She wore a beautiful and very formal dress made lovingly by Descartes' mom, Cookie.
It actually fit her perfectly... even though it was made before she was even born! Cookie and Papa drove their RV and stayed at a very nice campground not too far from my sister's house. They were very sweet to somehow get it together in spite of having just returned from The East Coast via D.C. and Miami. They were mighty jet-lagged, but managed to happily blend in with the rest of my crazy family.It is actually not fair to say that they are crazy.. not this time. It all went so smoothly. I am really very very lucky to have such a great, if complicated family.
My Mom and Step-dad wonderfully put up my family and my brother's family in a hotel we all thought was going to be amazing.. but it was really just a Caesar's palace with a name-change.. None the less my children acted like it was Christmas and had a grand time on the cozy beds and in the Gigantic two person tub (as long as you ignored the slime mold it was fine!) Gloria and P.J. were generous as always, and I so appreciated that they drove all that way. Gerard and Pinky and my precious niece, Bubsy were great to have in attendance since they do not often travel outside of the Southern California basin (except to go to Hawaii or Mexico). I actually think it was the first time either of them had been to Tahoe..perhaps even north of Fresno! Bubsy really enjoyed playing in the jump house with Jake, and taking a bath with Lucy.
BIAD and my step-mom, Monster (by the way, not a deriding term.. I am Step-brat.. although this may be a more accurate name)stayed with my sister along with my youngest brother Albert and a friend Monster brought with her from work, Kory. She was delightful and a tremendous help with all of the kids.
We figured out that this was the first time all four kids have been in the same place since Demanda and Jaster's wedding in 1999. How sad is that? Someone has always been away at school or sick, or dying, or grieving, or poor or angry. We were really only all in the same place for about 6 hours, but it was nice.
Jaster and Demanda have re-organized and arranged their entire house to make it work with two little babies.. and they were amazing hosts for Lucy's birthday weekend acting as a home base for everyone. I thanked them about a million times, but there is never quite enough thanks I could give someone who actually takes care of me. Between Gloria and P.J. arranging for my hotel, Cookie making the dress and Demanda and Jaster setting up their entire house, I really didn't need to worry about anything. It felt so nice to have someone make some decisions and make it so I didn't need to anticipate every single need all by myself.
By the way Jaster and Demanda's house is still ready for Jake at a moment's notice. They continue to provide a sanctuary for my family time and time again.
So the weekend, overall went very smoothly. I am very proud of everyone for playing nicey-nice and I think enjoying themselves.
Will post a few pictures if I can get some from someone else.. since we could not get it together enough to bring our own camera. oh got one....
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