Lura's first birthday was on 3 September 2004, and we took her to Hawaii to celebrate it. Mark's family, being distributed across the mainland as far as Boston, weren't all in a position to make the long trek across the continent and across the Pacific, so right before we left everybody except Mark's younger brother Matthew (who was out of the country at the time) gathered at our home in California. Mark's youngest sister Jennifer, her husband Qing, and their daughters Allegra and Stella weren't able to make it to our wedding, so this was their first opportunity to meet not only Lura but Cheryl!
Since we only had a couple of days, we didn't organize a trip to Disneyland or anything, but spent most of the first day hanging out together at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach. Here we are sharing a picnic lunch from Ruby's in the shade just off the sand. Mark's older brother David, his wife Susan, and their daughter Marci had met Cheryl in San Diego when we'd only been dating for a month (four years ago!), but this was their first chance to meet their new little niece and cousin Lura. It was also the first time they met Allegra and Stella!
Here is Lura with her Uncle David, her Auntie Jennifer, and her Daddy.
Allegra was able to pick up her new little cousin, but she's a pretty big load to lift!
After Lura was born, Grandpa sent us a set of four "Little Tiger" books, which he and Mark's late mother had given to him for Christmas in 1965. Mark has a photo of them reading the books to him and David (before Matthew and Jennifer were born), and another of him reading one of the books to Marci when she was about five years old, so he wanted very much to ask Marci to let him get a photo of her continuing the tradition by reading them to little Lura. These are some of Lura's favorite books!
That evening Mark's Dad generously treated everyone to dinner at Kincaid's, one of the best seafood restaurants in the South Bay, on the Redondo Beach pier. Here we are gathered along the waterfront (sorry about the bad angle, Jennifer...) Mark last saw Marci two years ago, and Allegra and Stella in March 2001; it's amazing how much they had all grown!
The next morning David and his family had to set out early on the drive back to Phoenix. We took everyone to King's Hawaiian Restaurant for breakfast and then saw them on their way. Here's Marci with two of her little cousins...
...and here's Grandpa with his daughter and three of his granddaughters.
Lura was looking offsides in the above photo, so here's another with just her and Grandpa.
That evening the rest of us had a barbecue at our house. Here Allegra and Stella are helping Cheryl feed Lura. It's been awhile since they have needed high chairs!
As mentioned above, Matthew was out of the country at the time of our gathering; he's a professor of art history, and travels all over the world for his studies. Two months later, though, he came down to Irvine for a professional conference, and he spent the night before with us, so on 29 October 2004 he got to meet his new niece. Now Lura has met all of her uncles, aunties, and cousins! We are very grateful to everyone for traveling such long distances for a visit.
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