Family Vacations

While my mom was still in Vancouver, Auntie Paula's family went there for a family vacation. My grandma, mom and Emily joined them for a visit of the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. The last time my mom went there was about a quarter of a century ago. The trip brought back fond memories of her visit there with my dad. I was there too - a chubby kid of 10 months old.

Our extended family used to go on vacations together every summer until some of the cousins started to attend university. Summer school and summer jobs made it difficult to find a suitable time. Initially, our family did not join the group vacations as my mom generally drove to New York to visit her brother's family, or to San Francisco to visit her cousins. My mom stopped long distance driving temporarily after she had 4 motor vehicle accidents (October 1992, January 1993, February 1994, July 1994).

My mom decided to particpate in the "extended family vacation" in 1994. Our family went as "passengers". My mom missed the driving and the convenience of being in our own vehicle. It was definitely easier to look after me in our van.

It was a big group of 32 family members. When our gang pulled into a gas station, we saw a banner on the roof of MacDonald's stating "Kids eat free after 5 pm". It was after 5 pm. and we had kids. An auntie went over to check it out and confirmed that when an adult purchased a meal, the accompanied child can get a kid's meal for free. Perfect! We had 16 adults and 16 kids. This could be a historical moment for this MacDonald's in a small town having 32 Chinese customers marching in at the same time. The waitress serving us was overwhelmed by taking such a big order. She made mistakes with our drinks so that we ended up with many extra pops. We also had so much french fries that the kids could eat to their hearts' content. There must have been a lot of pops and french fries that 16 kids could not finish them all.