The day before.....

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6:11 am (PCT) - Saturday - October 7th - 63º F, humidity 21%, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.....it will be sunny, and it will be hot.....forecast high for Saturday is 98º F.......yikes!

I was up relatively early, and TLE was not far behind.....we had a busy morning with many things to be accomplished.  I asked the front desk for, and received a late check out time of 1 pm.  We were in our rental Toyota Corolla by 9 am heading into Rancho Cucamonga to see our son, Chris, and his daughter, Cynthia, at his insurance office, and to pick up some mail.....the renewal license tags for the Newell and a new plastic door shelf for our Dometic refrigerator.  Thankfully, both items had arrived via the USPS within the past few days!

From there we headed over to one of our favorite Goodwill stores just a few blocks away where TLE managed to find a couple of pair of khaki pants which she will need for our next job at the Delaware North General Store at the Grand Canyon.....I am still looking.  From the Goodwill we made our way over to the local Rite Aid drug store to pick up some more cigars for me, and a few other necessaries, including a new curling iron for TLE.

Next up was a visit to the local Men's Warehouse to buy a new white, long sleeve dress shirt.  I found exactly the shirt I wanted, with the collar style I like, in the correct neck size on the 50% off rack......that never, ever happens to me.  Within minutes TLE found a new tie that would go with her dress and after transferring about $90 to Men's Warehouse we were on our way to COSTCO to pick up a couple of things and then we were on our way back to Riverside shortly after 12 pm.  We retrieved our luggage from our Marriott room, and checked out just before 1 pm......

In my 'sweet' spot at Simple Simon's

.....next up was lunch at one of our favorite local bistros.....Simple Simon's (still 4 stars on Yelp on almost 900 reviews!).  I had a chicken caesar salad, and TLE had a fruit plate.....we sat outside in the shade enjoying the still coolish air.  I had called the Mission Inn earlier to see if our room would be ready earlier than the normal 4 pm check in time, and was told to check with the front desk about 2 pm to see if the room was ready.  By the time we finished lunch it was about 1:45 so we walked across the street to accomplish the final pre-wedding task.....get a new battery in my gold Seiko dress watch.  By the time the new battery was installed it was just after 2 pm so we walked across the street to the Mission Inn to check on our room status.....it was ready!  We retrieved our key, walked back to the parking structure to retrieve our car, left it with the Valet service, and then went up to our third floor room where we will be living for the next two days.

From this point on things got really hectic.....we (those in the wedding party) were all to meet in the lobby at 2:30 and then be escorted to the chapel for the wedding rehearsal which was to begin at 3pm, then retreat to our rooms around 4:15 to dress for the rehearsal dinner which was scheduled to begin at 5:30......

.....there is a chapel in the Mission Inn where the intimate wedding will be held, and this is my first time seeing it......it is spectacular.....

 The wedding party

........the rehearsal dinner was in one of the Mission Inn restaurants called Bella Trattoria where we dined alfresco.........

......my sister, Hilary, had just arrived shortly before the dinner so she joined us.......of course a picture of two of our youngest grand children (Jolene and Brayden), and our first great grand child (Daniel) was in order.......

Left to right: Nick with Jolene, Sharon with Brayden, and Cynthia with Daniel......makes me happy!

Each male member of the wedding party received a very nice gift......

.....a flask with our first initial engraved upon it, a cigar cutter, and a cigar holder with a cigar inside.......very, very nice, and very, very unexpected.

Any gathering involving Laila's family and ours is quite noisy and raucous.....I wouldn't have it any other way!  By 7:30 the party was beginning to break up so we headed back to our room where we changed into more comfortable clothing and began to watch my Dodgers play the Diamondbacks in game one of their best of five series.....the Dodgers prevailed 9-5.

Now on to the wedding day festivities......by 5:30, or 6 pm I will have a new daughter.......so, "...the day before" festivities are in the books.......

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.