Erincita

...in the warm California sun...
Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Dana and I arrived together in California to see the 'rents for the first time since college. After the mini-ordeal of a cancelled flight, we arrived at John Wayne Airport around 3pm on January 26th. Dana left this morning but I'll be staying in socal until February 6th, which means I'll be here a full two weeks. So far it's been the requisite and enjoyable visit with all the relatives. Of course it was Mom, Dad, and Grandma in Fountain Valley first. Auntie Lo flew in from St Louis the next day for a fascinating re-aligning of Grandma's dentures. The following day Uncle Steve and Connor had lunch at our house and then Dana and I went with them to pick up Alex from UC Riverside (that is, after about 3 hours of battling traffic, rain and wrong turns). Nevertheless, we arrived victorious and in one piece at Sarah & Mark's house where most of the Petty and Bradshaw clans were assembled for pizza, salad, video games and good times. It was a short drive home for the Purcells that evening in order to rest up for another round the next day. Dad treated us to burgers and fries at In and Out Burger before heading back to Dana Point. It was very familiar sitting around the table at Steve & Barb's shooting the breeze for hours. We ate chips and salsa, drank margaritas and had a fabulous dinner prepared by Barb called pizole (Forgive the spelling. It's supposed to be a Mexican dish but until then I hadn't heard of it). Sadly, Auntie Lo had to return to St Louis the next morning. Being a Sunday, I went to First Christian Church in Huntington Beach and then the four of us went to Van Nuys to see Scott, Grandpa and Kent for lunch at the Hamburger Hamlet. First we spent some time at Grandpa's upscale retirement community while Dana tried to teach him to use the internet for his purposes as a historian. She was very patient and he wrote explicit instructions to do it on his own. Those instruction mysteriously turned up in our car this morning, so I will be responsible for returning those when I go to see Scott on my own later on this week. Yesterday we pretty much relaxed, after a little trek with Mom to BofA to work out some financial matters. Dana has class tonight and will back at the Rodeo tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have been assigned the task of preparing a lunch for Cousin Nicole's visit tomorrow. I need to have it ready by the time Mom comes back from Dana Point with Grandma in tow. I get to spend that night with Nicole and her ever-expanding family and see Scott the next day in his bachelor pad. Two extremes. This is California to me.

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