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)

California: Day 1

A few months ago, my Aunt Cathy organized a family reunion in Fullerton, California so that the McConnell family (my Mom's side) could all get together while my great Aunt Shirley, who is 93 years old, is still with us. Since we were heading to California, I decided to make a week of it and visit a few amusement parks while CK had to return on Sunday for a week of work. I was really looking forward to seeing everyone and spending a little time in California with CK and the girls.

We woke up at 5:30am in order to leave the house by 7:30am and make our 9am flight. As I packed and got ready the day before, I had the girls pack up their books, coloring books, crayons, toys and stuffed animals into their backpacks. They made a half-hearted attempt and announced that they would do it in the morning before we left. I had to explain to them that we would be leaving at 7:30am and no later. They are so used to CK flying us and having a pretty open departure time that it's crazy to them to think we "have to" leave at a certain time. I did talk them into getting all ready before going to bed so they could just wake up, get dressed and go.

We dropped Buddy off at Claire's house and hated to say goodbye to him. We ran into Claire the week before and she asked who was keeping Buddy while we were in California and then asked if they could keep him which worked out perfectly! Buddy loves her little dogs, Paris and Shorty and they love him, so it's perfect. We were a little worried that Buddy might try to get out and "find us" as he often does when staying with Marco and Stacy, so we asked that he keep his collar on. We said goodbye and headed to the airport. We sailed through security and were on the airplane and headed to California before we knew it. Olivia was asleep with her head on my lap as we took off. She slept for an hour or more while Sofia played with my phone and played Temple Run. Just as Olivia woke up, I started drifting off and the girls took turns playing Temple Run while I get a little rest, which made the trip fly by.

We landed at 10:30am California time and decided to go straight to the beach, since it's so close to John Wayne Airport. We made our way to Laguna and stopped at The Cliffs for an early lunch. We had a beautiful table overlooking the ocean and the girls couldn't wait to put on their swimsuits and jump into the Pacific. Sofia kept asking when we could get going so she could get in the water. Brunch was delicious and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. After lunch, we walked down the hill to buy towels and beach toys. Olivia picked out a cute little backpack full of beach toys and we picked up a "Laguna Beach" towel but ended up with just one towel since they were $25 each! Sofia also found a cheap boogie board that she planned to use.

We drove up the coast a short ways to Crystal Cove State Park, where we parked and the girls changed into their swimsuits in the car. CK and I walked to the public bathrooms where we changed and then headed to the beach. We ended up buying another boogie board, since Sofia's broke just as we parked! Luckily there was a little snack shop with the bathrooms. We figured Sofia would spend the afternoon swimming and running in the surf, while Olivia played in the sand and might get her feet wet. She's been apprehensive of the ocean in the past and the waves at Laguna Beach crash right on the beach and the wash was pretty turbulent and strong. We found a spot for CK and I to sit with the boogie boards, sand toys and towels while both girls ran right into the water! Olivia kept up with Sofia and they had a ball running in and out of the crashing surf. It was too rough to get out to the actual waves but they loved getting tumbled by the strong wash. They both soon learned of the downside to swimming at the beach - sand in the swimsuit! She kept complaining how it felt and wanted to take her swimsuit off and clear out the sand, so CK used the towel to cover her while I took her suit off and washed it out in the ocean. It was hard to get it back on her, but she was soon back out with her sister in the water.

Meanwhile, Sofia had befriended a group of local girls who were probably in their early teens. As we watched them interact, it became clear that the girls weren't as interested in interacting with her as she was with them, but they were friendly enough and as we headed out, she told us how nice they were and how much fun she had with them. She also boogie boarded a little bit when she wasn't busy in the water. After a while, Olivia decided to use the new sand toys and played for awhile by herself until her sister joined her. They worked together building a big "mountain" of sand, but it was wiped out by a wave. At 3pm, we decided to gather our things and head to our hotel in Fullerton in hopes of beating traffic. Of course, it's Southern California so there is rarely a time when traffic isn't an issue. According to GPS, we were 20 miles from our hotel in Fullerton, yet it would take us an hour to get there! The girls changed in the car and really wanted to take a shower before getting into regular clothes, but with the drought in California the outdoor showers are turned off. We got as much sand off as possible and they were settled into the backseat with their books and scratch pad notebooks. Olivia was asleep in no time, which wasn't really a big surprise, while Sofia was busy working on her scratch pad.

