Being an Honorary Wisconsonite

So last week for Thanksgiving, we spent it for the first time with Paul's family in Wisconsin. It was a very interesting and fun experience. Usually for family holidays, we stay in town and celebrate it with Paul's immediate family or we'll visit my family in Hawaii. I give Paul a lot of credit because my family is HUGE. He is always bombarded by our culture and our eccentric personalities when we come together on my side, and there's not that many tall, white guys that are in our family; so he literally stands out. So it was my turn to be subjected meeting new people and learning new names. I was definitely the only full-blooded Filipino that I saw, but fortunately Saqi (my brother-in-law/Kathryn's husband) was there so I wasn't the only "brown" person. I am always surprised interacting with Paul's family. Every single one of them are warm and welcoming. Even before we got married, I had always felt like a part of the family; so I wasn't exactly nervous. It was just a formality to get to meet and greet everyone in person. I've heard so many stories about them all for so long (6 years) that I feel that I already know them. Luckily for me, Paul's family is not very huge. He has about 2 cousins (there's a couple half cousins that we haven't met, too) compared to my 60+ first cousins. I don't even know who all my cousins are.

We took the red eye on Tues...On a side note: My recommendation is not to fly Midwest Airlines again because they don't pre-assign seats together for travelers flying together, and that was annoying. When we got to the gate they gave us the only seats together which was in the emergency aisle, but the seats didn't recline. It was really horrible, and we did not sleep very much on that flight.

On the day, we visited Paul's Mom's cousin, Nick, and his family on the first night. We met their 2 cats, 2 dogs (including a gigantic greyhound), 2 kids, and we made pizzas. Their family was really fun to talk to, and we were lucky enough to get snow as well. It was falling pretty heavily. I took pictures and got to wipe the snow off the car. It was fun! I'm sure that the Wisconsinites dreaded the snowfall, but I never get to see it very much so for me, it was a real treat. Lucky for them, the snow didn't stick around. For the next few days, we had some really great sun. Of course the temperature average for the day was in the 30s-40s, but it was really nice.

So highlights of the trip: hung out with Grandma/Grandpa Beckman, Uncle Mark, Aunt Jan, Cousin Stacey, Cousin Jill, Great Aunt Janete, Great Grandma Perinovic, Aunt Pam, Aunt Sue, and all the pets! We took a ton of photos of the botanical gardens at the Domes. My favorite was the desert Dome. We had a taste of true Wisconsin cheese, custard, and beers. We visited Lambeau Stadium, and got some Green Bay Packer stuff. We talked to the family members and got the dirt on Mom and Dad Mendoza when they were growing up.

It was such a fun trip, and we miss it already. There was still so much to do and see. We have to visit a curling club. There's one next to where the Grandparents live. Aunt Janete will teach us how to make stain glass. And I would love to see the Dwells (interesting land formations) and the House on the Rock (a house filled with all sorts of nicknacks) We're planning another trip back. We could be there as soon as February if the men's and women's teams qualify for Club Nationals which will be held in Madison this year. Everyone cross your fingers.

It's kind of nice having a connection to the Midwest. I feel very honored to be a part of Paul's family, and I look forward to our next trip. Maybe we'll see more snow...