Weekend With the Kids

Thursday evening we went to LAX to pick up Missy and Cliff (Missy's boyfriend) as they arrived from Texas. I had seen them just a month before but Joyce had not seen Missy in about a year and a half. Cliff had never been to California before and enjoyed the palm trees lining the street. We gave him a quick introduction to the benefits of California living by taking them immediately to In 'N Out for a hamburger, fries and drink. We then all stayed at Mike and Sam's apartment that night.

The next morning Matt met us at Disneyland. Cliff, Missy, Joyce, Titus and Courage and I enjoyed the park. We were thankful that one of Samantha's Biola friends was able to get three free passes so we only had to pay for two of us to get in. We spent most of the morning and afternoon at the Magic Kingdom and the evening in the California Adventure. Mike and Samantha joined us for dinner and took back the kids for a rest. I think Titus' favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride because he got to shoot lasers at the aliens. We went on it twice and he would have been happy to ride it all day. Courage enjoyed that ride too. Of course Joyce enjoyed the fast rides and roller coasters. It was extra fun to be able to experience Disneyland with little ones again. It was also great to have all three kids and their families all together with us for the first time since Michael and Samantha's wedding in January 2006.

That evening we all drove down to Matt and Kristin's place in San Diego. On Saturday morning we had our "family Christmas" and gift exchange. Joyce made marshmallow launchers for everyone so there was a pretty good marshmallow gunfight. Titus got a complete knight's outfit with a plastic sword and helmet. That afternoon we went to Yokozunes Restaurant in Chula Vista for Chammorro food and then did some touristy stuff. We enjoyed the Seaport Village by doing some shopping, playing with the parrots and getting balloon animals for the kids. After that we went over to Ocean Beach and took a walk on the longest pier in California. There was an incredible full moon and gorgeous sunset for us to enjoy.

Sunday we went to church with Matt and Kristin at Crosschurch, a new church plant where Matt plays guitar and drums for the worship team. we enjoyed the service and getting to meet the people Matt and Kristin fellowship with. After church we loaded up with platters from Chili's (thank you Cliff) and watched the Steelers-Chargers game. Cliff and Missy are gung-ho Steelers fans and even wore their jersies to church - they were booed in church (good-naturedly of course) and at Chili's. Hey, we were in San Diego. Titus wore a Chargers jersey for the game, but cheered for the Steelers. After the game we had our traditional Owen family Mexican Train dominoes game, which, as always, Joyce won.

Monday we drove back up to LA and dropped Missy and Cliff off at LAX for their return trip to Dallas. We were sad to have to all take leave of each other but we were thankful for being able to have such a good visit. We have one more night with the grand-kids and then we will head back to Guam tomorrow. It has been a great vacation!