On Sunday Abe got up at around 6am so he could go help Vince wake up so Vince could be ready in time for church. It was rather important that Vince be not more than an hour late for church because he was supposed to get the gift of the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting, and we weren’t sure what the bishop would do if Vince were late. Thankfully, Vince made it and everything turned out perfectly.
I missed this part of church because the kids slept in quite late. As soon as they got up, I fed them breakfast in bed and got them all ready for church. Then we watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them until Abe came and picked us up for church.
We fell in love with Vince’s Long Beach ward. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. In Relief Society the teacher made the original move of showing a Saturday Night Live skit about Michael Jordan saying affirmations. The lesson was on being a child of God, and the skit was quite funny and surprisingly relevant.
Brother Richardson joined us at the end of church, and it is always a great treat to see him. He came to lunch at the hotel with us afterward. Vince talked about his spiritual journey, and Brother Richardson listened and also occasionally chipped in with his usual wise counsel.
After lunch, we checked out and drove to San Juan Capistrano, where Brother Richardson joined us again–much to our great delight. We wandered the old mission and Brother Richardson helped us keep track of Ammon, whom we lost at least once. I love San Juan Capistrano and have great memories of attending an Easter Sunday mass there when I was a kid. I would have liked to attend mass that day too, but our kids were churched out and we were limited on time. After the tour, though, Brother Richardson did take us all out to his favorite local gelato place.
Then we said goodbye to Brother Richardson and drove down to the KOA in Chula Vista where we set up camp on site 3501. We decided to camp in San Diego because it saved us a TON of money and also because we actually enjoy it. Abe positively prefers it, and I enjoy it too. The kids seem to do really well in the tent and love their sleeping bags. The KOA was insanely kid friendly, too. There were more things for the kids to do than we possibly had time for.
After we set up camp, we drove to an Italian restaurant that was open late. Thankfully, all of our kids fell asleep on the way home and we peacefully transitioned them to their sleeping bags. Abe and I had not pumped up our air mattress very well, so that night it kind of collapsed while we were sleeping…but that just added to the sense of adventure!