31 Days of Flashbacks: Train Trip West: Day #10

Saturday, August 13, 2011
In which we have lots of fun at Grandma's 90th birthday party (thanks Uncle Bernie for encouraging us all to get out there for it!!), play at the beach and watch a beautiful sunset on the Pacific.
 This is the day that we all traveled to California for - Grandma's 90th birthday party! Be forewarned - there are a ton of pictures!

On Saturday morning we got up and ate the continental breakfast at the hotel.

Yay! Uncle Glenn is finally here!!

bird of paradise at the hotel

Grandpa & Jack

Aunt Sonja & Jack

Brody!

Love this picture of Steve

Breakfast!

After Mike & Bernie drove around to scope out possible party locations we found out where we were supposed to go for the party and the Steve Maas crew all piled into the 12 passenger van and headed out to pick up some last minute things on our way.

Yay! Dad's here!

After the "Costco with no cell phone" fiasco we made it to the park where the party was to take place. All 31 of us were there as well as Grandma Maas's niece Merlene and her sister-in-law Eileen. It was a fun day and I think Grandma enjoyed her 90th birthday celebration.

It was fun to get to know some of Glenn's relatives, most of whom he's only met a couple of times. Only 3 of the grandsons didn't make it: Bernie's son Fern, John's son Jeremiah and his family, and Steve's son Jason.

Here's a run down of the family members that were there:
Grandma Murl Maas - the birthday girl

Here she is surrounded by some great grandkids

Bernie's crew:
- Roxanne (AZ)- Jennifer (13), Jade(9);
- Bernie & Crystal (WA)- Juniper(2);
- Lonna & Caleb (AZ)- Fira(4), Timber(3), Lane(4mo)

Grandma with Bernie's crew

Merlene and Eileen (CA)
Sue (CO)

Grandma Maas, Eileen, Merlene, Aunt Sue, K, Jack & Doug

 John (WY): Enoch(18), Timothy(15)

Uncle John

Enoch & Timothy

 Mike (NV)

Uncle Mike - the man usually behind the camera - photographing Lane and Lonna

Steve &Debbie (LA):
- Stephanie (WY)- Brody(6);
- Kendra & Doug (BC)- Jack(~11mo);
- Glenn &Sonja (NY)- Caleb(11), Hannah(8), Lydia(7) & Abigail(5)

Grandma with Steve's crew

Grandma and all 5 of her kids: Bernie, Sue, John, Mike & Steve

I thought this picture was funny. I imagine life was pretty interesting in that house growing up!

Grandma with all her grand and great grandchildren

Our crew with Great Grandma

 We visited,

Our favorite Canadians

 played some volleyball,

 played on the playground,

even Grandpa got in on the fun

painted finger nails

Thanks Aunt Kendra for the nail polish!

 ate lots of yummy food,

 and, of course, had birthday cake.

Grandma asked where the ice cream was.We blamed Fern since he wasn't there :)

Our kids had a lot of fun playing with new cousins. Caleb was usually with Enoch and Tim, while Hannah was usually with Jade, and Lydia and Abigail had fun with Jade as well and Fira & Timber.

After the party Grandma, Mike, and Sue headed back home/to the hotel while the rest of us headed to the beach. We went to Huntington Beach this time. The waves were calmer at this beach but there seemed to be more of them and there were lots of rocks that you needed to be careful of. There was lots of splashing in waves,

a couple of sea monsters visited,

and we hung out on the beach,

this picture cracks us up. "Mom, I don't think it's really that cold, just look at Jennifer!"

Fira was so cute running from the waves

We got to see a beautiful Pacific sunset before heading back to the hotel. Photos just don't do it justice but here are a few we took.

It was a great day and lots of fun memories were made. After the beach fun we headed back to the hotel. This time Hannah slept with us while Lydia slept on the couch in K &Doug's room and Caleb & Abigail slept where they did last night.

To read about the rest of our trip check out these links to read about Day #1, Day #2, Day #3, Day #4, Day #5, Day #6, Day #7, Day #8, and Day #9.