San Francisco Bay Area - Part 2

[This is part 2 of our trip to California]

At the very beginning of January, our family traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area.  We gathered together for the blessing of my youngest grandson.

This post begins on Saturday, as we prepared to gather all of the extended families together in one place.  We began the morning with a little birthday celebration for my youngest daughter, L.  She turned 4 years old, and did't mind that we spent her birthday in a hotel room.  My amazing wife made sure to decorate the place, so that she felt special:

To understand how excited she was, we captured this video.  It's literally a stream-of-conciousness as she looks through all the pictures.  It's long, but sure provides insight into this little girl's thinking:

We wanted to get the families together, before the blessing (the next day). My daughter's condo just wouldn't hold all of us for this gathering.  Our solution was to travel to the other side of the Bay Area, and meet at the Castro Valley ward building.  This was the church building that I attended for most of my early life, right up until my early twenties.  Going back here sure brought back a lot of great memories.  We had the place to ourselves, due to some help from my long-time best friend - who still lives in this area.  We spent a great deal of time taking pictures inside the gym, or what we call the "Cultural Hall":

The gym is carpeted - which is strange for a basketball court/gym. This happened back in the 70s and took a little getting used to, when you played.  Here's my oldest son, playing with G-Man and some of his cousins on his mother's side of the family:

We then took the opportunity to take pictures, as many of this family don't gather too often.  We're fortunate to have these chances to create memories.  The pictures help us bring those wonderful memories back. While I wish that every one of my brothers and sisters were there...I'm just lucky to have had all of my kids - and grandkids - there:

Of course, little J was the center of attention ; )

My oldest grandson - Little L - was trying figure out why Great Grandpa had a "hole" in his chin.  He hasn't figure out that this is a famous trait of our family ; )

After the meal, we held a small birthday celebration for L. She was so EXCITED to open her presents, especially the gifts from her family:

Following the big gathering - and the clean-up, we went to (wait for it) my ex-wife's sister's home.  She's really nice and invited us to let the kids see all the animals that she keeps in her back yard. G-Man had a blast, as he loved playing with the chickens and rabbits, and was actually braver than we expected, when it came to holding the animals:

L and Little L spent time on the trampoline - of course.  Poor Little L was bounced all over the place by a slightly older aunt:

We made our way back to the other side of the Bay Area.  But first, I made a short stop at one of my favorite restaurants in this neck of the woods - Caspers Hot Dogs.  It's a favorite of mine while I was growing up.  I only had one, because we were meeting others for dinner.

We arrived in San Mateo, and met up with my brother's family.  They're a really fun bunch.  Fortunately, we have smaller kids that are really close in age, so they like to hang out with each other.  I sure wish I lived closer to them:

Listening to my father tell another great story...

The next day, Sunday, was the big day.  We traveled to the church building where my daughter attends church.  When I saw "we", I'm talking about all of the families that traveled for this awesome event.  We took us several pews in the chapel ; )  I was lucky enough to participate in the blessing.  I wish I had a recording of it, as my son-in-law was truly amazing.  With his son crying during most of it, he gave a personal, thoughful, and emotional prayer for his child.  I have witnessed a lot of blessings in my day, and this was extraordinary.

Afterwards, we gathered the entire brood outside the building for lots of additional pictures.  My poor wife tried to do the best she could with large groups of people, crying babies, restless children, and a limited window of time.  I love what she captured.  More memories!!!

The entire group!

My side of the family

My grandsons...and hopefully, cousins who will be "best friends"

Proud Great Grandma and Grandpa with Little J

A four-generation picture

 A four-generation picture

Proud Grandparents

Another great shot of my little family.  So awesome!!

This was a cute moment that I captured - it's Little L playing with his "Mimi" which is what he'll call my wife.  A title of honor, to be sure.

Later that day, we had a few spare moments with my folks, before they had to fly back to Canada.  It was fun to watch my little ones with them.  Here they are showing each other fun things to do on an iPad:

Each night, the kids have been sleeping in one of the beds in the hotel room.  I find it hilarious to see where they end up at the end of the night.  Each one seems to "migrate" around the bed.  Just watching the two of them snuggle together sure brings a smile to my face:

The next day, Monday, was our return home.  Since our flight didn't leave until late that afternoon, we decided to squeeze in a little more time with the newest grandson, as everyone else had already flown home.

The little guy is so cute.  Some times he's at peace:

Other times, he's a little cranky...just like every other child in the world (seriously, that lip...):

And then you get the full-on cuteness:

My daughter took us to a sandwich place called Mr. Pickles.  It was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

They had sandwiches on bread called "Dutch Crunch".  I have discovered that I only knew about this because of growing up in California.  Nobody else seems to know about this awesome bread:

That's enough for now.  Lots of pictures in this post - my apologies if you're overcome by awesome images ; )  As you can tell, I had a fantastic time on this trip.  I love all of these people and just thank my Heavenly Father for the time that we have to spend together.  I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  Now, I have to start plotting how to get them all back together again ; )