Grandpa's Service

Last Thursday was my Grandpa's funeral and Friday was the burial. We had planned on driving up on Wednesday and Derek was going to fly up with my parents. But at the last minute we decided to fly up as well. Sara gave us some buddy passes so it only cost us $30 a ticket. Not too shabby. But how difficult it is to pack for 2 infants and yourself, plus a toddler, plus a husband! Packing formula and double the diapers and everything else that infants require is a hard task when you only have a few hours to do it. I was quite nervous to fly with our big caravan of people, but it went so SMOOTHLY! I couldn't believe it! We checked all our luggage so that we could have free hands for the kids. There was one adult for each child, plus an extra adult for the carry on bags. It cracks me up that having two babies creates many stares and people so willing to help or hold a door open. One man even made a comment, what is this a baby convention? We drugged Derek with Dramamine so he fell right to sleep the entire flight there and back. The babies were excellent and mostly slept without a single peep. Lovely.

My parents were nice enough to let us use the 2 bedroom condo from the timeshare and they stayed in a studio. This resort was beautiful. Overlooking a vineyard in Napa. Beautiful rooms too! Derek was in heaven and now thinks that all hotels are like this.

My grandpa's service was very nice. Everyone wore Hawaiian shirts and very bright clothing. My grandpa was not a fancy man. He loved the islands and all his Hawaiian shirts. So that is what everyone wore in honor of him, very bright Hawaiian clothing. My dad gave a wonderful eulogy that of course made me cry. But he had such great memories of my grandpa growing up. The stories of him in the army and how he survived Guadalcanal; one of the bloodiest and fiercest fought battles of World War II. How he married an Indian women who died of Pneumonia shortly after they had a daughter. Raising her on his own until he met my Gramma. How he was always the boy scout leader for he and his brothers, and never left out the girls either. What a great dad my grandpa was. I know how proud my dad was of him and how much he was loved. We got to see a lot of family Thursday and Friday. Most I hadn't seen in over five years. I took a lot of pictures, but will only post a few.

Sara, myself, Derek, Gramma, Dad & Mom


My dad and his mom


Friday was the interment at a brand new Veterans Cemetery in Sacramento. They're still building it actually. My grandpa had a 3 gun salute complete with the bag pipers and all. It was very emotional. I'm sure he was looking down on it feeling very proud.
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Presenting my Gramma with the American Flag


We used my parents timeshare points to stay at a really nice resort in Napa. They were kind enough to give us the 2 bedroom condo while they took the studio. It was beautiful and very roomy!

Granite and stainless steel kitchen, ohhh la la


Family room with fireplace and flat screen TV, another bonus!


Loved the huge jacuzzi tub! As you can see so did Derek. Think Jason overdid the bubbles?


It seemed as though we were gone forever, and I was anxious to get home. But how nice it was to see my Gramma. She looked so good and was so strong. We love you Gramma