Part One Here! Part Two Here!
(I know it's been almost a month since I've posted! LOL Sorry, I've been
on an amazing family summer vacation that has been full of so many
memorable adventures... So, you will notice, that I will back post so
this stays true to the time frame. Thank you for your patience and for
reading them!)
On, Monday we got up early, we’ll I did. We ate breakfast and Sam went
for a walk while the girls were getting ready. By 10am we were out the
door. We had time because Auntie Terry called saying she had an appointment in the
morning and we could get to her by 12pm. So, we decided to drive Downtown Sonora.
Then, we parked and walked a bit down the main street. I found a Bizarre shop
and while looking around, so did Sam and the girls. But, we had
to go back to the house because we forgot something. He went back up the street with
Sara and got the car. Taby and I kept looking around the shop. I found some
vintage collectors items, like squeak toys, tin toy stoves, and a
ceramic girl. None of which I bought. I did share on IG, and my
friends thought they were wonderful. Oh well. There are a few more
antique shops on that street, I hope to go to later.
We left downtown, made it back to the house, then, on to Merced. But,
we forgot something else and had to go back. The Guyuria cookies, and
Johnny’s Mass booklet for Auntie. We left again and made it to
Terry's house by noon. She was in her house, when she came out after Sam rang
the bell. They hugged long and she teared. She hugged the mass booklet tight. As she motioned for us to sit in the kitchen with her, she was sharing how she missed the family back on Guam and gave her condolences to Sam, saying she will miss her brother dearly.
We talked and talked. By 1pm she offered to go somewhere for us to eat, her treat. We ate at Sizzlers. Oh my gosh, just as we remembered. You see the one we had on Guam closed down a long time ago. We continued to talk more. The before we headed back to her house, we went to the Catholic Church, St. Patrick, that she attends. We went in prayed, and she showed us the gold book that hung on the wall for those who have donated to the church, including her and her husband. We got to her house by 3:30pm. Talked more, took photos. But it was time for us to go. We all cried and hugged her. It was very emotional, and that was the most emotional we had been since Johnny’s passing. The girls were so understanding with Sara only complaining once, that she was bored. We got back to Sonora by 7pm. It was a beautiful visit with Auntie Terry. Next, we make our way to Ceres to visit Collasa’s brother Uncle Pitu.
We talked and talked. By 1pm she offered to go somewhere for us to eat, her treat. We ate at Sizzlers. Oh my gosh, just as we remembered. You see the one we had on Guam closed down a long time ago. We continued to talk more. The before we headed back to her house, we went to the Catholic Church, St. Patrick, that she attends. We went in prayed, and she showed us the gold book that hung on the wall for those who have donated to the church, including her and her husband. We got to her house by 3:30pm. Talked more, took photos. But it was time for us to go. We all cried and hugged her. It was very emotional, and that was the most emotional we had been since Johnny’s passing. The girls were so understanding with Sara only complaining once, that she was bored. We got back to Sonora by 7pm. It was a beautiful visit with Auntie Terry. Next, we make our way to Ceres to visit Collasa’s brother Uncle Pitu.
Taby drove us home, and it was a beautiful sunset from the house. That night we went to Walmart and did a bit of shopping. Look at the toy section, some cute things I saw, and Sara found her favorite character, Bendy!
We
got up somewhat early, ate breakfast and decided we would see some of
the shops in Downtown Sonora again, since we didn't have to be in Ceres til' 4pm. By 9:30am, we were Downtown and parked by one of the shops along the main
street. As I got out of the car, I looked down and there was a drain
just below my door as I got out. I stepped onto the sidewalk, and my finger hit the side
of my purse, loosening my wedding band. Faster then I could stop it, it
rolled down and fell into that same drain! OMG, I literally was like
forget it, it's gone Sam! Taby looked carefully into the drain, and saw it, and said,
there's no water to push it further down Mom, it's fine. So, Sam walked into one shop
to ask if they had a hanger, but the lady was busy and he didn't want to
disturb her as she spoke to another woman. Sam left that shop and
headed down the street to other shops. There he found a guy wiping windows and asked him. He
told Sam he would need to contact City of Sonora so they could send
someone down to help. Sam said, "I just need a hanger or something." Most
of the shops were not open yet. So, finally Sam went back into the
shop that had the busy clerk and waited, then asked, and she said the
same thing, "Let's call the City!". Sure enough after about 15 mins. a city
worker arrived and just as easily as my ring had fallen into the drain,
he had opened it up, scooped my ring out and passed it to me. We were all very thankful and I was so relieved, whew! Talk about an eventful morning! We
proceeded down to the stores we wanted to see, well mostly I did. LOL
The shop above, with the lady that helped us. I was browsing and saw these cute things!
