Ok, so I have to admit... WE are the Long Lost Family. Due to Matt's work schedules, and my sometimes unreasonable fear of driving on certain freeways under certain driving conditions, it's been a long time since we saw some of our extended families. We decided to make an attempt to remedy that and we started with my mini-family reunion in June. I can't remember if I posted pictures of that one, and later when I have a chance to look back, I'll see and try to post a picture if I haven't.
Today, we attended another mini reunion/ end of summer get together with some of Matt's mom's family. We had three main reasons to go.... 1) Any excuse to go to Gramma's house and I take it. I love it that the kids have grandparents so close, even though we seldom get the chance to visit, it's still an awesome opportunity that I didn't have growing up. 2) Matt wanted to see his cousin Sarah, whom he hasn't seen in WAY too long. In fact, I think the last time we got to see Connie's family Sarah wasn't able to make it, so that makes it WAY WAY too long. And when matt heard she might be there, he decided we were going. 3) Matt wanted to see Grandpa Jack and since Grandpa Jack and Helen were hosting... Yay! We went!
And what kinda scrapper would I be if I didn't take pictures? :D By the way, please forgive me and feel free to comment on it if I misspell someone's name.
So, We decided that driving to Centralia, picking up Gramma, driving to Longview, driving back to Centralia, and then back home was seriously too much driving for Matt in one day. Even with me spelling him, it was going to be too much. So we left Saturday and spent the night at Gramma's house. YAY!!!! An Excuse to go to Gramma's house! Lizzie and Eli were SO excited. Eli wanted to pack Wednesday, and with a little convincing... ok a LOT of convincing, we got him to wait til Saturday after Mommy finished the laundry. And once we got to Gramma's house, you could find Eli doing his 2nd favorite activity at Gramma's house. He played Bejeweled on the computer...
Except for Oscar the poodle currently masquerading as a chubby, furry, white ball of whiny fluff, leaving Saturday proved to be a fantastic idea. (Oscar spent the night trying to protect me from every train or car that passed by outside. I spent the night trying to keep Oscar from waking up everyone on the second floor.)
When we first arrived at Grandpa Jack's house, Lizzie was introduced to Hallie. And Lizzie and Hallie were glued together for most of the rest of our visit. I do believe the brief time food was being served and the time Hallie spent snuggling with her Daddy after colliding with on of her cousins head first... Yup, I think those were the only times they were separated.
At one point, Matt was recruited to do Paige-trailing duty (you know... when a parent trails a toddler somehow related to them to keep them out of danger). We recruited him when we realized that out of Sarah's parents, Matt's mom, Sarah, Matt and Myself, he was the only one outside. He didn't seem to mind, and in fact was so cute showing her the little garden in the corner of the yard. I grabbed my camera to get a picture when they decided to head back and we saw Paige holding hands with Matt and Eli. Too cute to miss!!!
Now, you might not have figured it out, but I really am not a big fan of planned pictures. I like the ones you catch of people actually living life. It shows so much more of what's going on around you than the posed ones. Don't get me wrong, sometimes posed photos are the only way you can get a larger group. And sometimes the unposed pictures are the best. Although I guess I should say planned posed... My favorite family photos of my crew were posed but totally unplanned ones my sister took when we were visiting her in Florida in 2002.
Anyway, I got this picture of Matt, Sarah, Diane and Connie while Matt was showing Sarah one of his favorite card tricks. Remember once when I said that being a geek and a dork in my house wasn't a bad thing? Well, Matt's my geek and he loves card tricks, especially math ones and this card trick is one of his favorite because it's not only a card trick, it's a mathematical card trick. And he had fun showing it to his science/math teacher cousin. :) (BTW... Paige was being followed by her Grandpa while the rest of us were card sharking it on the sunporch.)
This was part two of the Return of the Long Lost Family. It's been too long since we spent time with family and we're all so glad we got the chance to go this weekend. We arrived home happy and tired, but feeling better about being away from home. I'm not sure who we will get to see in Part three, although I really wish it was my sister, Amber.... Or my Gramma Lex... Or my Auntie Grandy... Or.... We have a lot of family we haven't seen, can ya tell?
SMOOCHIES YA'LL!!! Enjoy your week!
PS:
Sarah... You're right. It's been so long, and I'm very glad we got to see you and meet Paige.
Hillary... Gush away about your travels and family! We love it here!
Amber... Kiss the kids for me! Just felt like saying that!
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