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. 

31 Days of Flashbacks: Train Trip West: Day #9

Friday, August 12, 2011
In which we watched sea lions play, played at the beach, met up with more family members, had a family picnic, picked up Glenn, and slept at the hotel.
On Friday we got up and had breakfast on the ship on the ship again. After breakfast we watched sea lions and a pelican playing off the deck of the ship. It was so fun to see sea lions playing in the wild. I'd only ever seen them at the Seneca Park Zoo.

two sea lions playing near the boat

This pelican was scared off by the approaching sea lion

hard to see but the sea lion out there was just floating on it's side with his flipper up in the air

a tugboat guiding a bigger boat into the marina

 Later in the morning we packed up and went to do some laundry at a laundrymat. The kids, Steph, Steve and Debbie played at a park while K, Doug, Jack, and I were doing the laundry. After all of our clothes got cleaned we headed back to the Vagabond to check in and get ready to go to the beach.

We spent the afternoon playing at Balboa Beach. The waves were HUGE so we didn't let any of the kids go out very far (I think that the waves were so big mostly because of the steep incline of the beach). The waves still took all of us out several times. All small children had to be holding an adult's hand as the waves came in because they were so powerful we didn't want them to take the kids out. I counted noses after each wave to make sure that we still had all the kids we were supposed to. We also built a big sand pile and set about making moats and other pools to try to protect it from the rising tide. We were successful for quite a while :).

oh, no, here comes a big one!

several downed ocean-lovers after a big wave

 After fun at the beach we headed back to the hotel for a barbeque at the little picnic area. Steve's brother John and his sons Enoch and Timothy, Bernie's daughter Roxanne and her daughters Jennifer and Jade, and Bernie's other daughter Lonna, her husband Caleb and their 3- Fira, Timber, and Lane joined in the family fun today bringing our total up to 30 people.

barbecue on the hotel patio with the family

After supper I took a quick nap and then headed to LAX with Stephanie to pick up Glenn (yay!!!) for his midnight arrival from Syracuse. That night Hannah slept w/ Aunt Sue, Caleb slept on the chair in Sue and Steph's room, Abigail slept on the chair in our room while Steve and Debbie took one bed and Lydia, Glenn, and I took the other.

Click these links to read about Day #1, Day #2, Day #3, Day #4, Day #5, Day #6, Day #7, and Day #8. 

Five Minute Friday: Welcome

I have a hard time sometimes saying, "Welcome" because I am often thinking too much about me and worrying about what others will think of me. My house is too cluttered, my food may not taste right, my family is kind of crazy... so often when we "welcome" people to our home I hide in the kitchen working on things that I haven't gotten done yet to "prepare" for our guests. I'm not really welcoming. I'm hiding. I'm not focusing on and making it all about my guests like I think that I probably should.

We've sung a song recently in church (these FMF's always make me think of songs) by Matt Redman "Here for You."

It talks about welcoming God into our presence with praise and the fact that the reason that we are here is for Him. The part that sticks out to me every time is:

To You our hearts are open
Nothing here is hidden
You are our one desire
You alone are holy
Only You are worthy
God, let Your fire fall down

God is my ultimate guest but too often when I come into His presence I am thinking about me too. Just like with house guests distractions abound: my to-do list, my wants, so many other things when I should be focusing on my Guest. I can't close the cupboard doors to hide the mess with Him. He knows it all and He wants to be with me in spite of it. How grateful I am.

Oh Lord, please help me to open both the door to my heart and the door to my home. I've neglected that word lately... so here it is. I welcome You to open me.

Linking up with the Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday. Join me? If you write for 5 minutes on Welcome please put a link in my comments!

 

31 Days of Flashbacks: Train Trip West: Day #8

Thursday,  August 11, 2011
 In which we tour some boats, play at a playground, meet up with more family, eat pizza, swim in a pool, and sleep on a yacht aga
We got up and ate breakfast on the yacht. The ministry gets some day old stuff donated from Trader Joe's and that is what we ate. I've still never been to one of those stores that I've heard so much about but the day old stuff was quite tasty.