We
went into a Candy store first, lots of interesting candies, there is
even a vault! When inside, they had video playing, "Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory". They even had a framed photo and golden ticket on
display. It was cool! We didn't buy anything and proceeded to the
Antique Store next. Soo many collector items inside!! I literally spent
almost an hour looking. I took lots of photos. Sadly, I didn't buy anything that day, but I did go back for something small.
We
headed to the other side of the street and went into a few more stores.
A yogurt shop, and last a Fashion clothing store for Taby. By 12pm, we
were ready to go. We ended up going back to the house, used the
bathroom and rested a bit. By 2pm we were ready to head out for Ceres.
This time the road on the way was a lot more green with fields of Almond, and Tangerine trees, grape vines, etc. We got to Uncle's house by 4pm.
Auntie Frances saw us from her kitchen window and motioned for us to
come in. We met Uncle Pito at the door, and then Auntie Frances. Uncle Pito welcomed us in, and had us sit at the table, while Auntie Frances started
getting the table set up for us to eat dinner early with them. We talked and what I
learned was that Uncle Pito knew my mother and father. He used to work with her, when she worked
for Headstart at the elementary school back in the day. Then he also shared knowing my
Dad, and that they hung out a lot too as young men. My dad took him to
our family ranch often. It
was very nice to catch up, I heard Sam talking about the time Uncle
helped him get hydrolics for his truck back in the early 90s with
Johnny's brother Eddie. So many memories too. Auntie made, pancit with chicken and shrimp, Alfredo pasta with shrimp,
tatiyas, and white rice. Oh my gosh, all the food was delish.
You see Sam's Aunt, I learned used to work at the cafeteria along with my
Aunt Mary. Auntie brought out dessert, pumpkin turnovers, and Roskette cookies in different colors!! We were in heaven. Oh my gosh,
she can cook! In the end, she packed us the leftovers, along with
the desserts for our trip back to have for our dinner. We had spent 4
hours with them, along with Auntie Terry, and Auntie Collassa. So, it
was a very good visit with all of them. I told Sam, the girls and I were glad to have
gone. This trip has been a very humbling experience for sure. We
got back to Sonora not too long after. We decided on what to do the next day, ate our dinner of leftovers, then, went to bed. The plan for Wednesday was to take the girls to Yosemite National Park. We
got up somewhat early that day, Sam wanted us to get into Yosemite by
9am if we could. So, we packed PB and J, water and some snacks for the
road trip. We were on the road, and there was construction at certain
parts of the highway we used. So, that did give us about 30mins. more to
get to Yosemite. We
were on our way, after 30mins. and we were in Yosemite Country!
The winding roads before the actual entrance to the park was amazing,
you could see the road on the other side of the mountain coming down and
cars too. It was quite a view. We even went into a few tunnels and that
in itself was the coolest! Especially, for Sara. We stopped at the top
to take a quick photo op. I noticed when I looked back at my photos,
that behind Sara and Taby was a bird flying!! LOL
We
made our way in through the park, lots of campers and people either
hiking the trails or riding bikes. It was super crowded. As we made our
way into the center of the park, there were side turn offs to stop and
take photos. As we entered, you could see waterfalls on the right and
the main water fall on the left. They say if you stand by the main
waterfall, the mist is supposed to be a blessing for those that want to
marry. We would stop, then park, then go again. We did the circle and at
the center were houses for residence and a huge camp ground village. So
many campers, it was crazy. By then, I needed to use the restroom. Sam
found a decent one and dropped, Taby and I off. He circled around and by
that time I was done, and we made our way back up the road to head out.
Sam and Taby found a spot to park, because it was at the foot of the
falls. Sara and I stayed in the car, but Sam and Taby explored and took
more amazing shots of the waterfalls. As
Sara and I waited, I made us the PB and J's and we ate, saving the
others 3 sandwiches between them. Sara and I were in aircon comfort. LOL
When they came back, they ate and we just took a break. Then, left as
we started heading back out of the park, there were some amazing views, we had to stop! We stopped by a meadow with the blue mountains behind us, and I told
Sam I want to take photos of the weeds and flowers. Then, that prompted
them to get out and take video and photos. I could hear the birds
chirping the wind rustling thru the grass, and I wanted to capture that
moment. Then, Taby decided to take photos of Sara holding a daisy. Her and Sam are so competitive and took more photos, by then, I was back in
the car relaxing. We then made our way back out of the park. We got
back to Sonora by early evening and had time to check out one of the
Antique shops, that I wanted to go back to and get something from. We did and
went home, had Auntie Frances's leftovers again, and we went to bed early after
cleaning and washing. It was a great visit in Sonora and many memories
made. Hard to believe it almost over...
