Tour de California ~ stage 1

It's going to be a long night people.  All I can tell you for sure is that I'm hopped up on canadian tylenol and two episodes of Downton Abbey.  Ian is finishing up his first nap of our trip and I've enjoyed a few glorious hours alone in our hotel room.  Poor Ben had to tackle Ava whose hopped up on copious amounts of sugar and her cousins in the outdoor pool and the frigid bay area winds.  Is that even a sentence?  I never promised cohenrancy.  Is that even a word?  Anyway, we picked up the mega-van on Wednesday 

 Ian decided to take the first leg of the journey

and then Dad picked up the slack.  

Emotional #1 was beyond excited to be with her cousins but apparently was feeling the loss of her seventy five bedfellows and had a ceremony of mourning before she fell asleep.

 She was easily distracted though once we picked up her benefactors from the airport.

 Our tour of I-5 was pretty uneventful minus an incident in McDonald's involving two children, a game of ring around the rosies and a giant cardboard display.  Whew, that mom must have been embarrassed.

We arrived in Berkeley yesterday and settled back into our healthy family patterns.  No, were not watching tv.  My family was watching me as I led praise and worship hour.

 Then today we picked up Grandma and took her to the mall for family pictures.  There was some under breath mumblings about her wearing pink sweatpants inside-out under her outfit.  I say if I ever turn one hundred I'll just be happy to remember to leave the house with clothes on and my teeth in. 

 I think Ian was trying to teach her how to high five here.

 There have been great amounts of giddiness since these two reunited.

 They're almost as tall as Grandma!

 Getting ready for their close-ups

 I had to hold back a few tears as Dad combed Grandma's hair before the picture.  It was such a tender moment between a mother and a son.  Love and joy and service all woven up in a beautiful gesture.

 And then there was food.  Lots and lots of food.  Dim Sum is my children's happy place.  Sadly, it is the deepest expression of their chinese heritage.  I owe half of their body weights to the many chinese restaurants they have visited in their short lives.  For that I am thankful.

 Here Ian is demanding more food and showing off his chopsticking skills.  He cannot identify the color blue or put on his shoes, but he can eat an entire meal with two sticks.

 And finally we visited Great Grandpa Hsieh's resting place.  It was a quiet moment of contemplation as we remembered his life and looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge.  And then came, "Can we please go swimming now?!!!"  So out of respect for the others visiting the cemetery we made our way to the party bus as quick as possible.