Welcome back... in 2016 + Family Reunion 2015.

Hello. 

Wow, it has been... my last blog post was August 27th, 2014 and today's date is October 4th, 2016.  It is safe to say that an interesting two years passed by within a blink of an eye.  Last time I said I had a little over a year left before graduation--- and as of today, I hold a Biology degree with no job.

Graduation came fast, suffering through those science courses--- it wasn't that it was hard, but I had no motivation, no dreams, nothing at the time.  All I wanted was to graduate and start working right away.  Of course, with no experience, how should we put it... no one is going to want to hire anybody like that.  I graduated last December (2015) and already December is approaching and it will almost be a full year since graduation.  I have not done anything that will contribute to my future life.  It is kind of sad.  I started working temporarily/contracted at this one place, got promoted twice to two different positions and was kept there.  I worked for 6 months and put in my two weeks notice.  I kind of regret it now, but at the same time, I went into work everyday praying in the car to have a good day and for the job flow to be tolerable.  I feel so lost.  My managers, supervisor, and all the bosses were very kind to me and looked upon me desirably... but I don't know.  It's me.  I should've bit my lips and pray some more for strength to keep on working.  I've been unemployed for a month now and I'm not sure what the future will be holding for me.  I have been applying to jobs almost every single day.  I had two interviews thus far and those didn't go well either because obviously, I am still unemployed.  I have received many rejections via e-mail too.  I thought life before graduation was hard, but life after graduation when loans kick in is worse.  I don't know anymore. 

Anyways, I also mentioned that we had a big trip coming up in my last blog.  We took a family trip to California to visit my mom's side of the family.  We had a huge family reunion with all of my mom's siblings and my grandparents.  My aunt and her family also flew from North Carolina to meet up with the rest of the family members spread out in California.  We flew to Las Vegas to meet with half the family who drove out to Las Vegas also to see us and then my aunt them flew from North Carolina to Las Vegas also the following day.  I'll share a couple photos from our trip below from the first and second day of our trip and stay in Las Vegas. 

Siblings and I all on one side and my parents on the other side.

Apple juice is the way to go on the plane!  And my parents on the other side.

Arrived in Las Vegas Airport and had to take the train (?) to get our luggage.

Isn't this breath-taking?  My dad was a truck driver and drove pass this location during one of his trips and said one day he would take my mom to see it if there was an opportunity and I guess Summer 2015 was the opportunity. 

Myself with our 15 passenger rental.  My family consist of 8 and we wanted something big enough so we can fit my grandparents in and take them places with us too.

These fishes were bigger than my thunder thighs!

Family amazed by how many fishes there were and the sizes.

The back view from the hotel.

My uncle, youngest brother and I in front of the Flamingo, Las Vegas waterfall sign. 

Sriracha flavored popcorn.. it was kind of cool but nope we didn't buy it.

My parents and two sisters relaxing in the air conditioned hotel room after a few hours of burning heat in the Las Vegas weather.  We really did not do much and was not able to do much because the heat was way too extreme.  We managed to go out to see a couple of the nearby hotels but my dad and brother gave in and stayed back in the rooms.

The sunset from our hotel room!

Observing people from our room since we faced the inner strip.

The watershow!  My mom loved it!

Eiffel Tower 

Exhausted little sister from our night walk.

My grandpa is a beast! While all of us lazy bums and out of shape beings were on the escalator, he charged forward on the stairs.  Amazing man.  And of course, grandma followed him. Hehe

Sister and brother with the tornado water pillars in... I forgot which hotel it was. Arias? Not sure.

Momma, sister, brother and I with the magical apple tree.

Las Vegas strip at night!  Took this from one of the escalators on the street.

Woke up early next morning to go swimming with the family.  I am so disappointed in the pool regulations.  When I went in 2011 with my friends, the pool was 18+ and in 2015 they changed it to 21+ and was such a disappointment because not everyone could get in and the "family" pool was lame. So lame. So we ended up all going back into the family pool because only 4 of us went into the 21+ pool and sighs... I'm disappointed in you Flamingo!

Came back from swimming with the family to get ready to go out and explore some more.  With the brothers. 

The heat was horrendous! You see that water mist on the side? We were all fighting to walk next to it to keep us as cool as possible out on the strip.  Brother with his peace sign like always.

Going back to our hotel and down the escalator on the street.

Mom, aunts, grandma, sisters and I.  This photo was taken inside the shopping area of the hotel Planet Hollywood. 

Inside the Casino of the Planet Hollywood Hotel.

Family being entertained by some musicians? I don't remember what they were looking at since my focus was to capture as many photos of my family members as a group.  As you can see, half of them didn't even know I took the photo and half of them are like whatttt? Hehehe.

Made our way into the Venetian shopping area known as the Grand Canal Shoppes.  This place was amazing.  By far, probably my most favorite place of the entire Las Vegas Strip.  The "fake" clouds were amazing and the structure of the Eastern style buildings and designs were phenomenal.

My two younger sisters and two younger brothers.  We were all amazed by how much flowers were used to decorate this place.  And of course had to stand in front of one of the beautiful masked lady for a photo. 

Just another shot of us being tourists. Hehe.

Youngest brother outside of the Venetian.

Sister, Mom, and brother on our way back from the Venetian to our hotel.  The heat was killer!

Had to take another photo on our way back from the Venetian.  Our hotel was not that far anymore at this point.  The Paris hotel and Planet Hollywood was only a few down from the Flamingo.

Another shot from our window in our room.

Waiting for my dad to bring up the pizza we ordered for dinner.  All we ate was boiled chicken so far so we needed something else for dinner and agreed on pizza.

Checking out of the hotel and will be on our way to see the rest of the family in California.

I don't eat much fast food, but for the first time in my life, I found out that Mcdonald's serve pancakes. Say what!!!!! My parents bought my siblings and I Mcdonald's for breakfast.  Mine of course... this since I never knew that they had this until I saw my sister eating it and wanted the same thing. Lol. Newbs!

On our last day in Las Vegas on the drive back to California, we stopped by the Hoover Dam and oh my it was beautiful!  The only thing that really ruined it for me was the heat.  It was so hot and hard to be out there for more than an hour.  I guess that is why it is the desert.  And will you just look at where the water level use to be years and years ago.  Is that not amazing or what?  And the color of the water too!!

Brother peacing it out.  Such an amazing place minus the heat. 

Siblings and little cousins.  The little ones decided they wanted to hitch a ride with us for a couple hours on the way back to California.  It was a long 8 hour drive!

I have tons of photos to share, but since this blog is getting long I will end it here for today.  We spent about 2 weeks or so with our family and it was amazing.  I learned so much and met so many new little cousins since the last time our family visited which was whew... 15 years ago? Or so? We visited my mom's side of the family for the first time back in 2001? I think. I was a 6th grader then or something like that.  It's amazing how no one was married besides my uncle, mom, and two aunts, but now this time around, everyone but my youngest uncle is married and have kids.  What's even more amazing is that my parents threw my siblings and I a graduation party and we had another semi-family reunion with my mom's side of the family again during the following summer (which was this past summer of 2016) and had a great time.  That will be saved for another blog.  

I'm bad with promises so I won't promise myself to post regularly, but since I have nothing to do these days until I land a job I might as well continue blogging and updating.  I don't even know if anyone still follows or even log onto read blogs anymore. Oh well. 

Oh by the way, our family vlog for this trip is shared on YouTube for our family and friends to follow along with.  You can check it out here (day 1) and here (day 2) (contain footage from this blog).

XOXOMNT