Bittersweet Weekend

This weekend was bittersweet due to putting my Uncle Eric to rest, spending time with my Brother and his family and seeing family I haven't seen since the last funeral up North. 

My Bro and family arrived around on Saturday March 5th at 8:30am and got ready at our house. They stopped at John's Burgers on the way so I didn't have to make breakfast. At 9am my Mom arrived with Porto's from my Aunty Betty. She always brings us Porto's whenever she comes to visit. So yummy! 

Getting ready for the ceremony/mass. Catching up and saying "hi" to family that we knew, and family we had to be reintroduced to. I was right, my Uncle's funeral was huge and it was a wonderful celebration of his life. He definitely left a legacy. Any stranger who would have attended his funeral would automatically know that he was a good, very loved and well respected man by witnessing the outpour of love from the multitudes of people who came to pay their respects. He was a man who treated anyone: relative, friend or stranger like family and had a way with being involved in your life whether you liked it or not. His house always had an open door. He was responsible for holding and coordinating our family reunions and carried this remarkable power of bringing family together (from all over) and keeping us all in contact with each other. Very few knew that he was in pain most of the time because he never showed it. Everyone knew him as a jolly and happy man. Almost everyone who spoke at his funeral didn't speak of him like an Uncle or a friend, they spoke of him like a brother or a father. He is definitely missed. Funerals like these always make me wonder what kind of legacy I will leave behind, or if I had made an impact in peoples lives or not. I question myself, am I really living a life how I'd like to be remembered?

My bro and Monica made them do the heart thing. Haha, it was silly and cute!

Kenzi trying to find tootsie rolls in my purse. She told me that I'm her favorite Aunt. I don't know if that's true but it was sure sweet of her to tell me that. I'll never forget that moment.

My bro and cousin Josh.

We had to stand pretty far back but we still got to witness the balloon release and the dove release.

The reception was back at Panda Palace but my Mom hates the food there so we ended up going to La Costa.

My Bro and Monica were pretty tired and I think everyone wanted to take a nap so I took my nieces out to three different parks. I think Yokuts Park was their favorite because there were so many random kids who all befriended each other and got along. At one point, there were about 8 kids hanging out in the jungle gym. They all agreed that this chubby white girl would be the princess and McKenzi (my niece) was the queen, and Milli (my other niece) was the witch. So Milli carried this water bottle full of sand and she would throw sand on people to cast sleeping spells on them. And as each kid was hit with sand, they would literally act out as if they've been shot with a bullet, collapse and fall asleep. Since McKenzi was the queen, she had to stay at the top of the jungle gym. Then there were three Hispanic boys who acted like storm troopers trying to arrest Milli. It was awesome. I was just so entertained and amazed to witness childhood imagination in all of its glory and was kinda blown away to see how fast these little strangers became instant friends. It made me kinda sad to think how we lose this kind of trust and become more self-conscious as we age. There's no way adults could have this automatic social coordination. I loved watching these kids being so carefree.

Then I knew it was time to go when the the chubby white girl came up to me and said, "Excuse me, are you her Mom?" (She was pointing to Milli)
And I said, "I'm her aunt."
And she said, "Well, she called me fat. I asked her if she could push me on the swing and she said, 'no, you're too fat.'"
So I said, Milli, "Did you call her fat?"
And she said, "Yes."
So I said, "That's not very nice. Can you tell her that you're sorry and you won't call her that again?"
And she looked down and said, "Sowwy."

But when I thought about it more, I think what Milli meant to say was that she was little and that girl was too big for her to push. Which was true, Milli was tiny compared to her. It just came out wrong.
But the girl went back to playing with them again like nothing happened. Then I asked the girls if they wanted to go to another park and they happily skipped to the car in place of a verbal answer.

Before I took them to another park, I wanted to take them by Dagny's for some lemonade and cookies

so we stopped at Boss Pizza to bring Boo Andrew (that's what the girls call him) something to eat.

These girls cracked me up. Milli wanted to sound like a demon when she ordered her drink. She practiced at Boss Pizza and in the car. When she finally got up there to tell Boo Andrew what she wanted, she got shy and just kept giggling.



After hanging with Boo Andrew, I still took them to Jastro Park, even though it was getting dark. There was a birthday party going on and there were so many kids on the playground. It reminded me of army ants ravishing a chicken bone or something. Anyhoo, as McKenzi went down the slide, I noticed this punk ass kid hiding under the slide. Once she was out of the slide the kid threw dirt at her. My protective instincts kicked in and I was ready to kick that little kids ass.

"Hey!" I yelled, "That's not nice!" I startled him because he looked at me wide eyed and ran away. Kenzi wasn't even phased. Punk ass kid..

By the time we got home, the family was hungry so we went to Chick-fil-a and I stopped at CVS for some medication for Andrew (he was sick all weekend). And my Mom wanted ice cream so we made a little pit stop at Dewar's.

The next Sunday we went out to breakfast and had to say good-bye once again. I miss them within seconds of them leaving. But I was glad to spend time with them, especially my nieces. Watching them play at the park, and just spending those few hours with them alone just made me realize there's going to come a day where they don't want to play at the park or hang out with Aunty Maylanie anymore. So I have to cherish this time when they are young and carefree and take advantage of every moment to hang out with them as much as I can.

The rest of the Sunday was a lazy one. Even though I just had my brother and his family stay one night, I was still exhausted and I had to do a lot of cleaning after they left. At this phase in my pregnancy, I just don't have the energy I did in the 2nd trimester. So I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. I love my family but I sure appreciate peace and quiet, haha. Just enjoying it while it lasts!