We finally made it to the Fullerton Hotel and got settled into our room and both girls were ready to swim in the hotel's pool! I don't know where they get so much energy! With our room on the 2nd floor, the girls fought over who would be pushing the elevator buttons and soon agreed that Olivia would push the buttons on the way up while Sofia would push them on the way down. CK and the girls swam and enjoyed the pool, while I sat in a lounge chair and relaxed and read my book. It was perfect. Soon we were all hungry, so we decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant, which had great reviews on Yelp. The restaurant served rather interesting and fancy food, which is a little odd given the hotel that is obviously a hot spot for Asian tourists going to Disneyland. The food was delicious! The girls ordered macaroni and cheese (big surprise) and it was homemade and wonderful!

After dinner we returned to our room and rented The Peanuts Movie, which the girls and I saw when it was in the theater but CK hasn't seen yet. We all piled into the bed to watch it, with both girls in between us. I actually fell asleep within the first few minutes and woke up in the morning. Olivia also fell asleep between us, while Sofia moved to a rollaway bed and spent the night sleeping there.

All ready to go!

We made it onto the airplane and are ready to go to California

The Cliffs, Laguna Beach

Such a beautiful view!

Beach selfie!

Ready for some ocean fun

Olivia loves it!

I could hardly take a photo of Sofia since she barely got out of the water.

Having fun!

Using her sand toys

Digging together!

An ice cream after swimming!

A little post-beach nap...

Sofia's glasses!

About two weeks before school was out, CK was in Alpine with his work colleagues and I took the girls on Saturday night to their friend Isabella's first communion at Isabella's Catholic church. During the service, I tried to explain to Sofia what was going on, using my very limited understanding of Catholicism. At one point I pointed out the sign by the alter that included the list of hymns to be sung during the service. Although we sat a fair ways away, it is still meant to be seen and read. She said she could make out the sign, but couldn't read anything on it! I couldn't believe it! She's never complained of headaches or not being able to see, but clearly has an issue. After that night, I started quizzing her and was shocked at what was difficult for her to see.

With the end of school so close, I didn't want to take her out of school for an eye exam, so I made the appointment for the afternoon of her very last day of 3rd grade which would give us a chance to eat lunch out somewhere and then visit the eye doctor. She was overjoyed at the thought of getting classes and she and Olivia have been wearing my clear glasses I used to dress up for Sofia's Harry Potter party. They love wearing them and both look adorable in them. I had no idea that Sofia actually needed them!! But then, she does spend a lot of time reading, even while we drive in the car so she may just not have ever mentioned anything since she probably doesn't notice it that much.

After lunch at Trio, we headed off to her very first eye exam. As she went through identifying the letters on the wall, I couldn't believe what she couldn't make out! I was sitting further away than she was and the letters looked so big and clear to me. Once the eye doctor gave her lens to look through at the same letters, so said "Wow, that is so clear!" By the end, she has a correction of 1.25 in both eyes and we set out to look for the perfect frames. Thankfully the man who worked in that section was really helpful and steered us away from the "kid frames" and toward the adult frames, since the kid frames already looked small on her face and he said she would outgrow them in a year. The adult frames looked a little big, but very cute on her. She finally chose a pair that really looked great on her and I told her it was a big decision since she would be wearing them a lot, so she had to be sure. She was very sure and they ordered her glasses which would take 7-10 days to be ready.

