Day 3: And the Hits Just Keep On Coming!

You are not going to believe our luck.  I can hardly believe it and I lived it!  But first...

The day started out GREAT! There were laughing and squeals of delight from the back yard.  The kids all slept out there and when they woke up they were just delighted to realize they were with their cousins!  However it was not quite 6:00 AM and the neighbors are VERY close.  Mary herded them inside where they proceeded to wake up everyone who was still sleeping.  You'd think that'd be a bad thing, but where you're trying to get 16 people to church at 9:00 AM, six is a great time to start getting ready!

I got the kids making their lunches for our day trip to San Diego and got on Facebook only to find that Laci has broken her ankle!  I was worried about how the girls would take it--J especially worries about everything so this had the potential to send her into fits!  Surprisingly both girls handled it well-- they just wanted to Skype home and make sure everyone was going to be okay.  We chatted briefly and they were satisfied.

We got to church (almost) on time and had a great worship service.  We came home and quickly changed, grabbed our lunch and headed out.

We stopped to see my Dad's cousin, Jalie, in Escondido.  I didn't even know my Dad had a cousin until a year or two ago so this is only the second time I've ever met her face to face.  She's a delightful lady and I'm so fortunate to have gotten to meet her.

We had a great visit, she let us pick the ripe oranges off her tree out back (YUM!), and we were off to see some family history sites.  First stop, Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery.

I never realized there was an "Arlington" type cemetery on the West Coast let alone that my Grandparents were buried there!  It was BEAUTIFUL!  I was in awe.  Cody was floored by the math involved in the head stones.  From whatever angle you look, they are in perfectly straight lines.  It's a huge cemetery and right on a peninsula so there's water on both sides.   Truly inspiringly beautiful.

I can't believe I've never been to my grandparent's burial site!  It was an emotional moment in light of losing my brother last month and it was made only more so when we received a call from Lela.  Sam's little brother has died in a small plane crash.  Uncanny that both Lela and Sam would find out their brothers had passed away exactly one month apart.  Our hearts are heavy and our prayers plead with Father to lighten their family's load right now.  So much grief!!

We wandered and played and soaked up the ambiance for over an hour and a half.  We decided to take a picture in a tree, then drive to the beach to eat a late lunch.  Only problem was when we got in the vans to drive to the beach, Mary's wouldn't start.  No worries, this happens all the time.  We just needed to give it a minute and we'd be on our way.

No such luck.  Hours later we ended up towing it to the mechanic's some 20 miles away.  Not a problem!  Cody and I have quite a bit of experience towing one another.  In spite of that experience, I don't think anything could have prepared us for towing on California freeways! We made it, slowly, and dropped the van off at 9:00.  

 Then we piled 16 people into a 12 passenger van and headed back to Corona.  The kids all fell asleep to the sounds of Ri and K singing hymns.  It was beautiful.  All in all, it was a really fun day!