Trip to NorCal

I was MIA last week because Hunter and I went up to NorCal to visit my family while Sam was in Mammoth for a convention and San Diego for a bachelor party.

Our family is incredibly tight-knit and I'm lucky to have a close relationship with my parents and grandparents as well as my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Last week, Dad and I were supposed to go skiing, but the weather has been so warm the Sierra Nevada mountains are struggling to keep their ski lifts open. We decided to stay in Lamorinda and conduct Spring Training for the softball team I've joined. I also figured out that Mom and Dad have wireless internet, which made working from their house so much easier! I also showed them the magic of FaceTime with Carina and I think they enjoyed that, too.

I spent last Wednesday with my grandparents fixing a few of their technological issues and sharing book recommendations. We all went out to dinner in San Francisco to my favorite Italian restaurant to celebrate Nonna's birthday (which was yesterday).

It's times like these that I'm sad we don't live in closer proximity to our families, although, I realize that would require even more juggling of time and priorities than we have to do now. One thing is for sure, if we move to the East Coast for Sam's fellowship year I will definitely miss being able to drive 'home' to visit my amazing family.

The Happiest Place on Earth

My cousin Ali's birthday was January 8, and she wanted to celebrate with a day at Disneyland on the Saturday after her birthday. Her brother and his girlfriend were going to fly down from Santa Clara, and Ali asked me if I wanted to join them. Obviously, I said yes, and Sam and offered to let them stay with us for the weekend vacation rather than get a hotel.

I hadn't been to Disneyland in several years - I think my last visit was in December 2011 with my friend Michelle who was here from Texas. Consequently, several rides had undergone renovations since I'd been on them, and I can honestly say they were all better than before.

Big Thunder Mountain railroad is my all-time favorite ride. It's followed very closely by Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Within the last year, Big Thunder Mountain has undergone a complete refresh including replaced track, added visual and audio components and overall a higher degree of sensory overload. I don't think there was much of the structure of the ride that was actually changed, but there were significantly (in my opinion) more animatronic decorative aspects to view. In fact, in watching the video below, I realized there were a few things I missed or didn't fully appreciate during the ride.

Space Mountain is always great. The ride broke down briefly just before our Fast Pass time, but we waited for about ten minutes and it opened right up. I would say our total wait time in line was probably less than ten minutes, and most of that was us walking through the ropes to get to the actual line.

The Matterhorn was out of operation this weekend, which was a bit of a bummer. Although, with the wet, drizzly weather, it's unlikely that we'd have enjoyed sitting on damp seats and getting our butts cold and wet.

Pirates of the Caribbean was different from the last time I was on it in that they had toned down much of the movie's influence on the ride. For a while, Davy Jones was projected onto a smoke screen at the very beginning prior to the first drop. I'm very happy to report it's gone and guests are again greeted by the skull and crossbones giving its original message. Bravo to Disney for changing the ride back (mostly) to its original glory.

Ali, Brock and his girlfriend, Gabi, had never seen the Haunted Mansion when it's decorated for The Nightmare Before Christmas. They were really into the attention to detail and the great care taken by the imagineers to completely overhaul the ride. I told them we're lucky they could see it because the decorations go up in September and come down in January, taking the ride offline for several weeks each time.

One ride I was really impressed by was Radiator Springs Racers. Talk about some really talented design and engineering. Apparently the wait time for the ride can exceed four hours, but when we arrived it was just over 60 minutes and we opted to go in the Single Rider line which was less than a ten minute wait. Score! For those of you, like me, who haven't been on it yet, enjoy this awesome video:

The ride I disliked the most was California Screamin' and let me tell you, we rode it enough times for me to be sure. The first time, it was raining and the water was literally pelting me in the face. Ugh. The second time, the forces against my body caused my head to hurt and my stomach to become unsettled. The third time, I opted out and let the kids go instead. I have no interest in riding that again, certainly not when I'm feeling headache coming on from the outset.

We also rode the Tower of Terror, which I enjoyed more than I did the last time I was on it. Now, that's not really saying much because last time I refused to ride it more than once. This time, I was a little more prepared for the general plan, but still, it wasn't my cup of tea. I don't like being so disoriented with the pitch black and the falling, rising and quickly falling again. It really unsettles my stomach.

All in all, it was a great weekend trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, especially given that the weather was a little less than ideal and that kept the lines shorter than they could have been. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and Ali said it was a great way to spend her birthday.

Christmas Eve Conundrum

Sam mentioned that he wanted to spend Christmas Eve with my parents since we'll be in Northern California over the holidays this year.

Obviously, I was thrilled by the thought of spending time with my family at the holidays.

