them. Like, stay with them for a week see them. Special thanks to Grandpa Joe and Grandma Barbar (twice over!), Grandpa Mike and Grandma Renee, and Ryan and Jessica for opening their homes to our crazy family of 5.

Ryan and his mom.

A day at Avila Farm with Geebs and Grandpa Joe.

Mary and I were college buddies.

I met up for my annual Winton reunion. Ramina (left) and I
were also college buddies!

Owen and his (middle) namesake, Grandpa Mike.

Cuddles with Grandma Roxana.

More cuddles.

Nikki and I have been friends since high school. Her
parents are like my second set of parents.

Fish and chips were on Maddy's California list of things to do. Geebs
made sure that happened!

Ryan and Jessica let us
bring this chaos into their house.
They must really like us.

Ethan and Aaron proved once again that they are
amazing pseudo-cousins!

Nature
The weather was perfect in California! Anywhere from 60 to 80 degrees every day and sunshine almost everywhere (sorry, Pacifica). We had so much fun being outside and enjoying nature.

So many playgrounds!

Grandma Roxana came with us on a little hike to a petting farm.

Feeding the animals.

Most of our hikes on this Pacifica trail involved going from snack bench to
snack bench, but Ryan found time to get a few lunges in and the kids
followed suit.