Homeward Bound

Our last morning in Big Bear we were able to get in a mini-hike in down by the lake. It was a beautiful day, but the kids were tired and ornery and we didn't make it too far. But it was nice to pretend to get out and see some of the countryside.

L, whose favorite color is purple, was quite pleased to find some flowers that matched her outfit.

We found the very same log that we'd taken a picture of L on nearly two years ago. It was cool to see how the trees had grown up in front of the lake.

And here's another one from the dusty old vault of times long gone by. I think this is my favorite video we've ever taken of L; she was just a little over two at the time - about the same age N is now. (I'm sure N was asleep in a stroller at the time.)

Stacy's great uncle, Uncle Mike lives in a retirement community in Chino Hills. We used to visit him every so often when he lived in Cerritos, but since he's moved to Chino Hills, which is much further away, we haven't had the chance to get out there and see him. Our return from Big Bear was a rare opportunity, so we took it on the spur of moment. We tried to call ahead and let him know we were coming, but he was out and we couldn't reach him, so we decided to just try our luck and see if we could catch him anyway. We found the place with no trouble and as soon as we walked in the door of the lobby area we spied him immediately in the wine lounge hanging out with all his lady friends. (If we guys can make it long enough to move into a retirement community, the ratio is SOOOO in our favor!)

Rather than being put out at the interruption of his sweet talking, Uncle Mike was thrilled to see us. He showed us his digs which were significantly larger and nicer than our house (again, another motivation to make it to a ripe old age!), and introduced us to all the staff in the place. He was thrilled to have folks to show off to all his friends and hauled us briskly all over the facility.

You never know exactly how older people will handle really young kids, but Uncle Mike took to both L and N, and they to him, quite easily. N was in hog heaven there. Every little old lady was all over him, cooing to him and pinching his cheek. We had dinner with Uncle Mike in the residence restaurant and at least three times I had to get up from the table with N so he could go over across the room and give hugs to the little old ladies who had been flirting with him throughout the meal. ("Daddy, go see ladies!" I wonder if Uncle Mike started to feel threatened.)

As the evening went on Uncle Mike chatted our ears off with stories of the air force and California generations ago, reminiscences pulled from vaults far older than the ones from which we drew the L video. It was fun to hear the stories which are still so vivid to him, though so long behind him, and wonder how the passing of the years had modified the telling. He kept fawning on the kids, but in the end it was the frazzled kids (who needed a long car ride to put them to sleep) who drove us to leave. It was good to see him since it obviously made his day, and we had that funny knot in our stomachs knowing how unlikely it would be for us to get out there again any time soon.