The Geers Were Here

The whole gang -- Dad was there in spirit

Last November, we had our first ever Bill and Gail Geer Family Reunion. It was awesome.

The end.

Okay, not really. But that does pretty much sum it up.

The reunion began on Friday, November 25, the day after Thanksgiving (which is not my anniversary – shout out to Josh). Josh and I piled our 5 kiddos in the car and got on the road about an hour later than I wanted. The trip to Anaheim from Sacramento is about 7 hours and everything was going just fine, until, about two hours in . . . Patterson. Curse you, Patterson! I will never darken your streets again!

It’s probably unfair to blame that little town for the fact that our van died just minutes after passing the exit to it, but the blame has to be placed somewhere. On the way up a hill, our van lost speed gradually until we were traveling at just a few miles an hour. We got off the road at the next exit, which led to . . . a beautiful dirt patch! Ah, California! We stopped in the beautiful dirt patch and called my in-laws. Gene and Aaron were on the case and were going to come help us whatever way they could.

Meanwhile, Josh said that we might have to consider turning around and going home – missing the reunion. There’s no point in going in to the ugliness that followed, but let me just say that there is still a part of me that is surprised Josh didn’t leave me on the side of the road that day. I would say my reaction was unreasonable, but that would be like saying the sun is hot. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Josh did not react well to my “unreasonable” reaction. It was not our best moment, as a married couple.



But after 8 hours of trying to fix the van, driving the van a hundred feet before it died again, ending up by the side of the entrance of a beautiful landfill (Ah! The glories of the Golden State!), which explained all the flies at the dirt patch, unnumbered phone calls between me and various family members trying to find my family a rental car, a slow ride in the van on the back roads to Patterson, a stay at the Patterson SaveMart parking lot, a drive out to Modesto to pick up said rental car, switching all of our things over to Gene and Linda’s van and giving Gene and Aaron the compact rental car to drive back to Citrus Heights, dinner at the Patterson McDonald’s, and my kids staying relatively calm and happy through the whole miserable experience, we were back on the road, in time to arrive in Anaheim in the early minutes of Saturday, November 26. Fortunately, this was the worst part of the trip. Unfortunately, this meant we ended up missing the talent show and dance, activities I was very much looking forward to and one of the few opportunities we had to be together as one big, happy family where there was little danger any of my children would get lost.

Saturday, the whole gang met up at Huntington Beach for family pictures and a picnic. Charlie had not yet recovered from the adventures of the day before and also was pretty much starving by the time we got to the beach. He was fussy and crying and had to eat immediately when we arrived at our destination. We barely made it through the whole group shots. As it is, you’ll see that Charlie is bent in half, completely miserable (and Fitz is also not looking at the camera). Then we were supposed to take pictures of each individual family. Josh and I decided to skip that part. Charlie was just not going to last for that. But everyone else has beautiful photos of their family from that day, which are proudly displayed on my corkboard at work.

The beach was not that fun for me. I didn’t bring swimming suits or towels for my kids to use at the beach, because I thought it would be too cold to swim and also because I don’t really want my kids playing in the ocean. Or at the beach. It’s really inconvenient to have a newborn at the beach. I had to chase Charlie and Fitz around. And Huntington Beach is not that pretty or interesting. (Although it is a good backdrop for family photos.) I am such a grump. But I was tired. I did get to talk to my siblings and mom a little bit, so that was good.

That evening , we had dinner in a private room at Mimi’s Café. That was fine. Charlie was still being a crabby poo. It was not a great day for him.

This was the happiest Charlie looked all evening

Later, the siblings and mom and some of the cousins got together at Rachel’s hotel pool. The kids swam and the grown-ups talked. Then the siblings and Ellie went to IHOP together. That was really fun. Except for the one part where I cried. But mostly we laughed and had good conversation. And stayed up too late.

We went to church at a local ward the next morning. Josh, the kids and I just went to Sacrament Meeting. Heather and I ran into our old college roommate, Molly, and her family there. That was pretty funny. That afternoon we just kinda hung around the hotel room. That evening, we got together in a meeting room at Lance and Rachel’s hotel and had dinner and family reports. The siblings sang “Country Roads” for my mom. My mom gave an awesome report about how our family had grown from just her and dad to 45 people in just two generations (with more growth to come) and projected out how many more we would add when our kids started having kids. It was neat. The cousins ran around and played, Josh actually got to talk to people, and we just had a good time in general.

