family chaos

On Thursday the 12th we (Eddie and I) flew to San Diego to meet up with the rest of my ENTIRE fam (on my mothers side) to celebrate my gma's 80th and have a family reunion. We got into SD around 11am, my brothers picked us up at the airport and we eventually made it to gma's house. It was nice to see her, it had been over a year. I miss that part of living in CA, usually the fam would drive down to see her every couple of months, man, growing up sucks sometimes. In any event, she said "you look good" which was a pleasant suprise, I was expecting some sort of comment about needing to suck in my stomach or something to that effect. Perhaps absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. Mom was sposed to get in around 1 or 2 so i spent the rest of the day waiting listlessly for her to arrive. Both Dow fam's were there already, it was so great to see my cousin Katie, we used to have such fun together.

Before mom arrived got a phone call from steven, apparently his architecture teacher decided to plan a trip to spain on...THE WEEKEND OF MY WEDDING! Needless to say I was completely distraught, but Steven said he would try to work it out. (side note-since then , he has and his ass WILL be at the wedding, thank GOD!) Mom finally arrives, and it was so good to see her, yet another sucky thing about being away from CA. What can i say, I am a mommas girl. ; )

Emi and my dad arrived late that night, around 10 or 11, also so glad to see them, cried when I hugged emi, i hate that at this time in her life i am so far away.

FRIDAY 8-13

Yes, the entire family boarded a chartered bus to drive down to mexico on friday the 13th, a bit scary, yes, but we did it! As soon as the bus got rolling (10:30am) Eddie and I were enlisted to make and pass out the mimosas. Eddie made them, and I handed them out, showcasing my fabulous ability to be a bus stewardess. By the time we were making th elast few we were running low on OJ but had tons of champagne left, so mine was about 95 percent champagne (was i complaining?)

Arrived in puerto nuevo at lunchtime and had a fabulous lunch of lobster, fresh tortiallas and yes...BEANS! Oh how I miss good burritos and beans, I ate beans every chance I got throughout the weekend. After lunch we continued on to the hotel and checked in etc etc. All (well most) of the gals decided to do shopping at the market, since it would be much more crowded on saturday. I got the giant zebra blanket I wanted when we were in mexico last time, as well as some items for friends. Then we returned to the hotel and hung out until it was time for the dinner buffet. Again, I had beans and more beans and we watched the stage show which was reminiscent to me of bad cruise ship entertainment (have i ever been on a cruise ship...no, but its what id imagine it to be like ) We had planned to hit the town after dinner, but jet lag and serious sun time was catching up with us so we hit the sack.

Saturday

Woke up saturday and headed to the breakfast buffet with my parents, it was nice to have that itme with them, i felt like i had to share them with everyone else (40 or so people of my fam on this trip) the rest of the time, and that was hard. Enjoyed some delicious papaya and mango, fresh made tortillas and BEANS! Beans for breakfast you say? YES, beans for every meal of the day, eddie calls me a beaner and it is Gods truth! ;)

The women were sposed to head to a little spa down the way for manis and pedis etc at 10am, we arrived and they were not open, finally they opened but said it would take up to 5 hours to take care of the 7 of us...no bueno, so we decided to walk back to the hotel, about 1/2 mile, not too bad, it was hot but not sweltering, the weather was really quite perfect. Once back at the hotel we hit the beach, played a few rounds of beach volleyball and then went to the pool. I was easing myself into the pool gently (I didnt want to get my hair wet cuz we had the big formal dinner that night) but my dad took it up on himself to push me into the pool, pissed doesnt even begin to describe how i was feeling. In any event, eventually went up to the room to change and eddie came up a bit later. We went down to the lobby in search of an ATM (one which didnt spit out pesos) and ran into the third and his gang, we all went for fish tacos. That excursion took longer than expected and we had to rush back to ready for dinner that night.

Had a big family pic outside, although we were facing the sun so squinting was the only option (that ought to be a winner) We returned to the room which gma had rented out for dinner and had some cocktails, then sat down for dinner. The night progressed with dinner and toasts from most poeple at the table, there wasnt a dry eye in the house by the end of the night, i love that! Even my dad made a toast, that one got me the most, I was proud of him and everything he had to say.

After dinner gma handed out gifts to everyone symbolizing differne things, it was a really neat touch and perfect end to the dinner.

Following dinner we went out with my brotheres, my cousin katie and patrick and my new cousin Stephanie (the thirds wifes sister...yeah i know confusing much?) We met up with danny and mike at papas and beer but the line was too darn long so we went to some other little place where we were literally the only people in there, but it was 6 bucks all you can drink, so we drank some ( i was wary about puking the next day on the bus ride home so i only drank a few) We left that place and ended up at Macho Taco (nice name eh) but we spent the rest of the nigt there and had a blast. My brother mike was in a different head space than usual, and it was nice to see him and hang out with him, i am def. glad both brothers will be at the wedding.

Sunday

Everyone made it to the bus (katie was puking....think 5 buckets of beer, 10 beers a bucket amongst 5 people) Had to stop at customs and take everything off the bus, but it only took about 20 minutes to get through, so that wasnt bad at all, and we made it back to gmas in SD safe and sound.

Eddie and departed monday at about 12.

All in the all the trip was great, it was nice to see all of family, I would say it was nice for eddie to meet all of them, however he had already met all of them, mostly before we even started to date! Go figure. Consequently he fits in like an old shoe ; ) I was so glad to see my parents and sister, but after such a long time in between seeing them it was hard to only have a weekend, let alone a weekend sharing htem with 30 other people. Its niec to know i will be seing them in about 2 months again, and i wont have to share as much, besides, ill be the bride, so i can be greedy!