Japan and Los Angeles (links to photos)

After a pretty big scare I settled into my 10 hour flight to LAX.  I think I mostly listened to the hunger games, ate some food and tried to get some sleep.  Now since I had left Japan on Monday afternoon and my flight was 10 hours I told my cousin, Maria (actually my father's cousin who is closer to my age) that I would be arriving on Tuesday morning (I knew I was going to have a 24 hour layover in LA so she agreed to pick me up and hang out with me and let me stay at her place and bring me back to the airport!).  As we landed in LA the pilot said "Welcome to Los Angeles on this beautiful Monday morning".  My jaw dropped.  Remember that day I lost when I went to Japan?  Yeah, I found it on my way back.  I frantically called my cousin who asked me if I was just leaving Japan and I said "NOOOO!!!  I'm in LA!!!"  Thank god she was around that day and was able to come straight to the airport to get me.  By the time I got my suitcase and got to the curb she was right there waiting for me!  She was such a trooper for not being prepared for me.  She took me back to her house in Long Beach so I could freshen up then she took me to lunch at a mexican restaurant on the water.  It was so nice to have a margarita and catch up with my cousin.  We walked around the area a little bit then drove south to Huntington Beach where I got to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!  We walked out to the end of the pier then had dinner at Duke's where we met up with Maria's brother, his wife and two little boys, another cousin and her husband, and my grandmother's brother.  It's wild to spend time with him (I've only seen him once since I've been an adult) because he looks just like her and they have the same Spanish accent.  They are so cute!  On our way out of the restaurant we ended up seeing the bassist for Van Halen.
After that I really wanted to see Hollywood so Maria was nice enough to drive me there and show me the main tourist stops.  Outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater I saw Darth Vader, Iron Man, and Spider Man.  I just hopped out of the car to get my picture taken with them.  I felt like a goof but it was fun.  We got back to her house around 12:30 and chatted for a while more.  Plus I didn't want to go to bed because I knew we had to wake up at 4:30 to get ready for the airport and that meant saying goodbye to her FOUR dogs that I was in love with!
The flight from LA to Boston was great.  I got in around 5pm and Chris picked me up.  Since we all thought I was coming in on WEDNESDAY, we decided to surprise the kids.  They had been with Nana that day since Chris was at work so he picked me up and brought me there.  I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to see them.  I kept day dreaming of what our reunion was going to be like.  It didn't disappoint.  It turns out Chris didn't tell anybody I was coming home that day so it was a surprise for everyone including my parents who happened to be visiting the kids at Chris's parents' house when I got there.
When I hugged Jackson he was on fire!  He had just come down with a fever/cold that day so lucky me got sick the next day followed by Madison.  We were all miserable for a week.  Although it stunk that we were sick it couldn't have come at a better time because we were leaving for Disney World in less than two weeks!

As far as pictures go you can see my official blog post about the pre-wedding pictures I did with the bride and groom.  I haven't done the wedding day yet.

Maybe some day I will specifically post my favorite images from my trip but for now you can see my personal pictures in a flickr album

My LA pictures are in this flickr album

The pre-wedding pictures are in this flickr album

And the wedding pictures are in this flickr album