Our time in California came and went so quickly. After almost a year on the road, we came back around to spend time with our families for the holidays. We arrived just in time for Thanksgiving and departed just a couple weeks into the New Year. We stayed at Canyon RV Park in Anaheim for a little over a month before moving to Waterfront RV Park, in Huntington Beach.

Thanksgiving at the Andrade’s! I look forward to this tradition every year. Uncle Bobby & Aunt Kathy sure know how to throw a feast! Every year we gather together with family to share stories & memories as we feast on our delicious, home made traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings! The turkey this year was extra juicy and definitely left me wanting more. Of course we also celebrated Thanksgiving with the Thai’s in a more non-traditional way. This year specifically, I requested for a Chinese feast since I’ve been on the road away from good asian food for so long. This was definitely a great way to be welcomed home! Our bellies, but more importantly, our hearts were so full!

We flew up north with the Thai siblings and went to my cousin Vincent and Cindy’s wedding! We got an Air BnB and all spent the weekend together under one roof, its been a while since we’ve done that! It’s so much fun when all the siblings are together. We had a great time in San Jose at Vincent’s wedding. The venue was gorgeous and they had a perfect sunset as they shared their vows and exchanged their rings. Finley had a blast dancing the night away with Lana. After the wedding, a few of our cousins came back to our place for a game night and just to continue to catch up. I always enjoyed going up North with my family as a child. The memories we made were priceless. Thank you Vincent & Cindy for having us be apart of your special day! We love you guys and wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Yay! I got to spend the day with Sam on his birthday. My sweet Sam turned 6 this year, where has the time gone? Thi, Finley and I pulled him out of school early! We took him to lunch, got some Pokemon Balloons and a Pazooki for dessert. I miss these little ones so much when we’re on the road. Thankful for each and every moment I have with these two.

We had so many beautiful faces we wanted to see. So many friends we wanted to catch up with. Our upcoming weeks were full of friend gatherings, dinners and game nights. It’s so great to come home to friends with open arms embracing you! Starting off with a welcome home at Alex & Ashleigh’s beautiful home, thank you so much for opening your home and hosting such a great group of friends. We had such a good time, especially with Games! Mike says we had the dream team for ‘Secret Hitler’ that night, it was quite the game. 🙂 Since Covid, we’ve all been working remotely so we haven’t seen our coworkers in so long! I had a couple team lunches which definitely brought smiles to my face. We also had an OG-Cylancers meet up for everyone to catch up and see each other face to face. It was so nice to see everyone chatting away and enjoying themselves. There were some canceled events, and some friends we didn’t the chance to see, but hopefully that just means friends will come visit with us on the road! With so many more small group/friends gatherings, we enjoyed our time with each and every one of you. We know time is precious, especially around the holidays and are so thankful for each of you who made the time to spend with us.

My baby brother is ENGAGED!! (uncontrollable tears rolling down my face) I am so happy! I had no idea how much this moment would mean to me, but omgoodness, it means so much! Seeing my little brother find his happiness and his happily ever after, brings so much joy. Not just to me, but to everyone in our families. Justine, my soon to be sis-in-law, is one of the most caring, loving, selfless persons I know. The love she brings to our family is undeniable and I couldn’t be happier gaining her as my baby sister! Justine, you talented sweet soul, welcome to our family!

We love Christmas & family time! We chose not to do presents in our families. We value time and memories we make with each other and decided this year not to do Secret Santa, White Elephant or any gift exchanges. Of course we still got gifts for the kiddos, but between the siblings we’ve all decided not to. This was definitely hard for Mama Mary, as she loves to spoil us every year, but we really wanted to emphasize that we don’t need/want anything, nor do we have the space in our trailer – haha! After being away for always a year, spending time surrounded by family on the holidays was all that we wanted. Thank you Mama Mary for creating such a beautiful, memorable Christmas, as you do year after year. And thank you to Eric & Thi for hosting and for always making sure everyone is having a great time in your beautiful home.

Uncle Tan came to visit for the New Year and we went to Mt. High to go snowboarding! He originally wanted to go to Lake Tahoe but the roads were closed so he came to visit my parents instead. He has recently been learning how to snowboard and really wanted to go. Mike and I went with him on NYE! It was so much fun! I’ve only been a handful of times and I’m getting the hang up of it. I was so impressed to see my uncle out there, going up the lift over and over again and continuing to try! He’s going to be a pro in no time! Thank you Uncle Tan for getting us old kids out to play in the snow while you were in town. We always have such a great time when you’re around!

We spent our last week in Orange County at the beach! Waterfront RV Park was the first RV park we stayed at when we first got out rig back in 2020. It was nice to go back to the beachfront view. Our days instantly got sunnier and happier being by the ocean. We rode our newly converted electric bikes a few times up and down the coast. I enjoyed my walks on the beach, waking up to the beautiful sunrises, and ending our evenings with the ever so radiant HB sunsets. A week full of chores, errands & family! We started our time at home with family and of course ended with spending time with family time too.

We took off to Glamis for the MLK weekend before officially hitting the road again. Glamis is looking to be an annual thing for us. Hoping it is anyway! Growing up, Mike had always gone out to Glamis with the Moya’s & friends. Last year and this time around, we went to celebrate Pete’s birthday. We’ve been carrying around the huge stock of fireworks we bought in Wyoming since July. We finally had the best opportunity to light up the sky and have some fun! Mike was like a little kid again, competing with the neighbors and even welcoming Danny & Maribella with fireworks as they pulled up late on our last night, just to spend one night with us, we love you guys! Mike is known for making some yummy gummy bear drinks for the group. His drinks some how got Pete to start speaking Chinese as he was lighting up fireworks at midnight on his birthday. Oh the memories! We had such a great time with the best company. What a great way to send us off. A fun, relaxing, long weekend full of fireworks, food, camp fires & great friends. Thank you Moya’s & friends for everything!

And here’s a random photo dump of other misc memories made during our time in CA

Our time in CA was short and sweet. We got to spend so much time with family and friends. We cherished every moment with each and every single one of you and cannot wait to see everyone again.