We lazed about and then got tours of both the yatch (76') that we are staying on and the sail boat (maybe a little longer) next door. Both of these boats have been donated to the ministry and there are volunteers here working on fixing them up to prepare them for their trip through the Panama Canal and on to Honduras where they are planning on using them for pastor retreats throughout the Caribbean.

Grandpa and Jack

We're not really moving! Abigail sure looks serious though!

Hanging out on deck

Checking out the sail boat

This is the yacht we got to spend a couple of nights on.

Touring the sailboat

After a lunch of more day old Trader Joe's stuff we headed to the Vagabond Motel in Costa Mesa where most the family members that had already arrived for Grandma Maas's birthday celebration were gathered. (After a quick stop at a playground with a fun plane that we played at while others made quick Kinkos/ grocery runs.)

cool plane at the playground

fun slide

 At the hotel the kids swam in the pool (way too cold for swimming for me as it was only in the lower 70s) and we ordered pizza with Steve's mom - Murl (the birthday lady), Steve's siblings - Bernie, Mike, and Sue, Bernie's son Bernie, with Crystal and their daughter Juniper and ate it pool side.

Caleb had fun with Jack

Swimming!!

hanging out by the hot tub (it was chilly - just look at Uncle Mike and Uncle Bernie!)

Grandma Maas, Steph, Aunt Sue, Steve & Debbie

Lydia with a Bird of Paradise

 Then we went back to the ship to sleep.

Click these links to read about Day #1, Day #2, Day #3, Day #4, Day #5, Day #6 and Day #7.

31 Days of Flashbacks: Train Trip West: Day #7

Our Train Trip saga continues...

August 11, 2011
In which we wake up on park benches, meet up with more family members, head down the California coast, and sleep on a yacht.





When we left off yesterday we were sleeping on park benches outside the train station in San Fransisco that was closed for the night. Finally 4:30am came around and the train station opened back up. We (and the homeless guy that had been sleeping on a nearby bench - one of a surprisingly small number of people we saw all night) moved inside and set up camp on the floor and most of us promptly fell asleep for a while more. It was warmer inside. That was nice.

Mom and Dad catching some Zzzz's

Everyone else conked out on the floor

 At about 7am Steph and I went out looking for food for the train trip down the California coast. We had planned to check out The Public Market during our time in Emeryville because, in our research before our trip, we had seen it was walkable. It was "open" but nothing but a coffee shop was actually open until 9 so we left. We found a couple out walking their dog and asked them where we could buy some food. They mentioned Trader Joe's but it wasn't going to open until 8 which was cutting it too close. They then told us that there was a deli on the ground level of an apartment building across the way that might have what we were looking for. We headed over and found bagels, tomatos, cucumbers and cream cheese for our lunch then headed back to the station.

The Coastline Starlight was on time and we got into seats that Doug and Kendra, who were already on the train coming down the coast from parts farther north with Jack,  had reserved for us (yay!! So helpful when wanting to get seats together as a long group). We went and ordered some hot chocolate and coffee and came up to the observation car to drink and ate our poptarts (a healthy breakfast -haha) with Kendra, Doug and Jack. After I finished my breakfast I headed back to our seats to take a nap for a couple of hours (all those hours as night watchman had worn me out!). We enjoyed our bagels  w/ cream cheese, tomatos and cucumbers for lunch then I spent most of the day at our seats in the back with the kids who came back from the observation car to play including a random friend that the girls had made who preferred hanging out with my girls in the coach seats over hanging out in her sleeping car.

Aunt Steph doing Lydia's hair

Hanging out with Aunt Kendra and cousin Jack

 We saw some beautiful views headed down the California Coast. 

  We arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles at around 9pm and Steph and I took some carry-on stuff and went to sign paperwork for the rental van while the other 10 went to gather the rest of our luggage. We all piled into the big white 12 passenger van and Steph did a great job driving in the crazy LA traffic as we headed down to the Long Beach area where we were staying for the night. We slept on a yacht, one of Friendships' two ships that they have out there. Steph, the kids and I slept in "the salon" while K, Doug and Jack slept downstairs in one of the bedrooms and Steve and Debbie slept in the motor home thing on shore.

Click these links to read about Day #1, Day #2, Day #3, Day #4, Day #5 and Day #6.