California - Part 1 of ?

This latest trip to California was about family. I did not realize it had been so long, but my last trip out to visit my grandparents was 5 years ago. My sister's youngest was just a baby and we all ended up meeting out there to spend some time together. Most of my vacations revolve around getting to see some member of my family who doesn't live close to me, and throwing the fun on top of that. It is just sort of the way things go.

I learned a ton.

This is my grandpa, my uncle Eddie, and my grandma. Eddie was my grandma's last surviving brother, and he passed away a few weeks ago. Now it is just my grandma and her sister Norma.

This is Norma. My grandma always thought she was the "looker" of the two sisters.

But I think my grandma held her own! She is quite a looker herself.

This is their uncle, their mother's brother. He was a bombardier in World War 2. He spoke like 7 different languages.

This was his plane.

Earl and his wife came together because of the war. She was down to visit a relative on summer holiday, and he said that our country was at war and she was going to contribute. He took her down to the local manufacturing yard and she was put to work as a welder. Earl was a yard foreman and came over one day to inspect her work. He started hollering at her for something he thought she was doing wrong. She turned to him and flipped up her welding mask to start hollering back. He stopped in his tracks - he didn't expect a cute little blonde girl to be under there! I guess that was it and he was hooked from then on.

Arnold and his wife were married at city hall.

Norma married Joe. I remember that Uncle Joe always had a mouse who lived in his pocket. If we were very careful, the mouse would come out to visit. I never did learn how he managed to manipulate a handkerchief to make us believe it was a mouse. But I was excited to learn that his son David has kept the tradition alive. So there is still a mouse in the house!

My grandma wore the same dress as her sister when she married my grandpa. She opted for a shorter veil.

My grandpa is a pretty handsome man, I think. He told me stories about the war. He wanted to be a pilot. He was drafted into the Army, but put in a request to transfer to the Air Force. He was training and flying as often as he got a chance while on base. He got his transfer and had taken a job as a clerk. That job came with an advancement to the rank of Corporal (I think). At that time, it was decided that all men who were below the rank of corporal would be sent over to join the invading forces of the operation that would become known as D-Day. All of grandpa's buddies became part of one of the first invading waves of troops. Many of his friends lost their lives that day, and I think for him that still feels like it was yesterday.

This is my great-grandmother with all of her children. Left to right - Eddie, Harold (I need to confirm this one), Norma, Earl, Great-grandma, Arnold, and Mildred (aka. Millie or Grandma).

The four boys used to get dressed up to go out dancing on Saturday nights. The way the story goes, their mother would line them up to inspect each of them. She would go down the line and straighten the tie of each one of them and say, "Now son, I love you. Have a good time." When she got to Eddie, she would say, "Now son, I love you. Have a good time. And be careful!"

With blue eyes and a smile like that, is it any wonder she worried about her youngest boy? I think not!