Ali, Andrew, Isla, & Isaac: 90 Years!

My Grandpa turned just turned 90! To celebrate this impressive feat we (his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren) all met in Gualala (Southern Mendicino) for a weekend celebration.
This is one of those posts where I would love to write a detailed essay about how wonderful my Grandpa is (I really do have THE BEST Grandparents), but in the interest of getting caught up and knowing that I can't really do it justice, I'm not going to do that right now. I did make some pages for his memory book that expressed my love and appreciation for the awesome guy I am lucky enough to call Grandpa Bill! (Isla and Ike did too...there pages were so cute!)

Going to Gualala involved driving approximately 12 hours twice in a 3 day period. We left SD at 7:30 on Friday and arrived at 7:30PM. The kids did very well thanks to videos, snacks and well timed breaks. I actually sort of like car rides as long as Ike isn't crying. The weekend before we drove up to LB to visit Andrew's grandparents (another really special experience) and Ike had a huge crying fit on the way home that sent him into the worst asthma attack he has ever had. I was dreading a repeat, but thankfully it didn't happen. We left for home at 3:40am early Monday morning because we needed to get back in time for Isla's last dance class before her recital. This turned out to be very successful and we actually got in by 2:30pm. Even though it was short, it was one of those magical trips that felt much longer.

We stayed at a little group of cabins built on a small cliff jutting into the ocean. It was a stunning location and the weather was beautiful. Isla loved the cabins and learned the numbers for all of them and spent the whole weekend running off to visit "Cabin #2" (Granma and Grandpa's cabin.)

As soon as we arrived we went to my Grandpa's cabin for dinner and then visited. The kids got to bed really late. The next morning my parents came to our cabin and made breakfast and then watched the kids while Andrew and I visited the cliff side hot tub. We had lunch at my Grandpa's cabin and I got to catch up with my cousins (interestingly the are both in the Greek system - It is amazing... the walls I broke down for the younger generation of my family! Haha!). In the afternoon we went to the beach and the kids had a blast playing in the sand. Isla also took a million pictures and adopted some sea weed doggies. Ike ate and threw sand and both kids got soaking wet.

That evening we had our grand celebration at St. Orres in. A big dinner and dessert with lots of drinks and laughter. The kids were very good throughout the dinner. Ike ate bread and a lot of cookies and tomatoes and Isla had crab cakes and huckleberry waffles and a Shirley Temple. After dinner we went back and visited and the kids got to bed late again. Ike was not doing great at this point -he was fighting a sinus infection, some asthma and an infected two, so we started his medicine and he was much happier by our drive home.

On Sunday we met at cliff house and had a Father's Day breakfast. Isla and I made canned "FATHER - Food Alternative Torrified Health And Energy Rations" for Andrew and Grandpa (Chocolate bark with chopped mocha almonds, coffee beans, and white chocolate and butterscotch drizzled on top. - I came up with the recipe (and acronym) myself and it was pretty delish!) We have been eating pineapple like it is going out of style for the past few weeks to save cans for these gifts and Isla's teacher gifts. (If you open the pop top from the bottom you can fill and reseal it with hot glue and it looks like an unopened pop top can.)

After that Andrew and I hiked out to some rocks while we could during low tide and then after Ike's nap we went to "The Property," my grandparent's camping property in the forest and had pizza and roasted marshmellows. The kids were in heaven running around in the woods and playing "drums" on log tables.

After packing the car Andrew went to bed early and I stayed up and visited with my family. It was short, but very very sweet!