Then Sam started getting concerned about the repercussions of spending the holidays with my family when it's our year to spend Christmas with Sam's side of the family.  And we'll have just spent Thanksgiving with my family in Irvine.

So far, my parents haven't said a word about me missing Christmas Day to be with the Galle family.  They have been really supportive of us making our plans and even told my mom's side of the family that unfortunately I won't be able to get together on Christmas Day despite that being the only definite day my cousin has off work.  My mom said she does hope to spend one day celebrating with us, but it doesn't matter to her which day that is.

Objectively, I don't think it's too terrible of us to split our time a little bit between the families since our parents still live just about 10 minutes apart.  I know if we were spending Christmas with my family in Moraga, I would want to make sure we saw Sam's family on Christmas Eve and I'm sure my parents would understand.

I guess we'll have to ride this out a little bit and see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

Our Officiant is Official!

One of the biggest things stressing me out about wedding planning was that we hadn't found an officiant.

Thankfully that ended on Tuesday night at Starbucks in San Juan Capistrano!

Sam had found a couple of additional officiants for us to interview on The Knot and Tom was quick to respond and easy to set up an appointment with.

We were really impressed with how professional Tom looked and how he carried himself.  He was pretty much exactly what we were looking for!

Tom's an elementary school principal, but he has been doing weddings on the side for 6 years starting when his cousin asked him to perform their ceremony on a family vacation in Mexico.  Tom pursued a career in marriage and family therapy before he went into education, which was an unexpected bonus because he definitely gave us a little mini counseling session and didn't seem preachy or judgmental.

He also shared a lot about his own family and assured us that it's totally normal for couples to struggle setting boundaries with parents and in-laws as they enter into marriage.  He told us that from his own personal experience he cannot impress upon us enough the importance of setting boundaries with our parents and families from the very beginning of our married life.

He reinforced the crappy truth that people's feelings are going to get hurt by us setting boundaries whether we do it now or we do it when we have our own kids.  He said there was so much unnecessary drama with his parents based on his own inability to set boundaries with them and it really hurt his wife and his relationship with his parents.

That totally hit home for Sam and I, because we have two AMAZING families that would love to spend every second with us.  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to master the fine art of being in two places at once, so we're trying to split our holidays and time between our families.

If it were just a matter of our parents and siblings, that would be less difficult, but we have three extended families to fit in as well.  Sam's mom's side of the family spends almost every holiday all together, which is a bit daunting for me because I worry about the expectations they will have for Sam and I.  My parents split holidays between my mom's family (grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) and my dad's family (grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins).  We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with one side, Christmas Day and Easter with the other, and split up Mother's Day and Father's Day.

I think my family is prepared to have Sam and I MIA at family functions and holiday events now that they have to share me (more formally) with the Galles.  It's tough for me though, because I realize that I'm going to miss out on a lot.  We'll only be spending 50% of the holidays with my side of our family.  Of that 50%, probably 33% will be with the Santis, 33% with the Hunters and 33% with just my immediate family.

I am really, really excited about getting married, and I'm sure Sam and I are lucky to have been working on this whole family integration thing over the last 10+ years.  I just wish it was easier.

49er Faithful Headed 'Home'

Tonight, Sam and I are flying up to San Francisco to spend what we hope will be a beautiful fall weekend in Northern California.  It will be our first trip home since we got engaged in August, and the first time I've seen my Dad and sister, Carina.  As you can imagine, I am really looking forward to being back in my hometown.  

While we're home, we're going to be celebrating Carina passing her nursing examination and being able to look for a job.  She is the first nurse in our family, so obviously we're all overjoyed and incredibly proud of her.  In fact, she's been home since last weekend so Sam and I will be a bit late to her party, but it will be really good to spend time as a family all the same.

While Carina's accomplishment deserves a good deal of attention, we originally planned this vacation so that we could make it home for the 49er game on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.  

Since it's the last season at Candlestick, Sam and I are making an effort to make it up for as many games as we can - which is looking like two so far.  Unfortunately, we're pretty limited in nights that the flight schedule and game schedule line up for us.  

Focusing on the positives, though, we're bringing Jackie and Joe to the game.  I am really excited to see them both and get to share something that means so much to me with a couple that Sam and I are looking forward to sharing lots of future milestones with.  Plus, Carina and Jackie will get a chance to meet again and hopefully bond a little bit over my bachelorette party planning.  Dad is awesome and he's going to sit with the McHones so that Mom, Carina, Sam, Jackie, Joe and I can sit in Papa's seats.  

It will also be really fun to see the whole Tailgate Crew.  Sam has been getting ribbed for years about not proposing to me, so I'm excited to show off my beautiful engagement ring and let him get all the credit.  