The siblings sing for mom

Fitz is so cute

Monday, we went to Disneyland. All of us, except for Dave and Chika, who went to California Adventure instead. We ran into each other a lot during the day, but purposely met up to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise together and to see the Enchanted Tiki Room show. Most of us also rode It’s a Small World and the Disneyland Railroad together. We had a great time. Katie was so excited and happy to be there. Charlie tolerated it. Jane was pleasant and slept a lot. Fitz enjoyed large portions of it and didn’t ever freak out too badly. Alek mostly went on everything we begged him to. That day was my and Josh’s 8th anniversary, so after partying at Disneyland with our 5 kiddos all day, we walked down to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Alek went over to Jen and Lee’s hotel to hang out with his cousins and Ellie came over to our hotel to help my mom (who we stayed with) to watch our kids. Because my family is awesome.

Getting ready to get into line at Pirates of the Caribbean
(Yes, I realize this is a terrible picture of me)

We spent the next two days splitting our time between Disneyland and California Adventure. We ran into or saw other family members a lot on Tuesday, less so on Wednesday. Tuesday, we hung for a bit with the Arnitas at California Adventure and then for a bit with the Peatrosses. Wednesday, the Sheppard, McDermott, Arnita and Barker families and mom met up at Disneyland for Aaron’s birthday party in Tomorrowland. We ate lunch together and had cupcakes. But the most exciting part was watching The Jedi Academy Training show, which almost all the cousins over the age of 4 were a part of. It was really fun watching the kids.

Katie was the only Barker who ended up getting to meet Mickey

Charlie, ready to eat at Village Haus

On the teacups
Fitz's face is priceless. That's how he looked the entire time on that ride.

Alek on Dumbo

Dumbo with Fitz and Jane -- the only picture we got of Jane on a ride

Action Figures

Katie and Audrey on Jumping Jellyfish

Katie loved California Screamin'

Alek was too scared to go on California Screamin'

Alek braved Pixie Hollow with us girls

Katie with two of Tink's fairy friends

Alek, learning the ways of the force

Katie runs away from danger

Alek fights Darth Maul

Katie fights Darth Maul

Fitz was captivated (with Eliza and Lance and Rachel)

Charlie and I wait to ride Astro Orbiters

We ended up leaving the parks early on both Tuesday and Wednesday instead of staying until closing. Jane wasn’t feeling well (she had a cold) and it was chilly out and we didn’t want her staying out in the cold too late. Even in three days, there were a lot of things I didn’t get to do that I wanted to. The parks were more crowded than I had anticipated and there was a lot of time spent changing diapers, making bottles, feeding kids, doing parent switches, and just trying to figure out what to do next. I’d gone in to our visit to the parks with a plan, but it fell apart within minutes on the first day. But it was still a really good time. The kids had a blast and Josh and I had fun too.

The boys with Lightning McQueen

Katie rocking Dad's sunglasses

Alek and Dad, after the Grizzly River Run

At the end of day three, we finally got a family photo -- sorta

Wednesday night, Josh stayed behind with the kids and I went out with mom, Jen, Lee, Amy, Jacob, Rachel, and Heather (Dave and Alicia had both already left for home by this point) to the Cheesecake Factory. It was super fun, but I was so sad at the end of the evening. I miss my family so much. Besides Josh, they are my best friends and I see them next to never. I am not good at staying in touch with them, but I think about them every day and miss them like crazy. I can’t wait until our next family reunion, December 2013 in Arizona.

The drive home on Thursday was thankfully uneventful. Gene and Linda got our van fixed for us while we were gone because they are amazing. Josh and I are both blessed to have amazing families, something that was proved to me again by the experiences of this trip. It cost a lot of money and it wasn’t perfect, but I am so grateful that we were able to go.

One of my favorite pictures ever -- Charlie and Fitz back at the hotel

Now if I just had a big enough house that people in my family could come visit me, I would show them the good part of California.