Days Four-Seven: Temecula

Saturday we woke up in Temecula, eager for some quality time with Chris' paternal grandparents Chuck and Jackie, as well as his Aunt Karen and Uncle Kirby and cousins Garrett and Evan. The weather was temperate, so we enjoyed letting the kids play around outside and walking across the street to the empty lot on which Garrett had sculpted an entire BMX course. We got to watch him do his jumps and also enjoyed introducing Grandma Jackie to her first great-granddaughter!

Aunt Karen with Noah and Audrey

Grandpa Chuck, Grandma Jackie, and their great-grandkids

Grandma is on hospice and confined to a hospital bed, but her spirits seemed to lift while we were there, and it was so nice to be sans agenda for a few days and just spend time there.

Uncle Skip and Audrey

Also, Jamie's brother Skip came out for the afternoon, and we went to Rosa's for dinner. When we were just finishing up, Audrey suddenly vomited all over me and the floor--I mean, she turned into a complete fountain, and it was definitely not just a typical spit-up. Poor Skip looked a little shell-shocked! After we got back to the house and got Audrey and myself cleaned up and went to bed, Jamie had trouble sleeping, thinking all night that she was going to be sick. Fortunately, and somewhat miraculously, none of us caught whatever it was, and Audrey didn't have any more incidents. Sunday morning, Chris and I took the kids to Murrieta Church of Christ and enjoyed worshiping there, even though I had to take Audrey to the nursery because she would NOT sit still and quiet in worship! She had had enough sitting over the last few days, I guess.

All dressed up for church (Noah still managed to get a grass stain.)

Sunday afternoon, Chuck's sister Edna and her husband George traveled out to see us, along with their kids Georgie and Debbie, Debbie's husband Stan, and their daughter Erin, who has the cutest little 11-month-old boy named Jonah. I was really excited to meet him! We all went to dinner, along with Uncle Kirby's dad and his friend, and then had a great visit and enjoyed catching up back at the house.

Georgie, Drew, Debbie and Karen

Grandpa Chuck, his sister Edna, and Audrey

Jonah and his grandma, Debbie (Drew's cousin)

Monday was another pretty day, and after Chris and I packed our bags and gear (it was quite an ordeal, trust me), we escaped for an hour or so to a beautiful winery we visited the last time we were out there. We came back to everyone relaxing with Jackie watching home movies from when SHE was a child, which were incredible to see! We all ate dinner together and took pictures and said our goodbyes, then headed back to Anaheim since we had a plane to catch Tuesday morning.

Uncle Kirby and Audrey

Grandpa Chuck and Audrey

We went to bed early at the hotel, but at 11:30 I groggily awoke to the sound of someone trying to unlock and open the door to our room. Chris was also pretty out of it, but I finally came to enough to get out of bed, go to the door, and tell them, "Go AWAY!!" The people then cussed at me and went away, so I went back to bed, thinking it must have been a couple of drunks. As I was drifting off to sleep, the room phone rang. Chris answered it, and it was the front desk person, asking him all kinds of questions like his last name and reservation number and what room number he was in. Chris refused to hand me the phone, knowing I would probably go off on the guy for calling in the middle of the night, but Chris did inform him that Drew and Jamie were in the other room and that they were probably asleep. Still, come to find out, the moron DID call Drew and Jamie's room as well, woke them up, and asked questions such as whether their entire party had arrived. Ugh! So, after getting ready the next morning, Jamie and I marched down there and had a little conversation with the manager, who promptly comped one of the room charges to make up for the idiocy of the night desk guy. So much for catching up on some sleep! Anyway, Drew dropped us all off at the airport with all our luggage (and then some), and he returned the rental van and took a shuttle back. Meanwhile, Chris and I had already weighed our luggage and had everything all sorted out, so the check-in process should have been (relatively) simple. The grouchy check-in person berated me for not having noted that I was traveling with an infant (which the guy at D/FW didn't seem to have a problem with), then told me that we had to check the stroller and carseats about 100 yards away at the "Oversized Luggage" area. Hmm, my gigantic suitcase qualifies as more "oversized" in my opinion, but okay. Well, that really threw me off because Chris had to lug all that stuff and I had the baby strapped on me, my diaper bag, and Noah to deal with. So, you may have guessed by now, we completely walked off from a carry-on suitcase. We went all the way through security before realizing it! Suddenly, I panicked and sent Chris back to get the suitcase, envisioning the bomb squad surrounding it and all kinds of interrogation, but nope--good ol' TSA and high airport security just left our bag sitting there unattended for 15 minutes or more. And you can bet we didn't make a fuss about that! Chris went through security all over again, and one lady looked at him a little funny, but no one had planted anything in the bag, not even a miniature souvenir bat (read: potential clubbing device). Drew caught up to us for breakfast at a diner, Audrey blew out of a diaper and we changed her outfit, and then it was time to board! Just another typical travel morning. Somewhat suspiciously, TSA decided to set up another security checkpoint as we boarded... the other passengers can probably thank Chris and his two tours of security for that. We made it onto the plane and the rest of our trip was somewhat uneventful, until Chris left my Nook (e-reader) in the seat pocket and I didn't realize it until that night. Not surprisingly, I have still not heard back from the airport lost and found. Bummer.