California - Day 8

Once again, we awoke to a beautiful, clear sky day in San Francisco. Following breakfast, we took a swim at the hotel and then drove quickly into the city for lunch. And then, after lunch, we attended Matthew and Deborah's wedding at UC Berkeley in a redwood grove. It was a very intimate ceremony, only close friends and family attended. The bride and groom said their own very sincere vows. Simple and nice. After the wedding, everyone was invited to a dinner reception. At the reception, another cousin's wife, from Taiwan, tried speaking Mandarin to MK just to see if she had retained any of the Chinese vocab....MK stared blankly at her and was more interested in running with her brothers. Towards the end of the reception, the crowd was asked to share some stories or words of congrats with the new couple. C approached Ryan and asked if he could say something. Just like a little man, C held the microphone, smiled at everyone and began his congratulatory speech to Matthew and Deborah - his words were well received. Then the dancing began....this is the part where I really wish I had taken my camera to record some of the dance moves my children have in them. They were all over the place, all three of them....MK was twirling, the boys were doing a little jig here and another there, and all the while, they giggled at the fun they were having. Very cute. Alas, the fun ended here....after a more than perfect week away in Cali, the good times had to come to an end. We said our goodbyes, climbed into bed - of course, we had ice cream first, and slept peacefully until 5 the next morning....then we were airport bound to begin our journey home. I must share that my boys are the best travelers....they each toted their own carry on bag, along with a clipboard full of goodies to do on the plane, they were all smiles through the airports, they seated themselves once on the plane and even came up with a way to share the window seat without parent intervention....they really make us want to travel with them. They love the excitement and we love watching them take it all in. MK does well too, she is not much for the take-off/landing but once in the air, she relaxes enough. Her strong point on this trip was the fact that she just went with the flow and enjoyed it all as much as we did. Lesson 8....lesson 8, I think we learned this one everyday during our trip....seeing things through a child's eyes can be so intriguing if you allow yourself to open your own eyes to their imaginations. I say this because, when we first decided to go to California, Ryan suggested only the two of us go and I suggested we take the children mainly because Ryan and I have been twice so I wanted to explore with the kids. Yes, it was work, but gosh it was so rewarding to hear their comments and watch their expressions/reactions to what was being introduced to them.



These photos are random, ones that we either really like or they make us really laugh.