Family fun in Modesto

This morning after getting ready for the day Sarah, Stephie and I headed across the hotel parking lot to Baker's Square for some "Mmm pie". Actually, we ate breakfast. After we finished, however, we picked up a sweet, sweet dessert for today's festivities with Sarah's dad and the related members of the Champion clan. After a thong emergency we drove across town to Sarah's Dad's place and hung out a while. We talked with Annita and Ki Sun about their days of packing before heading here on their way to a new life in North Carolina. Billy also showed off his room of awards and photos before doing some last minute prep for the party. We eventually followed and met folks at the local moose lodge for some food, music, chatting, and wedding memories aided by a couple photo albums we brought.

The highlight of the afternoon was talking with a couple of Sarah's similarly aged cousins. We all swapped contact info and actually hung out with one oft seen cousin Crystal and her husban Llandro. Sarah hadn't seen her for 12 years but it was funky how well we all related. After leaving the hall a group of us enjoyed a seeing Batman Begins. One constant between all of us was that we're all nerds into TV, movies, video and computer games. The latest installment in the Batman series was a stand out for its character development and rich story-driven environment. I really give credit to the writers and actors for pulling together a good movie as well as a good comic book based action flick.

Still enjoying one another's company we all headed to a nearby Thai restaurant and wound the evening down over some steaming hot plates of soup, noodles and everything else I didn't have room in my stomach. Poor Crystal and Llandro had to take all our leftovers since we couldn't keep them cool the next day in our car trunk.

It's great to catch up with family and, if only partially, re-connect with one's roots. Tomorrow: some root connecting with folks in my family!