Citizenship Ceremony

On Thursday we went to my SIL's citizenship ceremony in Montebello. I was excited to go since I had never been, and of course I was excited for her because it's been a long expensive pain-in-the-butt road for her to become a US citizen.

The kids were very good on the drive up. We got stuck in a little traffic, but were glad we left the house when we did so we missed this accident. We got there in plenty of time but the line of immigrants stretched way down the hill from the building and the line of friends and family was just as long going the other direction from the building. It was hot, so David's brother took the kids to a shady spot and they entertained themselves with the bag I had packed to keep them busy. We could not get over how many people were there. It was incredible. When we finally got into the ceremony we found out there were 907 people becoming citizens in that session, and that was the third ceremony of the day! Crazy! We just had no idea. This picture doesn't really do the room justice. There was standing room only for the last people that got in, and we barely got in. They can only fit so many people in that room, huge as it is, and some people don't get in to see their loved ones become citizens, even after waiting all that time. Crazy crazy crazy. It was an adventure, and I'm glad we got to go.
Here she is, the new citizen. Congratulations!I dressed us all in patriotic colors. How excited do my kids look? Ha ha That's better; a little food makes everybody happier. We all went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill to celebrate. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!