Funerals, Road Trips, and Firsts

Well, this blog is only about 2 months late, but better late than never huh?

Following the visit from the Bialis', we got some bad news, Jon's grandmother, Bubbie, had passed away. As is the case in Jewish custom, the funeral was set for 2 days later, and so Jon, Ethan, Snoopy and I piled into a rental car and began our trek across the desert.

Ethan was a CHAMP in the car--in fact, I think he travels better than either Jon or I do. Snoopy sat next to him the entire time, and kept him happy and calm. We drove from Tucson all the way to Westlake on Wednesday, and spent the night in the Four Seasons, Ethan's first hotel room. I can't get over how great of a traveler he is.

Thursday we went to the memorial service and then on to the get together at Aunt Tina's house. While funerals are not happy occasions, it was nice for Ethan to get to meet a lot of people. He met his Aunt Laura, Aunt Melanie, and Great-grandfather Poodah. He also met Great Aunt Tina, his Great Uncle David, and Jon's cousins, Julia, Michael, Tracy, Carrie and a bunch of family friends.

Friday was the highlight of the trip as we cruised to Santa Barbara and got to spend the morning with Grandma and Grandpa. Ethan played on the floor and on Uncle Sean's bed, and had a great morning.

We then went and got to see Jon's cousin Robin and her husband Josh and their adorable little daughter Emmy! Emmy even got to hold Ethan and LOVED every minite. She was convinced he was a doll, and she could not keep from smiling!

Then, it was back in the car for the rest of the journey home, with a stop over at a very cool hotel in Avondale Arizona.

Whew, you can see why the blog was late, we were TIRED!