San Diego Days 3 & 4

So after the big surprise birthday party for Ryan (thanks again, everyone!), we went to visit our friend Tom's parents (Fred & Mary Lee) before going back to Tom, Dawn, Robbie & Finny's for some Hawaiian barbecue! Then the next morning we headed up the hill to Rancho Cucamonga so we could see...

Ry's godmother Kathy & our friend Jackie!!! They were both working at the office (my old office) so hung out with them there and had lunch together. Ry immediately bonded with Kathy on the floor of the office with his newly inherited Thomas the Train set(s) from Robbie & Finny.

Mr. Vain also kept asking to see pictures of himself on Kathy's computer!

After we sadly left Kathy & Jackie, we drove over to Redlands so we could visit with our good friends Shant, Debbie, Alyssa & Tyler. Alyssa (to whom Ryan is currently betrothed) let Ryan play with a necklace for the first time...and dare I say he wears it well?! As Uncle Joey likes to say, pretty people like pretty things! ;-)

Mr. Smiley loved spending the night at Alyssa & Tyler's house, because like Robbie & Finny, they had plenty of toys and companionship to share!!!

The next morning, after we left Shant & Debbie's I went to see more of my old coworkers in Redlands- SO nice getting to see all of them! I stay in close touch with a number of them...best job I ever had!

Right after we left Redlands we drove back down to Lake Elsinore so we could visit Rich's "little brother" Chase! Rich dropped me off at the Elsinore outlets for a few hours so I could get a few things (Ry scored some Elmo glasses, camouflage shorts, Thomas the Train underwear, and two pairs of uber cool slippers) and so he could have a little one-on-one time with 'the boys!'

While I was shopping the boys went to grab some lunch (Ry immediately held Chase's hand...he must have really liked him!).

And then they all picked me up at the outlet mall so we could go back to Chase's house where he put on a light show (with techno music) in his garage for us...check out Ryan's HUGE grin. He loved it! It was so nice to see Chase looking so good, doing so well, and taking up such an awesome hobby.

After we left Chase's house, we drove back to San Diego to spend our last evening in town with Rich's brother's family grubbing on Chipotle!

Here's Ryan with "Uncle Zach!"

And Ryan with his Uncle Dave (we've already given him enough grief for this coquettish, girlish pose!) & Aunt Cathy...

Ryan loved spending time with his cousins, so he's going to be super stoked to see his cousin JP in Kona for two full weeks in June!

Whew. Ryan spent our last, exhausting night in San Diego crashed out on Uncle Dave's couch...with Mickey watching over him. Rich and I were pretty tired after four days of non-stop driving and visiting, but we wouldn't have had it any other way. We had SO much fun seeing everyone and only wished we had more so we could have visited even more people! Thankfully, we'll be back in December of 2011, and we've learned our lesson- schedule more time in California! Ms. Manic already has plenty of ideas of how to have fun with everyone while we're there (we're coming for Rich's stepmother's 70th!)...a quick jaunt to Vegas (Ryan will LOVE the lights of the Strip!), perhaps a 3-4 day cruise down to Mexico (Ryan will LOVE the boat!), definitely some Disneytime (Ryan hails from a long line of Disneyphiles on his father's side), and hopefully some Legoland (that comes from my side of the family!) and for me- a trip to Medieval Times!