In addition to the McHones and Tailgate Crew, we'll get to see Matt, Kelly and Mike Ward along with Chris and Whitney (I hope).  That will be really fun because in addition to celebrating our engagement, Whit and Matt announced that they're expecting their first baby in April 2014 - so we have a LOT to be cheerful and excited about.  I am planning on bringing a couple bottles of champagne to pop in the parking lot. 

View from Papa's seats Jan 12, 2013 (San Francisco v. Green Bay)

Celniker Family Time

Sam's family is coming into town this weekend for Pete & Margaux's wedding.  Everyone will be in LA - George from Texas, Dan from Washington DC, and the rest of the family from NorCal.  It's going to be really fun!

It's also our first time seeing the whole family since we got engaged, so that's going to be really fun too!  Actually, it's going to be the fist time I've seen Sam's parents since he proposed too.  I'm definitely excited to see everyone!

Actually, we'll get to meet the New York cousins for the first time too.  We're going to dinner at Red O with them on Saturday night while Pete has his bachelor party and Margaux relaxes with Ingrid and her girlfriends.  

I think after dinner, the plan is for the cousins to go out for a drink to celebrate Sam and my engagement.  We'll see how that goes... it will probably depend on what time we all get to leave dinner.  But regardless, it will be really good to see the cousins.  Dan is coming into town on Friday and the word on the street is that he'll be staying with us Friday night before heading up to LA to stay in the hotel with the rest of the family.

Unfortunately, Sam and I aren't staying up in LA... he is on call on Sunday so he has to be in Orange County so there's no benefit to us staying up there.  Also, we won't have to pay for Hunter to be here with our dog sitter if we're home with him.  We will still have her come and walk him about midway through the time we'll be gone on Saturday and Sunday, but that's significantly cheaper than having her stay overnight.  

Anyway, it will be really good to spend time with the whole Celniker side of the family... the Galles, Burkharts and Celnikers!

Papa Santi Turns 80

Yesterday my grandpa threw himself an 80th birthday part at my parent's house.  Sam, my sister and I flew in from our respective places of residence, Ali and her boyfriend came up from Santa Barbara and Mark, Lori and Brock came over from Hawaii.  It was quite an event.  Papa invited 60 people and we think we had about 55 attend.  

He hired a team to cook (in GIANT propane powered pots) lobster, veggies, potatoes, and garlic.  It was our own private lobsterfest.  They rolled parchment paper out on these long tables and then dumped the food out on the middle of the tables and everyone pretty much sat down and ate with their hands.  It was pretty fun- except of course that some of us don't eat lobster so much.  Which was a real treat for those of us who DO eat lobster.  :-)  Sam ate my tail and one of my claws while I stuck to the corn and shrimp.  He also was a HUGE help manning the bar with Carina.  They were fantastic!

I took a TON of photos with Papa's camera- hopefully they will turn out well.  Hopefully Nonna and Papa will remember to have a disk made for me when they have the photos printed.

It was good to see Ali and Brock- I loved catching up with them!  Mark and Lori were fun too, and I al so glad they all came over around 2:30 so that we could spend some time with just the family before the guests arrived.  We broke in the bar and had a couple beers to take the edge off while playing some friendly family ping-pong matches.  Ali's boyfriend, Peter, ripped his jeans open at the crotch which was HILARIOUS and he ended up borrowing a pair of Dad's shorts so that he was decent for the party.

Once the party was in full-swing there were SO many people I didn't have as much time to hang out with them.  C'est la vie.  I hope that we're going to be able to hang out with them soon.  I'm sure we'll see Peter and Ali since they only live 2 1/2 hours from us by car and should be able to come down and visit one weekend before Peter graduates in December. 

One of my favorite photos of the afternoon was the one of Sam, Carina and I in our bibs (provided by the lobster company) to try to keep our clothes clean.  They reminded me of the "I <3 Pasta" bibs Nonna used to have for us at the holidays.  

Along with the family, it was wonderful to see so many old friends.  I really enjoyed spending time with the Cantys, Geoghegans and Williams- Maria and Pat especially.  They are such amazing people and have always treated me like a part of their family.  Gosh they are just the best.  

Like Carina said last night after everyone had gone home and it was just us five, we are incredibly lucky to have been dealt the hand we were given.  We have a great family and great friends. 

Father's Day Plans

Sam and I are headed up to Northern California this weekend.  We were originally going to attend our 10-year high school reunion, which I am co-planning with another of my classmates, but Sam got tickets to see Dispatch with his parents and Sam's cousin planned herself a graduation party.

