Fallbrook Memories

Jill's Journal: About 50 miles north of San Diego is the sleepy little town of Fallbrook, which just so happens to be where Rob and I got married 15 years ago. We thought it would be fun for the girls to see it for themselves.

To the left of the girls, in the far background, is the pond and gazebo where we officially tied the knot.

Our reception was held inside this adjoining mansion.

The girls were very intrigued and wanted to see pictures of the actual day, so for fun, I’ll share a few here too. Oh, memories!

This has always been one of my favorite photos. My parents are on the left; Rob’s are on the right. I absolutely love this picture! Sadly, Rob’s Dad passed away two years later.

These leggy ladies, from left to right, are Rob’s sister Wendi (now in Kentucky), Bridget (now in Arizona), Jennifer (now in Texas), and my sister Kristi (still in, or actually, returned to California).

Not to be outdone, but sporting slightly hairier legs, are my baby brother Adam (who was truly a baby at only 15!) and Rob’s longtime friend Pat, whom we recently got to see.

I will forever love my friend Elizabeth for capturing this shot of all our surviving grandparents at the time. Those are my Dad’s parents on the left, my Mom’s mother in the middle of the three ladies, and Rob’s maternal grandma (Great Grandma Lili) on the right. My two grandmas have since passed away, but I’m so thankful our girls have gotten the chance to know my Grandpa and Rob’s Grandma on this RV journey.

56 People and Counting

Jill's Journal: These two people…

…begat these four people…

…whose combined families now number 56 people.

The girls’ great grandparents – my Mom’s parents – bravely emigrated to the U.S. from Holland after World War II. Their four surviving children gave them 13 grandkids. If they were still here today, they would surely be enjoying the 24 great grandchildren those grandkids have given them so far. In just the next six months, their 11th grandchild is getting married and two more great grandchildren are due, so the number will undoubtedly grow and continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

A family of 56 people from one humble, resilient, and amazing couple…my grandparents would definitely be proud and probably a little astonished at how the family has grown if they were still here. The entire group gets together every single year, without fail, for a Christmas party. We’re the only ones in the whole group who don’t live in California, so we usually miss out. We last made the party in 2004, when Erika was just a baby and before our other two were born. But we made it today and so did every other single member of the extended family save one. I think the girls were a little surprised and delighted to find they have 2nd cousins – 21 of them, to be exact – in this branch of the family!

Three Months and Counting!

Jill's Journal: It won’t be long! Our days right now are filled to the brim with preparations for our grand adventure. Rob’s office/storage space has been completely cleaned out. All of our horse and farm equipment is only days away from being totally eliminated. We were hoping to get our house on the market around March 15, but we’ve still got a good chunk of work to do to have it in tip-top sale shape. My dear 90-year-old grandmother passed away this week and I’ll be going to California for a few days for her services and to be with family. The trip will cause us to lose an entire weekend of work, but that’s okay – it’s a necessary thing. The rest of it will all get done. We’ve made huge strides and will continue to do so.

There are signs of spring; it’s a beautiful thing! We’ll start really kicking butt and taking names now. We've had some rough winter weather and several snow days. Each snow day taken by the school district caused another day to be added to the end of the school year…and another day of delay to our “launch date.” Hopefully that’s all behind us now and we can see a concrete finish date to Erika’s Kindergarten...and to the beginning of our family adventure!