The day after.....

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6:48 AM (PCT) - Monday - October 9th - 66º F, 34% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the north.....forecast high for Ontario, CA today is 86º F, and in Livingston, MT where we will end our day it will be 55º F (30º F right now).

We awoke the morning after the wedding to light streaming in our bedroom window......all the wedding plans had gone off without a hitch, and at the end of the night the bride and groom were quite happy and amazingly relaxed....... 

Our kids left to right:  Kate, Chris, Laila (newest addition to our family), Tim, Sharon and Meredith......our family keeps getting bigger!

......I ordered another large pot of coffee from 'room service'.....it was there within 3 minutes of me hanging up the phone......I guess that would be the least one might expect for $14.95, no?

Our daughter, Kate, had arranged to host a Sunday brunch at her home in Ontario (used to be our home) at 11 am, and we had one errand to run prior to that so we were in our car heading south to the local Trader Joe's by 10 am.   We arrived at Kate and Nick's home just before 11 am, and within 20 minutes the house was full of the sound of many friends and relatives.  It remained that way until close to 2 pm when one by one we began to say our 'until next times'........by mid afternoon it was just us, Kate, Nick and the kids.....time for a nap!

One of the downsides to our nomadic lifestyle is that we miss a lot of face time with our grand kids.  Sure, we see them on Instagram almost every day, but they don't see us, and whenever we are in town we go through that 'who are these strangers wanting to hug and kiss us?' thing for about a day each time.  Well, Sunday was the payoff when I was able to spend a lot of time holding Brayden (Sharon's son) and Jolene (Kate's daughter)......we have resolved to talk with each of them at least once a week via 'Facetime' on TLE's iPhone, so they won't forget who we are and what we look like this time.

As I sit here (Monday) at the dining room table  composing my latest missive I look around and see that our former home is now our daughter and son-in-law's home.....it looks nothing like our home did.....they have made it their own.  Our home now has wheels, and it awaits our return later today.  It is always a little bittersweet when we must once again bid adieu to our children and their families.  My heart is warmed with the knowledge that my kids are doing well.....they are raising amazing children, and are leaving their mark upon this world.  They all get along so well, and that is all we might ask, right?  They are each other's best friends, and that, in the end has always been our 'end game' with our children.

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The day of.....

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7:16 am (PCT) - Sunday - October 8th - 57º F, humidity 42%, wind  - CALM......clear blue skies.....forecast high for Riverside this day is DOWN to 87º F......an 11 degree decline over yesterday's actual high.....thank goodness!  We received news just a few hours ago that TLE's oldest brother, Read, had just passed after 15 months battling cancer.....he was a good man, and a friend to all.....he will be sorely missed.....RIP Read.....you are in a better place!

Saturday morning began with Room Service delivering a large pot of actually very good coffee to our room accompanied by a bagel and cream cheese.......isn't Room Service wonderful?  You must pick up the phone and wonderful things appear at your door!

TLE left for a mani/pedi around 9:15 am leaving me to watch some college football and take at least one nap.  When she returned around noon we walked downstairs to the Las Campanas Mexican restaurant on the ground floor.  They offer alfresco dining, so that is what we chose......of course......

.....we ordered one bowl of Ceviche de Camarones to share, and one large margarita to share.....

......all too soon our lunch was over and it was time for the first round of wedding day festivities......endless pictures of the wedding party in every imaginable pose......

.....the Mission Inn is an amazing place with so many unique venues......below is the exterior of the 'chapel' where Tim and Laila exchanged vows.....

Front row with TLE and my sister, Jill

Philip, my youngest brother, and his wife Jeannie.....my sister, Hilary, took this picture

And here comes the bride!

The KISS

Man and wife

After the wedding with TLE, Tim,  and Jill

The first dance.....Mr. and Mrs. Hockwald

 In the ballroom with Hilary, her daughter, Stephanie and TLE

.........we had a wonderful evening of good food, good company, and a lot of dancing......by 10 pm TLE and I called it an evening....I'm sure the festivities went on until the wee hours.  

