Tun brought us all together and it was really wonderful to visit with Ken’s family. Ken’s sister and daughter (Ellen and Aimee) visited from Sunrise Florida. Aimee is just three weeks younger than Lauren and is more like a sister to our kids than a cousin. Ellen and Aimee spent several nights with us in our RV and Aimee played in the campground pool with our kids while Ellen and Ken ran errands. Ken’s aunt and uncle (Chieko and Donald) live in Sun Valley and they are always very welcoming and Chieko keeps us well feed with her yummy food. Ken’s aunt, Noriko, flew in from Japan. Noriko is such an upbeat and positive person. She and her family live in Kawasaki Japan and we “pinky promised” to visit them soon. We can’t wait to show our kids Japan as they will surely fall in love with the country. Ken’s cousin, Aileen, flew in from Boise Idaho with her darling daughter McKenzie. We visited Aileen’s family in Boise last year and our kids got to know McKenzie really well. It was a great reunion. Ken has another cousin, Kathleen, who we got to spend time with along with her husband John and their three young adorable daughters (two of which are twins). It’s great to see Kathleen and John as parents and how great they are with their big family! Jimmy is one of Ken’s cousins who visited with his wife Mikki. They are looking at buying a house in the Pasadena area and Ken chatted at length with Jimmy about some do’s and don’ts of buying your first house. Haruko flew in from Hawaii with her husband Takeshi and it was fun to chat with her and her sister, Masako. Ellen’s best friend, Ruth, was a great help during this time and helped us immensely during the gathering after the funeral. While the event behind this big reunion was difficult, it reminded us all how great a family we have and how much we enjoy spending time with each other.
Our beloved “Tun” bestowed many “gifts” on her two children and one of them was her love of food. That love of the culinary arts has been passed down to our children through Ken and it sure makes life more interesting! During the time when we were not visiting Tun, we visited many of her favorites eateries throughout the Los Angeles area. If only she could sit alongside us and enjoy it with us. . .
One of her favorite places is “El Tepeyac”, a famous Mexican hole in the wall in East L.A. We were greeted by Manual who has owned and operated this place for more than 50 years. He humbly boosts his many “jobs” which include bouncer, wife stealer and flirt. Whoever this funny man is there is one thing for sure, he makes the BEST and BIGGEST burritos anywhere! Ken and Andrew shared “Manuel’s Special” which is a 5 pound bundle of joy. They almost finished it too! Our niece Amiee joined us and we girls had smaller versions (a mere 2 pounds) and managed to make another few meals out of them. We also ate at the famous fish market in downtown L.A. with Aimee and Ken’s sister Ellen. We had shrimp and crab salads which were SO loaded with shrimp and crab that we couldn’t finish them! (How often does that happen??) All for a mere $8.95. Such a deal! Ken and Ellen stopped by Philippe’s, the restaurant that INVENTED the French Dip sandwich. We also stopped at the original Tommy Burger (on Beverly and Rampart), King Taco (a place Ken used to take me when we were dating) and Orochan Ramen. This last place is actually new to us and after seeing it on the Food Channel, we knew we had to make a stop. They brag about having the HOTTEST ramen anywhere. The challenge – Eat the number TWO ramen in 30 minutes or less and you get your picture on their “wall of flame!” Ken wasn’t up to the challenge but the guy behind us was and he actually did it! He is now one of only 12 who have accomplished this challenge. After he finished, he looked a bit off color and admitted to having rid himself of the ramen. (I will save the details!)
Near the end of our time in the Los Angeles area, we drove out to beautiful Carpenteria (a seaside town south of Santa Barbara) and got together with my brother-in-law Kurt (Gretch’s husband), our three nephews, Ryan (17), Weston and Kyle (14) and his bride-to-be Gina with her two adorable girls Haily (15) and Chrissy (11). It was SO wonderful to ALL be together and Kurt really seems happy. Gina is a great person and her daughters are very sweet. This seems to be a wonderful new family unit and we are very happy for everyone. We watched Ryan’s basketball team play a great game and enjoyed Foster’s Freeze as a celebration desert!
The next day, we drove out to Orange County to my sister Robin’s house. Her and Steve recently renovated their backyard and it feels like you are relaxing at a beautiful spa hotel. Our friends Rich and Mary joined us for the yummy BBQ along with their kids Katie and Dan. The date was July 11 which happened to be Gretch’s birthday. Robin and I toasted our wonderful sister and shared some special memories. She is still so dearly missed by us all.
Tomorrow we depart Valencia California after 16 days. We are ready to return to our life on the road and plan to reach Canada within four days followed by our much anticipated destination, Alaska . It has been a difficult two weeks yet we know in our hearts that Tun is at peace. She lived a full and wonderful life and we are all the better for having had her in our lives.
What a great time we had seeing you guys,having a bit to eat, watching Ryan’s Basketball game and ice cream with the team after. So sorry to hear about Ken’s Mom, it was nice that you were able to make it to be with her before her journey.
Keep up the good work with your family unit. Gina and the girls thought it was very cool what you are experiencing, this is the time you can do something like this, a real adventure! take care and send pictures of big fish from Alaska.
love you
Kurt, Gina and the gang
It sure was great having you all with us recently for a BBQ. Enjoying the commentary and pictures from Alaska…..especially the BIG fish!!! Keep on truckin’…..
Lots of Love, Robin, Steve and Paul