Meanwhile, Olivia loved putting on all the frames and picked the most outrageous ones as her favorites! She then spent a good amount of time crying because "she wasn't getting glasses too" and wants to be just like her sister. Thankfully, the man helping us gave the girls lollipops and that changed the subject enough that she stopped crying. Once in the car, I gave Sofia my glasses which have a very mild prescription and I use only if I'm driving at night since I feel my depth perception is compromised in the dark. She said they helped and wore them as we drove home. I couldn't believe all the things she pointed out that she could read and see now! I felt terrible that she couldn't see and I had no idea. CK got his first pair of glasses at her age too, but I've never really needed glasses, so I have no real idea what it's like.

After the girls got back from Florida, I had a phone call from the eye doctor and Sofia's glasses were ready! We went over Monday and she was fitted for them and walked out a new girl! She couldn't believe how CLEAR everything looked and all the leaves on the trees and words she could now see from a regular distance. While at the grocery store, she was showing me what she could and couldn't read with her glasses - she really was blind! I'm so glad she likes to wear them and that she can finally see! She looks great in them too!

Sofia and Olivia at Isabella's first communion

Friends since they were one!

Getting her eye exam

The perfect frames

Olivia picking out her favorites!

Using my glasses on the way home, she can finally see!

At the Start of Summer party at school (yes, in the rain)

Putting on her new glasses for the first time!

She looks great!!

She said "WOW, everything is so clear!!"

Last Day as a 3rd Grader!

Unfortunately, Sofia missed out on her 3rd grade celebration on Tuesday because of the headache and vomiting from her mild concussion. Poor thing. I was so sad for her and to miss out on the fun and hear her get up on stage and talk about her biggest accomplishment during the school year. Apparently she planned to say that she was proud of writing meaningful stories throughout the year. She absolutely loves reading and writing and it's always her favorite things in school, and at home. Sofia only stayed home on Tuesday, so she had a full day on Wednesday and her class played math games and packed up all of their things to take home that day. She showed up on the bus with her arms filled with books, pens and projects and her backpack was nearly as heavy as she is! Thursday was her last day and it was a half day until 11:45am!

On Thursday morning, we gave her a graduation gift of The Last Dragon Slayer series that includes three books as well as a gem set and a card that both CK and I wrote in telling her how much she's learned and grown over the school year. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone, but it's pretty amazing how much she has learned and accomplished this year and how much more is ahead of her. She enjoyed her "usual" breakfast of scrambled eggs, toasted homemade bread and a glass of Ovaltine chocolate milk. After breakfast and before we were late to school, we went outside for a few pictures and then headed to school. Surprisingly we weren't late. We left a little later than usual, and I watched as Sofia walked toward the school building for the last time as a 3rd grader. On the way to school, I asked her what she thought of her final day and she admitted that she was really excited not to have to get up and go to school every day but

With her was the gift she made for Mrs. Feaster. We bought gift cards from Barnes & Nobles, Bark Avenue Pet Store, Hobby Lobby and Starbucks and Sofia wrote "What will Mrs. Feaster do this summer?" on the front of her little booklet. Inside the booklet she pasted the gift cards and wrote what she would do with each. Then she finished off with a sweet note for Mrs. Feaster. I planned on cutting some flowers and things from our garden to make up a bouquet for her, but it was so rainy and humid outside and I wasn't sure what the school policy is for flowers, plants since they seem to have a policy for everything.

Sofia rode the bus home and I ran out to meet Mr. Ron, the bus driver to give him some chocolates and a gift card to Red Lobster with a thank you card. I wished I'd thought of it sooner so Sofia could have written the thank you note, but I didn't realize it until Wednesday night. After dropping her backpack off, the four of us went to Trio for lunch our favorite restaurant! I still can't believe that she's done with 3rd grade!

Sofia and I before taking her to school for her last day. How did she get SO tall?

Our sweet girl is ready!

Sofia and her "graduation gift" which included a small gem set and The Last Dragon Slayer series of three books

Reading her note from CK and I

Her gem set

Sofia very last 3rd grade breakfast. Her usual of scrambled eggs, homemade toast and chocolate milk

Sofia's homemade gift which included gift cards and what she can do over her summer followed by a note from Sofia.

Last drop off for the school year!