So, our baby boy is married and has begun the rest of his life with an amazing woman who we are both proud to call 'daughter'.  It has been a whirlwind of activity since we landed at John Wayne International just a few days ago, and we are now on the home stretch.  We are both tired, but so happy for the time with family and friends.....our cup runneth over!

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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.......

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Flying south with the geese.......

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7:07 am (PCT) - Riverside, CA - Friday - October 6th - 59º F, humidity 40%, wind 3 mph out of northeast......clear blue skies with a forecast high of 97º F!  Sitting here at the Civic Center Marriott in Riverside, CA composing today's missive.

Our flight out of Billings, MT was at 1:30 pm so since we had a 120 mile drive to the airport we left a little after 9 am to be sure that even if 'Murhpy's Law' attempted to intervene we might have time to recover from his efforts.  Trying to figure out what to wear for a flight which originates in, what seems to be, the polar regions, and terminates in SoCal where it was forecast to be in the 90's is challenging.  I opted to wear my cargo shorts, long sleeve Under Armor shirt, socks, shoes, and a flannel shirt.  I added a short sleeve t-shirt to my carry on bag to change into when we hit SoCal.

We arrived at Logan International Airport, unscathed by Mr. Murphy, around 11:15 which gave us over two hours until our flight departed......perfect.  By the time we checked in, got our boarding passes, and passed through the TSA security station it was closing in on noon so we both purchased salads for lunch.  Soon we were hearing the call to begin boarding our flight south to Denver, CO and shortly after that we were hurtling southward at 30,000+ feet.  Our scheduled landing time in Denver was about 2:40 pm, and our connecting flight to John Wayne International Airport in SoCal began boarding around 3:15, so we had, as they say, a tight connection.  The United Airlines flight attendants knew there were about 20 folks on our flight (including ourselves) with very tight connections so upon landing they requested that we all be allowed to deplane first......very, very nice.  We had to essentially cover about one half of the entire concourse to get to gate B49, but we made it with a few minutes to spare, even with a quick bathroom stop along the way.......

Waiting in the 'Group 5' economy lane to board our second flight of the day....I've already shed my flannel shirt

........we arrived in time to get in boarding 'Group 5', and within minutes we were on board for second leg of our journey to SoCal.  This flight had TV screens for DirecTV, so I paid my $5.99 to watch the Boston Red Sox play the Houston Astros in the first game of their 'Best of 5' series.......

.......between that and keeping up with social media on my Samsung Note 5 phone the time passed quickly.  We actually arrived at John Wayne International about 20 minutes early (4:45 pm).  Of course, for anyone who is familiar with SoCal knows that this is right in the middle of the afternoon 'Rush Hour', so we were not optimistic about how long it would take us to drive up to our son's home in Ontario, CA.  Nonetheless, whilst I retrieved our luggage TLE secured our reserved rental car from the Alamo desk, then returned to wait with me for the tardy luggage to arrived at baggage claim #4.  After about 35 minutes it came down the conveyor belt, and we were off......we were merging on to the Newport Freeway (55) about 5:30 pm in bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic.  We estimated it would take us 2 hours to cover the 40+ miles to Ontario.......it's nice to be wrong about something like this once and a while.  Even with the terrible rush hour traffic we managed to arrived at my son's home in one hour and 20 minutes......not too bad!

Tim and Laila (Tim's fiance) graciously hosted a dinner for us with my daughter, Kate, and her family (Nick, Charlie and Jolene), who live in the same neighborhood.  What a wonderful time we had.....many, many hugs were exchanged.......

.......by 9 pm TLE and I were 'toast' from a long day of traveling so we bid adieu to our kids and headed out to Riverside (about 13 miles away) to check into the Marriott for the night.  We were in our room by 9:30 relaxing and thinking about all the fun we will have the next few days......caught this great view of the morning moon over Mt. Rubidoux this morning.....

....so that was our Thursday......time to get dressed and live Friday!

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