After
2 hours, the pilot was saying we'd be landing soon, I could see a lot
of marches, and wondered where the land was. When we landed, we got all
our bags that came through with us and sadly, my wheelchair was at
baggage claim too. Ugh, it was okay. We got there, got a cart and
collected all our bags, even Sam's and Sara's. I connected to the free
wifi and contacted Kalani. She had already been circling the airport 10
times by then. Oh goodness. She picked us up and we hugged like forever. Max
was at home with Jay. We took about 30mins. to get to their place. A
beautiful 4 story apartment complex for the military, gated and very
safe with all the amenities. It was only 10am. Sam and Sara still in
Newark. I didn't really want to plan to do anything much, except shower
and take a nap. She did take us to Jollibee and we got lunch. Afterwards, Taby
and Kalani stayed in the living room watching "Stranger Things", and I
slept. I woke up at 7pm. They had already watched 5 episodes into the
2nd season! Darn. I was feeling hung over. I messaged Sam and he didn't
make it on the other 2 flights after ours. Ugh some more, it was Friday
the 13th too! Ugh, double, ugh. Jay had ordered dinner from a new place
and Kalani, Taby and I picked it up. Great BBQ too, like Jamaican Grill, back home on Guam.
We even had some left for Sam and Sara. By 11pm we left the house, just us girls, Max
asleep and Jay staying home. We made our way back to the airport to get
Sam and Sara, who had made it on a larger plane and in First Class
too! Lucky ducks! LOL We went around twice and by the 2nd round they
came out. We got them and it was beautiful to capture Sam and Kalani's
moment.
The next morning we got up and at a light breakfast, and the plan was for us to go to a restaurant for lunch and try some place new. Then, drive around and check out the beaches in Florida... We ate at Miller's Ale House, the food was really good and I ordered the fish and chips.
Afterwards, Jay took Max home and we went to Walmart and Target before heading to see a bit of the beaches on this side of the world. In Target, lots of toys on sale. I really wanted to get the ice cream truck. LOL try packing that one! Ha. I was surprised to see a "Hatch A Mermaid" toy, its like another take on "Sea Monkeys". So, I knew they were just Brine Shrimp. Still cool though. We did drive down the main beach road, and boy was it hot, absolutely no parking left and people all walking towards the beach. So we just drove through stopping once for Sam to get out and look. We then went to Jollibee's again for dessert, and I tried their Halo-Halo. It's basically a dessert with Ube, Vanilla ice cream, Flan, milk with shaved ice, and at the bottom, fruit, and red beans. Quite unique if you haven't tried it. On the way back home, we spotted some thrift shops, and a Good Will store. We got home ate dinner and watched the next few episodes of "Stranger things." on Netflix.
On Monday, we went back to Target to look for "Stranger Things" shirts and Walmart. Then, we found a Home Depot, Best Buy, and by early evening we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. We made plans for our flight back to Guam and was hoping to leave by Tuesday, July 17th. But, to our dismay, the flights didn't look good at all. Sam said, we might have to split up again or go through another hub instead of Newark. We ended up staying another day, and decided to leave out of JAX to Houston, TX instead. Every where else was next to impossible. By July 18th we were packed and ready to make our way home... Kalani dropped us off early in the morning and we lined up to check most of our bags in. The flight didn't look too good for us to get on. As we made our way from TSA and then to our gate, we sat and waited. The Agent, called Taby and I since we had seats and Sam told her if there are not other seats to just let us go. But she checked and a 3rd seat was available. Sara was on the flight. She was sitting by herself, with 2 other women. After 8 mins. then I saw Sam make it on and had a seat. While the plane sat for refueling, etc. Then, the Agent came back and was talking to the ladies next to Sara... I was just about to freak out. But, then, we saw, that the two ladies had to be escorted off the plane, and Sara moved into the window seat, along with Taby. I sat on the aisle, where Taby was sitting before. Then, the plane was off, we had already been delayed. Many of the other passengers were not happy.
Only because, their connecting flights would be missed if we didn't get into Houston on time. Basically, the two ladies, a mother and daughter had to be escorted off and compensated, because her wheelchair was too heavy and could not fit in the plane. So, they had to take another flight out. Whew, that made room for the rest of us to go. Yippee! We made into Houston, TX about 10am, and Sam said we had to stay the night. The flight to Narita, Japan had already left for the day. At least we get to enjoy Houston for a day!
To be continued... Will we make it home?! Stay Tuned!
Thank you for reading and I hope you don't mind all the vacation photo spam! ~ ggsdolls
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