I’ve been home from California for five days. And I still haven’t given you a good recap of our week. It wasn’t one of those big event-driven weeks. We didn’t even *gasp* go to Disneyland. But what we did was spend some good quality time as a family.
My dad has 4 sisters. They’ve lived in California as long as I can remember (they lived in TX awhile, too) and for several years (like 8 or more) we didn’t see them at all. Then the last few years, I guess with the oldest cousins all getting married, we’ve been seeing each other every year. And I can’t describe how wonderful it is.
My only family in Atlanta is my aunt and one cousin. So, to see a big huge group of 20+ family members is a blast. I love discovering that one of my cousins has the same little toe as me, or likes the same kind of things I do, or hearing someone laugh just like Daddy.
This week, our main focus was the rehearsal dinner and wedding for my oldest boy cousin, Paul. We had the rehearsal dinner at my Aunt Carol’s house. And it was gorgeous. Just look at the flowers that were the centerpieces!
Of course, it was about 100 degrees during the rehearsal dinner, but with a view like this, it’s kinda hard to complain. (Even though I did my fair share.)
The wedding the next day was gorgeous. Two of my cousins were bridesmaids, two of my (?) cousin-in-laws were groomsmen and 3 of of my 2nd cousins were the flowergirls & ringbearer!
Paul and his bride, Tera cried the entire time which made me do the same. And one of my favorite things was that she wore the bracelet I wore in my wedding! It was a gift from my (and Paul’s) grandmother who died in 2006. It was special to see it on her wrist.
After all the wedding bidness was over, it was time for some hang out time. Daddy had all the smallest girl cousins over for a slumber party.
We swam at Aunt Carol & Uncle Joe’s pool, where he put dishwashing detergent in the jacuzzi for a little extra fun.
But my favorite picture of the week, was all the cousins in a long line–in birth order. And who’s at the front? ME! Those are the privileges of being the firstborn. (It doesn’t take much to make my happy, obviously.)
If I ever get my Disney Cruise done on my vacation blog, I’ll tackle this vacation next. I took some pretty good pictures of all our food. Because I know, that’s what you totally wanted to see most.
{ 12 comments }
