California - friends, wedding, Sea World and we all get sick!

We took off for our long awaited trip to California - we were so excited to be going and to having Indigo meet David's brothers and their families, to see our new niece, to attend the wedding of our niece Jessica, and to have Indigo meet all our dear friends from high school and college who live in CA. Our dear friends Marty and Laurie took Caleb and Egan (the same weekend they ended up getting a new lab puppy!). We were really grateful to them looking after the dogs especially with Caleb having the cancer and we had to write all the necessary permissions etc. but he ended up doing great and the puppy loved having the big boys. Anyway, back to CA. Indigo was really super on the flight out - we were cheap and did not buy her a ticket since she was not yet two so we spent pretty much the whole flight with her bouncing around on top of us - she slept about the last 30 minutes of a five hour flight, but she was happy and really good the whole time. We dealt with getting our rental car and headed to David's mom's house - it's about 11 a.m. on a Friday - LA traffic - dead halt on the freeway. We lived there but the traffic seems way worse. We hung out at the house and rested until Grandma Lee came home from work. Late that night, our dear friends, Lisa and Tim and their daughter Kiki arrived. They had driven that night from San Luis Obispo, where Lisa and I went to college together and were roommates for a couple of years. Kiki will be two in August so she is just under 3 months younger than Indigo. On Saturday the girls got to meet and play - Grandma had bought all kinds of dolls, toys and a stroller to play with at the house. After a little competition, mostly Indigo intimidating poor Kiki, they got along like a house on fire and we had the best few days together. On the Sunday morning, we all left LA together and went up with Tim, Lisa and Kiki to San Luis Obispo (SLO). We hung out Sunday and did our favorite things like going to the mission creek and having Country Culture yogurt and then we walked (the great thing about SLO is that you can walk everywhere) to Lisa's parent's house and had dinner. Lisa's siblings and spouses were there too so we were really happy to see everyone. On the Monday, we had a wonderful day - coffee at Linneas, and then meeting some of Lisa's friends at the playground for a play date. From there we walked back to their house for the girls to have lunch and nap and then we went to the horse unit of our university and saw all the baby foals born this spring - oh my gosh - there were so many and they were so cute! They were so friendly and we petted little small noses and had a wonderful time. Then we went to the horticultural gardens at the university and went walking through all the gardens, the most spectacular being the "South African" gardens and I show no bias. It turns out that we were there later than we were supposed to be and we kind of got locked in but we found another way out and were able to access the car. Sadly, after that we had to pack up and hit the road back to LA. The first slide show is all of our time with Lisa, Tim and Kiki, at David's mom's house and then up in SLO and a couple with Grandma back at the house.

By the time we were back in LA David and I were both starting to feel under the weather and it just kept getting worse. After a day or two hanging out in LA we headed down to the Riverside/Moreno Valley area for the start of the wedding events. David was starting to a do a little better but I had a full blown head cold and felt pretty miserable. The first night we had a rehearsal dinner which was really nice event and our first chance to see David's brother Ken, his wife Dina, our nieces and nephews, including Jessica who was marrying Doug. We also got to meet Doug's family. The restaurant was a big spaghetti factory and so Indigo was happy with her dinner. She was very good for the whole event. The next day Dina and Ken hosted a great afternoon and evening at their home and the kids (grown up ones too) all got to play with bubbles. We had good Mexican food and a wonderful casual evening with all the family. The next day David played with Indigo in the hotel pool and him and his mom took Indigo to a little park to play while I tried to get some sleep in my efforts to get better. Later we went to Ken and Dina's and helped with wedding stuff - the table place settings and we just hung out and had left over Mexican food - it was all very nice and casual. The next morning, Jessica, the bride, decided that she was going to cook breakfast for Grandma, me, David and Indigo and so we went to Doug (the groom) mom's house and had a super breakfast and a nice relaxing time just hanging out, sitting outside and enjoying the weather etc. Indigo loved all the dogs there! We then all headed to the Mission Inn where we were staying for the wedding. The Mission Inn is amazing and gorgeous and spectacular. If you are ever in CA and need a get-away weekend, this place is a treasure - presidents have honeymooned there. Again we got to see people we have not seen for a while who were coming to the wedding. Seymour and Gitty who have been friends of David's parents for many, many years, back to their childhood's in NY were there and they were just so sweet and enamoured by Indigo. She loved flirting with Seymour. On the morning of the wedding we had the most divine brunch at the hotel with Gitty and Seymour and then it was time to prepare for the wedding. By this time, I was starting to feel on the upside of the cold but Indigo was starting to show signs of a cold starting - oh boy. The wedding was beautiful! The flowers were some of the most amazing I have ever seen. Of course, the bride was stunning and her groom handsome. We got to see David's brother Steven and his wife Alissa, who just became parents to our beautiful niece Sarina at the end of March. They had left her for a few hours with proud grandparents so that they could come to the wedding and a bit of the reception before heading home. Unfortunately, because we were recovering from illness and Indigo seemed to be getting sick, we had to be careful with proximity. After Indigo had eaten David took her for a nap and then after a while I went and relieved him and stayed with her and then we all went back to dance some more. The next day we had to check out. I was worried about Indigo so we found a really nice clinic and took her in - mostly to rule out an ear infection since we were traveling on down to San Diego for a few days. So, we just get back from the clinic and David accidentally slammed my right hand in the car door and my middle finger was particularly damaged. So now, I have a shoulder just out a sling that is barely functional and a bum right hand. Did I mention also that in LA David had kicked his foot on a suitcase or something and his whole foot was black and blue! So, we head on our way to San Diego. The next slide show is photos from the wedding events and the wedding.

When we got to San Diego and checked in, David and his mom went to visit Steve and the new baby. We did not want to expose the new baby to Indigo and besides, she needed to get to bed and have a good night sleep. She woke up great the next day and David, Indigo, Grandma and I all went to Sea World. We got there early and had the most spectacular time. Indigo absolutely loved it. She was so great at all the shows - even while waiting for them to start. She loved the dolphin show, and the Shamu Orca show. It was a great day. We left around 2 and took her back to the hotel for a nap. That evening we were invited to Steve and Alissa's for a Passover Seder. Ken and the family came down and Alissa's family was there. It was agreed that the baby would stay upstairs with her parents checking on her so that she would not be exposed to contagion. However, I was permitted to have a peek at her and take a picture. Indigo had been doing great all day but as is common with colds, started to get worse as the night wore on, and the evening and dinner ran late and things were going down hill so David and I left with her and went back to the hotel and Grandma (that party girl) came home later. The next day, our girl was perky again and so we went back to Sea World for the morning and again had an amazing time - she loved the walrus and we saw the penguins. We saw the sealion show which she loved, fed the dolphins and did the Shamu show again and then left and she was able to nap the whole drive back to LA. Back in LA, we hung out and tried to get a little R&R. We had a lovely evening with our friend Sabina, and we had a wonderful breakfast and time with friends Fran & Jeff - Indigo loved playing with Jeff and he dragged her all around the floor on this furry blanket. We had a wonderful Chinese dinner with Seymour & Gitty who were keen to see Indigo again. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the plane and head back home. The next slides are of the time in San Diego and then back in LA. As you can tell, it was a great time but sadly marred by all the illness.