Now I'll be attending our reunion solo- oh goody.  I am so thankful that I have a couple of good friends who will be there because I am a little bit intimidated at the idea of going alone!

I probably shouldn't complain though, because Hunter will be here with our dog sitter, Linzy.  And I know that he'd prefer to be with us.

Along with our reunion, I am really excited to see my parents and spend some family time with them.  On Father's Day my parents and grandparents are coming into the city, Sam and I are staying in San Francisco at my grandparent's timeshare at the Donatello.  We're going to brunch to celebrate Father's Day.  I love my Daddy, he's definitely been very influential in making me the woman I am today and I am incredibly thankful.

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

This was one of the best weekends in a long time.  Sam had the entire holiday weekend off!  We spent all three days together as a family- Sam, Hunter and I.  And lots of friends.  It was perfect.  I am very thankful for all that I have and all those who have given their lives so that I am able to lead the life I live.

At The Olde Ship

Friday I went into work early so that I could get out and to the lab for my last blood draw.  Of course I got a nasty bruise which makes me think that I'm not doing very well following the "reduce bruising techniques" that Kaiser has provided me.  Oh well- the point is that I am back down into the normal range of WBC!

Armed with that news, we spent a quiet night at home on the couch just the three of us.  Both Sam and I were pretty exhausted from long weeks and he hadn't taken a day off in 3 full weeks. 

Saturday morning I woke up with Sam snuggled on my left side and Hunter snuggled on my right side. It was fantastic.  We had a lazy morning and met up with Nate who came down from Santa Monica to spend hang out.  We went up to The Olde Ship to watch some European Soccer and then took Hunter down to Newport Harbor to go paddle boarding for the first time.  It was a blast!  He did pretty damn well and I think we'll do it again.  The sweetest thing was when Hunter leapt off the front of Nate's board and swam to mine.  So cute.  He also jumped from Sam's to mine.  It made me feel so loved.  Eventually the boys got up but I slept until 9:30 and felt more refreshed than I had in days.  

Saturday night we hosted a BBQ for our friends.  Jenners, Aaron, Nick, Amy, Nate, Jen and Ryan came over.  We made salmon, ahi and halibut along with a bunch of grilled veggies and Amy brought appetizers and salad.  It was great.  We went to the hot tub after dinner and relaxed and vegged out.  It was so fun and laid back and one of the greatest evenings I've had in a long time.  No stress, just great people and great food and not a care in the world. 

At The Vortex in Manhattan Beach

Sunday morning we went over to Brugglers Bagels and picked up a dozen bagels for breakfast.  We ate, packed up our stuff and headed up to Santa Monica to check out Nate and Jazzy's place.  After we got settled in, we drove down to Manhattan Beach to meet up with some of Nate's buddies from dental school and participate in a big Memorial Day Block Party BBQ on 35th Street on the block called The Vortex.  

It was quite an experience.  There were tons of dogs around so Hunter was in good company.  He made lots of friends- what a freakin' adorable puppy we have!  So we had a great time eating, playing some games and hanging out.  Eventually, Carrie came and picked Sam and I up and saved our asses by taking us back to Santa Monica where we changed clothes and then picked up some food.  Just about the time we got back to Manhattan Beach, Nate was ready to go back to his place so Sam got us a ride using Uber (which is so freaking awesome).  

Sleeping in a strange place with Hunter is always tough the first night.  So needless to say, we didn't sleep so well last night.  We got up, had some more bagels for breakfast, and took a long walk through the beautiful Santa Monica neighborhoods.  

Then we dropped Nate off at his car in Manhattan Beach and headed home to shower and clean up.  Oh my God, the shower felt so freaking amazing.  We started some laundry and got things situated around the house before we headed over to Nick's place for a little more fun.  Ryan and Jen and Arya were there along with Nick's roommate and his girlfriend.  

5th Street in Santa Monica

Sam and I wanted to go down to Laguna for dinner and Nick and Amy were going to join us, but they backed out at the last minute.  Then, Sam decided he would like to hit up Bandera in Corona del Mar instead of going all the way down to Laguna Beach.  It was really nice.  We had mojitos (which I had been craving) and salad and salmon and their amazing jalapeño corn bread.  

After we got home we continued to do more laundry and decided to watch a Memorial Day movie... Black Hawk Down.  It's amazing how much respect I have for the men and women who fight wars for us.  I am so thankful for the land of the free and the home of the brave.  I am thankful for the people who have given their lives willingly so that I can live in a democratic country and support my family.  I am so lucky.  Part of that may be due to my family and where I was born but it's also due to the fact that we have people are willing protect those "rights".