My trip

Okie-dokey, I finally got around to dealing with the camera. Hey, it's been a busy week, deal with it! :-)

My Auntie Beth turned 80 last Saturday and my cousins threw a surprise party for her. My mom, a nephew, my sister & her kids, and my kids and I decided to surprise her even more and make the trip to visit her. Well, Mom, nephew, and sis all decided - DH and I couldn't decide for sure if my family was going or not until 9:30 Thursday night. I hadn't done any preparations, because we weren't sure if we were going, so I stayed up until about 3:30 doing laundry, packing food, etc. We left Friday morning at 7:30. It was a good thing I was following my mom up, and my sister rode with me, because it's a 10-hour drive!

It was so nice to visit with so many members of my extended family! I stayed with my cousin Jenni and her family. Jenni is so awesome... I decided that I want to be like her when I grow up. :-) Her kids are well-behaved, they offer (yes, you read right - they offer) to help, don't complain when asked to do something, and are so stinkin' cute! Her oldest son even gave up his bed so that I had a place to sleep. Her home has a sense of calm about it that I envy - she has 5 kids but has managed to keep clutter at bay - every surface was clear. I kept telling my kids to take notes, that's what a house is supposed to be like! LOL

I really enjoyed visiting with Beth and her kids, too. I even got to chat on the phone with her youngest son, who lives in Michigan and couldn't make it. I haven't seen him since his dad's funeral, which was almost 12 years ago. Beth's girls put together a memory book for Beth and I didn't quite get my page done the way I wanted to. I forgot to put down how she graciously offered her home to us to stay in whenever we were up visiting; how she always was up cooking breakfast before the rest of us even thought of rising; how she got my older boys hooked on homemade maple syrup and that's why I make it now, because after they had Auntie Beth's syrup, store-bought just wasn't good enough. (Although, mine doesn't taste quite as good as hers, according to the boys. And it's true. Hers is special.) I wanted to write how she is always doing something - usually service for another. She is such a Christ-like woman and I don't really remember her every really getting mad at any of us... even when my sister and I laughed hysterically after the pudding-in-the-blender incident! (Really, though, had you been there, you would have laughed, too. But as a testament to how nice she is, we didn't know until years later that she was so angry at us for laughing at her... she kept her cool, even while cleaning pudding off her face and out of the cupboards!) Anyway... I didn't get to add that her big hugs were always a highlight of visiting her. I can't believe that she's 80 now - she doesn't act like it at all. I love ya, Auntie Beth!

Here are some pics of the fun fun weekend...



This is Jenni's kids, Julia & Tad, letting themselves be abused by Little Man for his entertainment.



Not the most glamorous shot of Jenni, but I could never get a good candid pic... the woman never stops moving! Here she is fixing our breakfast.




The cousins... Jenni's 5 and my 4. Well, ok, 4 of Jenni's 5. The baby was napping when we did the group shots.



Jenni's baby is 24 days younger than Little Man. They got along famously, after they did a little getting-to-know-you wrestling! LOL


Sweet Girl is just over a year older than Meg, but that didn't matter... in the space of 2 days they became best buds and neither of them were very happy when it was time to leave Sunday.


I was sitting on the floor for a while at Beth's party. This is a shot of Little Man maneuvering his way through the sea of legs to come find me... I love his smile!