California wedding

Now for part two of my trip to California. (See part one here.)

Friday (June 19) was the day of the rehearsal. It was super hot, but we survived.

Bride and Groom practicing lookin' good.

Mother of the bride.

The wedding party (sans groomsman Jay)

Siblings!

Cousins!

Once everything was settled and rehearsed we finally got to eat. Lots of fun stories and cheersing happened.

Dinner crowd.

Happy couple.

Cute parents.

Um...

After dinner I joined the kids for more hanging out. The next day Lauren and I went for a run around her grandmother's neighborhood. (My only run or exercise during the whole trip. Yikes.) Then we were super hot so we hopped in the pool. Ryan and Tess (their dog) joined us. That was also my only time in the water during my whole Southern California vacation. After the pool I helped them finish up some last-minute things for the wedding.

That afternoon more relatives arrived, and that night we had a big family dinner together. Then back at the hotel Sunni and I (with a little help from Jay) assembled the program fans for the wedding and had fun cousin bonding time.

The next day (Sunday, June 21) was the big day! Mom and I went to the venue (The Vineyards) early to hang out with the bridal party. The ceremony was at 5:30. Luckily it wasn't quite as hot as it had been during the rehearsal.

Front row, waiting for the fun to begin.

Ryan, walking Mom down.

Lauren entering with her mom.

The ceremony.

Unity Balloons.

Aw mush.

The ceremony was very nice. It was sweet to hear them read the vows they'd each written. Afterwards most of the guests headed up to the reception, while the rest of us hung out (with our own reception food and drinks) for pictures outside.

Good-lookin' family

New daughter.

Cousins!

More cousins!

Cousins selfie!

Cheers!

Sunni stepped on Lauren's veil and made it fall out. Sunni was mortified. It was hilarious.

Sunni and Aunt Judy with the newlyweds.

Eventually we all got to head up to the reception. We got there for the end of the cocktail hour, then headed in to dinner. The place looked really nice.

Each plate had a little box with the dipped and personalized fortune cookies I ordered.

Bride and Groom joining the party.

First dance.

The slideshow I made.

Dancing with Mom.

Cake!

So the wedding was really nice and everyone had a good time. It was fun dancing with aunts and uncles I'd never really seen dance before. At the end of the night we sent the couple off with sparklers. Back at the hotel that night my aunt hosted a little after-party. It was mostly my relatives, but some younger people from the wedding showed up, which was awkward for them and pretty funny for us. Good times were still had though.

But then the next day I woke up sick (not for reasons you might be assuming, I swear), and ended up spending the next two days in bed. It was no fun feeling sick, but I'll also admit it was a welcome break from vacationing and wedding-prep and grad-school studying to just lay in bed and rest. I needed it. Despite all that, the whole trip to California and wedding week was pretty great. Lots of fun memories were made, and I'm so happy for Lauren and Ryan!

California fun

Now that a month has passed (where does the time go?) I'm finally ready to tell you about my trip to California for my little brother's wedding. Except this post is only the first half...

On June 14 I flew to LA, where Ryan and Lauren picked me up with my parents following behind. But since LAX is crazy even at 10pm on a Sunday, it took forever for them to pick me up, and then a while to get out of all that traffic. But at last, we were all safely in California ready to have fun.

Monday my parents and I went to Catalina Island. We took a boat from Long Beach, and the ride was about an hour. First we sat outside, but the wind made it pretty chilly and uncomfortable, so we moved inside. That was also when my dad decided we needed to relax a little more with some wine. Good idea, Dad.

Our boat.

Cheers.

When we got to the island we walked to a little Mexican place for lunch. Then we got on a glass-bottomed boat for a 45-minute tour to check out some fish.

Glass-bottomed boat.

Fish!

Fish watching.

Fish-feeding selfie.

After the tour we walked around the little town a little more, and got some ice cream. Apparently there are wild buffalo on Catalina Island, which my dad neglected to tell me ahead of time, and we didn't have enough time to see them. Next time.

Front-seat boat ride back to Long Beach.

Later that night Dad and I walked from our Anaheim hotel to meet Lauren and Ryan for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Then those two came and stayed with us, and the next morning all five of us walked to Disneyland!

Naturally when we got to Disneyland we started with Tomorrowland, and apparently Ryan loves the Astro Orbitor (a simple ride like Dumbo, but with rockets) so we rode that first. Then we rode a bunch more. Mom rented an electric scooter because of her bum knee, which meant we got to skip a bunch of long lines with her. It was awesome.

Squeezed into a rocket.

Ready for takeoff!

Blastin' aliens. Dad steered while Mom and I shot. (Ignore the score!)

Ready for a drive.

Attempting to steer in Autopia.

Say cheese.

We ate pretzels for a late-morning snack, then had a nice lunch in New Orleans Square. I got us some popcorn later on, too. And all day long I kept saying I eventually wanted to eat a Mickey ice cream on a stick, which finally happened right before we left.

Yum.

It's a Small World.

Family ride selfie.

The castle is smaller than I remembered...

Ready for Splash Mountain.

"Arms up!"

We got pretty wet. I was soaked.

Jungle Cruise pistachio sighting! Right there on the seat!

Cruising the jungle.

Shootin' stuff.

Thunder Mountain.

Finally.

The only major ride we didn't go on was Space Mountain, because it was closed that morning. Lauren and Ryan and I were going to do it at night before we left and even got in line, but we decided we didn't care enough to stand in line forever after a long day. So we went back to Ryan's favorite rocket ride instead, and our flights coincided with the fireworks show and Tinkerbell flying to the castle. It was the perfect way to end a fun day at Disneyland.

The next day my parents and I visited the Huntington. When we arrived we ate lunch outside at the cafe, then we walked around the gardens, checked out some art, and took a spin through the library exhibits. The place is impressive and I could have spent a lot longer there.

Taking time to smell the roses.

Bonsai garden!

Chinese Garden.

I couldn't get over how high the mountains were!

That night we had dinner at a Mexican seafood place. We ordered several things and shared them all. It was delicious.

The shrimp cocktail was my favorite.

Thursday we drove to Simi Valley, where the wedding would be and where we stayed for the rest of the trip. We had a fun all-you-can-eat sushi dinner with Lauren and Ryan, and later that night Sunni (who had just flown in) and I helped Lauren assemble wedding favors late into the night.

Now stay tuned for the wedding post in part two...