Asian Delicacies.

From the Tea Ceremony we continued on to the reception. It was held at an enormous Chinese Restaurant in which we had the back section. All the table were arranged and we were the first group to arrive. Nothing unusual about that, but an hour and a half later we were still the only ones there. I looked at the Groom's grandfather and said, "I wonder if anyone else is coming", and without batting an eye he said " There is gonna be alot of left over duck". I thought I was going to wet my pants. We became good friends from there on out. Finally the place starts filling up, thank you Baby Jesus, because I am starving.

The first round of dishes comes out and it is pressed meat of some sort. It looked like bologna with gelatin pressed into it, some pressed white meat was also on the platter. There was another meat that was truly indescribable, even the color was scary. Take those 3 loaves of meat and put them on a bed that looked like sauerkraut, but is really jellyfish tentacles and there you have our first course. YUMMY!! Now, I don't even eat normal Caucasian seafood, jellyfish tentacles was never in the running.

You're probably wonder what they did with all the jellyfish heads separated from the 1st course tentacles. Bring on the 2nd course, Jellyfish Heads. Waste not, Want not, and I really mean it when I say, "Want? Not".

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These dishes are actual delicacies in Asia. From jelly fish we went on to shark fin soup, fried lobster, shrimp somethingorother and the list goes on and on. Terry's brother Michael holds the JellyHead up as Barbie (his wife) pours another glass of wine to wash hers down. After the 5th or 6th exotic dish came out, Terry told the waiter that I didn't eat seafood. He graciously brought out a large dish of chicken fried rice. I have never seen a plate of food disappear so quickly, and coming from a family of 8, that is a feat.

The First of Two Weddings

Let me give you a little background on Terry's nephew Tyler, and fiance Ashley. Tyler is the oldest and tallest of Terry's younger brother Michael's 3 children. Tyler's family lives outside of San Francisco in Northern California. Ashley's family lives outside of Los Angeles in Southern California. So for logistics sake there were 2 weddings.

The first wedding was an Asian Tea Ceremony done at Ashley's parents house. Ashley's parents live about 15 miles from our hotel. Now 15 miles in any other State in the Union would take about 25 minutes to get to, but if you are traveling on the Santa Monica Freeway it takes 2 hours and 15 minutes. That's right. The smiles in this picture was a before SMF shot. You don't want to see after. Did I mention my dress was linen?

We finally get there and have pretty much missed the entire Tea Ceremony. Because Terry is an Uncle, he too must give his blessing to the bride and groom in a Tea Ceremony, and since I was his date I had the pleasure of participating. We both sat side by side, we were each given a cup of tea, and 2 red envelopes. After sipping the tea with the groom we handed him one of the envelopes, and then the process was repeated with the bride. I still don't know what was in either of the envelopes. Winning Lotto ticket, get out of jail free card, who knows? Maybe that's why thy didn't tell me, I might not have given it up.

The bridesmaids all wore gold Asian style dresses for the first ceremony. The 2nd shot is Terry who is 6' and looks short, with Tyler the Groom 6'7", and Jenny and Kody. These are all of Terry's neices and nephews. And Yes, the boys do play Bball.

California Here We Come

Terry and I head out to California for his nephew's wedding on Thursday. That gave us one whole day to play before the "First Wedding" on Friday. I found us a really neat hotel in Santa Monica, called "The Georgian Hotel". It is the only art deco hotel surrounded by all these mammoth high rises. It was perfect. Classy with a little bit of funk, just my speed.

Once we got settled in, we headed for the Santa Monica Pier to grab a bite to eat. After lunch werented bikes and rode down to Venice Beach. Now Venice Beach is somewhere that seems to have been caught in a time warp. It's as if all the love children, and die hard hippies put up card tables, or just lay out blankets and sell their wares. By wares I mean everything from pot pipes and bongs to handmade jewelry. After about the 4th blanket of wares, it all started to look the same. We broke down and bought bottled water.

After a wonderful afternoon on the bikes we test out the waters of Southern California. Too cold for open water swim,but not too bad for getting your feet wet.

That's A Wrap

Visiting Sara, Justin, Addie, Baby Bella and Sara's parents, Jan & Ann, was a rare treat. Having Kathy and Kris on the trip made it extraordinary. For those of you who read Sara's blog you know how nice it is for Addie to be spending time in the same yard that Sara grew up in. Now having been there myself I can understand how special this time for Sara really is. Jan and Ann's yard is magical. It is the kind of yard you can picture fairy tales being written in. They have small gardens everywhere. I'm sure there is something in bloom at all times. When I was there the dogwoods were in full color. They have a shed that was whimsically painted by the 3 sisters.

I feel like the only thing missing in this photo are cartoon animals surrounding our little Princess

Falling Behind

Okay, so a laptop makes blogging more convenient, but I guess that means I have to use it. I never finished our Portland trip. We did take a day trip to Multnomah Falls. It was breathtaking, so much so, that I have requested that Kris and Kathy throw my ashes from the highest point.

The Magic Touch.

Now that I have my MacBook I can keep you posted about all the latest news.  Once we got to Portland, we caught up with Kathy, Justin and Addie, and headed to the hospital to meet Baby Bella for the first time.  Now I know how excited everyone is to see Justin and Sara's latest arrival, so I start snapping photos of Baby Bella.  I can't wait to send them out on my blog, but wait... that would entail having brought the cord to the camera to download. Details, details.  Oh well... Photos to be added later.

When we got to the hospital Sara's parents were there, but come on... when can we hold the baby?

Kris and Kathy both had their 10 minutes, then it was my turn.  Baby Bella had just been put in my arms when all hell broke loose.  If there was any questions about Bella lungs they were all answered in my arms.  I do not think she would have cried any louder if she was put into freezing water.  Needless to say my holding time was cut short.  TAKE HER, TAKE HER.  I am really much better with older children.  

West Coast Here We Come.

Kris and I get to BWI and Kris takes her "Please relax me to the point of making me feel like I'm cross stitching " pill.  For those of you who don't know, Kris is not the best of flyers.  Since Rachel and Justin have moved to far away lands, she has been getting script for travel.   So we board the plane and I tell Kris to get a window and an aisle, that way if the plane isn't full we have the empty middle seat.  Well, not even before I get on board, someone has asked Kris if she could sit in our row.  No problem, it was a full flight anyway.  This woman has pressure bands on both wrists and proceeds to tell Kris she has awful motion sickness.  Now I don't know about you, but if I'm even close to vomit, it's all over.  Kris and her new friend exchange stories about the worst part about flying and we haven't even pulled back from the gate.  I just roll my eyes and bury myself in my book.  It's going to be a long flight.