Visiting Friends and Family

The last leg of our trip included a quick stop to see Neff in San Clemente before spending the night in Ojai to see Greg and Ellie and then one final night in San Luis Obispo to see Aunt Gini, Uncle Juvie and Livi.

After nearly 2 weeks on the road we were tired, but it was still so great seeing everyone.

We all got to meet Baby Ruby, who is actually no longer a baby and see Neff and Chad’s new home.

We took in the charm of Ojai and had a great dinner with Greg and Ellie at their favorite Italian restaurant Boccali’s with their ridiculous strawberry shortcake dessert.  It was that night that I realized how much easier travelling has become with the kids getting older.  At 7pm, we still hadn’t eaten and yet the kids had fun running around the grassy area and sitting on my lap to snuggle. It might have helped that we gave them chocolate right before dinner and they had a chance to swim in the pool that afternoon. But lack of food, too much sugar and exhaustion could have just as easily turned against us.

And it was also in Ojai that we finally got to take the family bike ride I had envisioned us enjoying in Yosemite.  Technically Alva just walked beside her scooter the entire time and therefore, I only rode the bike for 30 seconds.  But hey, I was actually on a bike.  Something I told Martin I would never do when we first started dating and something I hadn’t done since college when I hit a parked car.

And then we came to an end in SLO. The original plan was to have two nights in town, Thursday for the Farmers Market and then all day Friday to show the kids around my second hometown.  But just like it did at the very beginning of the trip, the weather had different ideas.  With rain forecasted, Farmers Market cancelled, and our clean clothes down to one pair of underwear, we made the decision to stay only one night. But that one night was perfect. Gini and Juvie invited us over for dinner and it was such a warm embrace of family and “home" that I didn’t realize I needed after being on the road for so long.

Aunt Gini hid Easter eggs in their courtyard for the kids to find, Uncle Juvie kept them entertained with the ice machine in the fridge and we all got to enjoy a home cooked meal of Grandpa Gimbel’s favorite pasta sauce with a nice bottle of red wine. Before the evening ended, Gini and Juvie had one more treat for the kids - red balloons which they kept blowing up and letting go all over their house, ensuring the best kids’ laughter and adult giggles.     

We drove home Friday morning and by Friday evening we had the car unpacked, the laundry started, and Oskar and Alva were back to their rooms to play with their new souvenirs from the trip.