Pics from CA, Broken Stereotypes, and a Cool Story

Here's a glimpse into some of the fun we had on our recent trip to CA (and some of my random thoughts, of course)...

As per CA stereotype #1, the weather was perfect and gorgeous like it always seems to be (except for when we're trying to have a garage sale).
One of my kids even got nekked in the public fountain...not sure whether that's culturally acceptable in the OC, but we did it anyway. (Well, actually at least for a while she was wearing her brother's hand-me-down, stained, saggy training underwear)

Here she is trying to hand said underwear to older brother

I think we ate outside on the patio for every meal, so nice!
Our friend, Dottie, came to visit and admire my kids, which is a nice change from everyone always seeming to admire my sister's Vizla (dog) and overlook my human children when we are in Southern CA (always happens in Sedona, too).
We went to my hometown Heritage Days Parade. Because of CA stereotype #2 (you have to arrive at least 2 hours early for any event), I tried to convince everyone to go at like 8 am to Save Seats! Sam and I ended up going an hour early and there were like 3 empty lawn chairs set up on the entire block...we had plenty of room to choose from.


CA Stereotype #3--Un-practical, Semi-ridiculous Fashion
Here, I'll zoom in so you can really see...and mind you, it was HOT (almost 90 degrees) that day!

(I guess being in CA brings the paparazzi out in all of us).

CA Stereotype #4--Everything in CA is better-produced than smalltown USA-- more polished, professional, entertainment-y. Yeah, this parade broke that stereotype...Flagstaff's 4th of July Parade blew this one out of the water. So long, huge gaps, no candy, mediocre announcers, etc. We made our kids endure till the very end so we could see our high school band march by, and when it did, we were kind of underwhelmed.

El Dorado Alumni might recognize Wild Bill in front of the band in this picture...he's still doin' his thing!

The best part of the day was hanging out with old Band-Os, Amy and Tricia. We have 5 boys and 2 girls between us...time flies!

We went to a "festible" at the park afterward, and again, I think I like our small-town festibles just as much if not more. Here are Sam and his friend, Andrew standing inside the cowboy's lasso. I couldn't dislodge grumpy Annie from my lap for a better photo. (Annie may have been grumpy because I had just walked off and left her in the busy crowd of people).
Oh, but our festibles don't ever have the massive Titanic slide, so that was pretty cool, except that (true to CA stereotypes) it cost like a million dollars to slide down it twice.
Also true to stereotypes (this one just in general), Grandma said yes to all requests to eat snacks and go on over-priced slides. Thanks, Grandma!
Here's a stereotype that I know isn't true, but I still enjoy seeing it broken..."People in CA are snobby". My parent's neighbors are some of the nicest people I've ever met! They give me hand-me-downs, share toys with us when we come, and even invite my kids to their kids' birthday parties! While we were there, Sam and Evan were invited to the next-door neighbor Connor's reptile birthday party. A Reptile Guy came and did a really fun and interesting presentation (big-city folk have moved beyond clowns and bounce houses for birthday parties).
In this picture, Evan (the littlest kid there) is eagerly volunteering to hold something I thought for sure he would shy away from.




This would have completely embarrassed me as a teenager...the entire birthday party (adults included--and I swear one of the moms is a Real Housewife of Orange County) come out into the front yard to throw water balloons and my dad is hanging out in the back of my van with an old holey jazz band t-shirt of mine on, making faces as he tries to fix something in my car. At least he wasn't wearing his mad-scientist robe over his Donald Duck sweatshirt this time.
Evan is usually one of the littlest kids and yet he has such a cool personality that older kids like hanging out with him and even let him lead the games sometimes.

CA Stereotype #6ish--Everyone in Southern CA cares more about appearances than reality. My friend Carlee broke that stereotype because even though I think she is super stylish and a trend setter and has this amazing line of animal hoodies for kids (zoodies.com) and her husband is a model and actor (mostly extra-work for commercials) and aspiring rockstar, she is so real and unapologetic about life raising 3 boys and the messes and the stresses of running all their businesses out of their home, etc. Here are all 5! of our boys completely destroying her clean tablecloth and she doesn't seem to mind. She even fed a Nutella-covered pretzel to a squirrel that stopped in to visit us.

Here's her hubby in a commercial, just for the fun of it...he sits down on the couch wearing a green shirt about 6 seconds in...


And I couldn't resist putting up this video that her husband made with his band, the Pseudo Rebels.


This little stinker is a girl but she's fearless!



And one of my favorite things I did on this trip was visit with my friend Masha. I met her in Kazakhstan when she was 18 and now she is married and lives in the OC and has a brand new baby girl. She has grown so much and is thankful for her life in CA but still struggles with feeling like an outsider and missing her grandmother (the only real family she had most of her life) back in Kazakhstan. She told me a cool story about how she came to find someone trustworthy to care for her ailing grandmother while she is here in America--when I was in KZ in 2003, I visited Dubai and bought a beautiful silk dress. I wore it out to dinner back in KZ and got black car oil all over it when getting out of a taxi. I took it to a dry cleaner and they asked me if I knew someone who could teach English to their daughter. I gave them Masha's name and she ended up becoming a tutor and then friend of the daughter of the dry-cleaner. The daughter ended up becoming a Christian through Masha (who was learning about the Bible through Jeremy and I and our team), and now works for a ministry in Shymkent and cares for Masha's grandma, a woman who needs Christ's love so much in her life right now!
Seeing Masha was a good reminder that even though people can appear one way in Southern California, there's a lot more beneath the surface than what you necessarily see. And, Masha would agree that despite America's problems and the temptation to be materialistic, America truly is a land of opportunity and freedom. That's one stereotype I hope continues.