Family Reunion June 13-14

On June 13 there was a reunion with our 4 kids, and a couple of the grandkids, at Tarra and Alonzo's house in Fremont.  We had just flown back from Istanbul and had stayed in an airport hotel overnight.  We took the shuttle to the airport where Tarra was working, because she was recently hired by Virgin America.  Thomas, who lives in San Francisco, took BART to the airport and met us there too.  Then Tarra drove us all to Fremont when she got off at 9AM.  It was great to see Tarra at work because she loves her new job, and luckily for us, we are now on her family list for free or cheap flights through Virgin or their partner airlines.  People started arriving at the house, and we managed to have some family interaction time before the big party started at 3PM.  Alonzo's daughter, Alia, had graduated from high school the night before, so the party was for her.  Here are some of the pictures:
Baby Evelyn is Elaine's first biological grandbaby.  She lives in San Diego with her Dad, Darran (Elaine's son), and her Mom, Marielle.  She will be one year old on June 29.

The following picture is Mary with her 2 adult children:  Laura & Thomas.

Laura and her husband, Dennis arrived from Sparks.  They also stayed overnight in the same nearby motel where Thomas, Elaine, and I had a room.

All 4 kids haven't been together with each other, or with us, since Laura and Dennis got married in Sept., 2013.  When Elaine and I first got together, they were these ages:  Thomas (9), Laura (6), Tarra (3), Darran (2).  Here they are 36 years later:

And here they are with their proud Moms:

When Tarra married Alonzo, he had 3 daughters by his first marriage.  That was about 10 years ago, and now Ari, the oldest one, is in college, and Alia just graduated from high school.  Analy, the youngest, was away at a softball game.  She is 12.  Here are Ari and Alia in the backyard, where they had just finished helping Alonzo build the deck which you can see behind them:

Elaine enjoyed playing with Evie, and here she is on her Gramma's shoulders:

There are lots of good looking girls in our family, and here are some of them altogether - Tarra, Marielle, Laura, Alia, and baby Evie:

Elaine's kids and spouses:  Tarra and Alonzo, Darran & Marielle, and Evie:

Couldn't have a big party at the Monges household without getting a picture of the family together.  Too bad Analy was not at the party:

The weekend festivities continued the next day when we took most of the family out for brunch at the Cabrillo Park Cafe in Fremont. I am putting the name in here because it turned out to be a GREAT place to eat!  Dennis picked it out from Yelp reviews, and it had great food, with lots of choices, and excellent service.  This is unusual with such a large group.  Here are the happy diners:

The next day we returned to Park Sierra.
My next blog posts will be travel tales of the long trip we recently completed.

Now at Park Sierra

    We have returned from our long trip and are now at our RV lot at Park Sierra.  It has been very hot here, and we are eager to leave as soon as we finish having some doctor appointments, and our rig is packed.  Our return from Istanbul was on June 12, then we spent the weekend in Fremont, having a family reunion at Tarra and Alonzo's house.  It was the weekend of Alia's high school graduation so they had a big party for her.  We managed to get all 4 of our kids together with us for a few hours before the party started.  Darran and Marielle (+ the baby, Evelyn), had driven up from San Diego, and they stayed only until mid-afternoon, when they had to leave for San Francisco.  Marielle's cousin was having a graduation party over there too.  The rest of us also enjoyed a very nice brunch together at a local restaurant the next day, before Thomas had to take BART back to San Francisco, and Laura and Dennis had to return to Reno.  Everyone is doing well, and it was great to see everyone. 
     Elaine and I took AmTrak back to Fresno where Gia and Elleen, friends from our park, picked us up.  Since we have been back, we have been trying to catch up on all the pent up tasks, such as going through mail, paying some bills, washing clothes, shopping, cooking, etc.  Additionally, we both had a few days in which we were a bit under the weather, so we allowed ourselves some recovery and rest time.  People at our park have welcomed us back, and we have had several nice dinners at the homes of park friends. 
     July 1 we will leave here and go to the Bay Area, where we have to inspect the rentals (insurance company demands this), and see Tarra and family again.  Then we will move up to Sacramento, to stay with Ron and Carol Leonard, and check our rentals up there.  July 5 and 6 we will visit Laura and Dennis in Sparks, where they will be moving into their new home.  Then we will drive to Thayne, Wyoming, to spend some time at Star Valley Ranch, an RV resort where several sets of friends have lots.  While we are there, I will do my best to go through all the pictures from our trip, and write some blog posts about all the adventures we have been having on our "trip around the world".  So please be patient, some interesting travel tales will be posted to this blog in a short time.