It's a family thing?

My dad had eight sisters.  Eight!  Can you imagine?

 

He also had three brothers which gave me 22 aunts and uncles,

about a gazillion cousins and when you start removing and seconding cousins,

about a mega million of them...

(I can never remember how the pecking order goes, with once removed, twice removed and seconds)

 

Sadly, my dad and all but three aunts and an uncle are gone,

One of my aunts lives in Maryland...

I don't get to see her very often, but last Saturday,

 Aunt Helen, her son and daughter-in-law, went on a road trip and came to town!

 

As many as could make it,

 (which was 6 cousins, 3 spouses, three cousin's kids and two cousin's kids-kids

 plus two aunts, my mom and a guest) got together at a local restaurant.

 

Oh my...the laughter, the food talk, the catching up and of course, the hugging that went on...

 

I love this picture of my two aunts and me...

 

 

And then we got Mom into the act...

(Look at my mom...she'll be 84 next week!)

 

 

 

Aren't we a classy bunch?

See Tony on the left?

 

And the same bunch from the other end...

 

 

We're in the regenerating mode...

we don't have many little kids these days,

but my cousin, Anthony, and I just had new grandsons this past year...

 

Right now, we don't need a kids' table, but we still have one...

 

 

My cousin's daughter and son, and two grandsons...

 

I love it when we all get together! 

 

Families are the best!

 

 

 

 

 

Super Sunday!

My family got together yesterday for our 'not quite' holiday dinner.

 

When my kids became adults and adopted other families,

 we began celebrating on off weeks for most holidays

 (other than Christmas Eve, which is mandatory). 

 This was our 'not quite' Easter dinner in more ways than one...

there wasn't an egg in sight!

 

Noelle, Winnie and Tony came motoring up first...

 

 

They were out enjoying the wonderful weather...

 

They hit up the park for a doggie walk...

 

 

 

With a stop at the batting cages for good measure...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By time they got to the house, Winnie was pooped

but Tony and Noelle had energy to spare...

 

And tossed a football around

 

 

 

 

They even tried to get Michael and Catherine to join in...

 

 

Catherine said no...

and NO PICTURES and hid behind the bushes!

 

So they kept on playing...

 

 

No...Mr.K was not joining in the game, he was picking up twigs, lol!

 

 

 

 

I think they burned off enough energy to eat all of these...

 

 

And of course, Catherine's famous apple pie.

Seriously, even if they didn't want to show up,

if I promise her apple pie, they would come!

 

 

 

 

For our 'not quite' Easter dinner, I don't set a formal table, but we eat buffet style.

 

Tony and Noelle said that when you go to a sporting banquet, this is how you save your seats...

 

 

 

I give up...

 

We did manage to sit down and enjoy our dinner together. 

 

 

I love it when we get together!

 

Of course,

 

the guest of honor was...

 

 

who brought his parents, Andy and  (a very camera shy)  Ashley...

 

 

 

Locklan wasn't even impressed with all the attention he got from Michael and Vicky...

 

 

 

 

Or his great grandmother...

 

 

No, he's not picking his nose!

 

In fact, he didn't even seem impressed with the chair I just couldn't pass up on Saturday...

 

 

Won't this be great for the river?

 

Jamie was here too...I know 'cause Mr. K conned him into

helping take the boat out of the garage...

 

 

 

Cause you know...I complained that I had nowhere to park my car...

So they moved it to the driveway?!?

 

~HELLO!~

~sigh~

 

Now I can relax a bit...

I'm working on dish cloths again...

 

 

It's mindless knitting so that I can be productive while sitting here...

 

 

enjoying the sun...

 

AND planning my next adventure!

 

Stay tuned!

Jan