California: Day 2

We woke up Saturday morning looking forward to the family reunion. We decided to eat somewhere in downtown Fullerton and despite having lived in Fullerton during my four years of high school, I don't know my way around anymore and had to use Yelp to find a good place. We decided on Grits which ended up being a Korean-inspired brunch place that had crazy dishes that were actually really delicious! They didn't really offer a kid's meal, but they did have "french toast balls" and we ordered a brioche cinnamon roll type thing to start. It ended up being really delicious!

After breakfast, we headed to Brea and found a Von's grocery store where we let both girls pick out a bouquet of flowers for Mimi and my Dad's grave. After picking out some very colorful flowers, we drove to Memory Gardens and parked next to Mimi and my Dad's gravesite. We had each girl add their bouquets to the vase and added water so they would last more than a day. I told the girls about my parents and talked about each of them and how much I missed them and let the girls linger. After a bit, we walked around the cemetery and just looked at the names and ages of those memorialized. It was interesting to see all the various names and wonder what their lives were like and how they lived.

We headed to our reunion, which was scheduled to start at 10am at a community center in a neighborhood in Fullerton. The reunion included all of the McConnells, of which there were four siblings including my Grandfather, who are no longer alive, their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. The majority of the people attending were actually of my Mom's family and all of my siblings. It was the first time since my Mom's funeral nearly six years ago that we were all together. It was really great to see everyone and catch up, as well as meet new people who I'm related too but haven't met before. The girls and all the rest of the kids spent most of the rest of the day swimming in the community pool and had a great time. There was also a playground just outside of the community center where Olivia and Lincoln spend some time playing together. At lunchtime, two guys came in a taco truck and cooked up all the meat for tacos, which turned out to be perfect and delicious! After lunch, we headed to the lawn outside the community center for group photos. Some of the kids who are now adults I hadn't seen since they were Sofia and Olivia's ages! It was odd to have real conversations with them. Immediately after the photos, the kids were right back in the water, holding chicken fights and playing games together. We finally got them out and said our goodbyes around 8pm, having spend the day talking and laughing. It was such a fun day!

Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve were staying at the Fullerton Hotel too, so we made a plan to meet them in the restaurant for snacks and to catch up. We ended up sitting outside in the hotel's courtyard and the girls immediately befriended two boys about their ages and ran around for at least another hour! We had to get them to come eat their dinner! I have no idea how they have so much energy since they easily spent at least six hours in the pool. We hung out together until nearly 11pm and then said our goodbyes and took the girls upstairs for bed. What a long, fun day!

Sofia adding her bouquet to Mimi and my Dad's gravesite

Both girls

The three of us

Such beautiful flowers for two very special people!

Sisters

My brothers and sisters

All of the Ralph McConnell clan (my grandfather)