Vacation: Family (Biological and Non) Visits

Part of what I was looking forward to the most about vacation was the opportunity to see my family.  I love them so much, and being this far away from them is ridiculously hard.  I've always lived far away, but I always knew I could hop a plane and see them in a couple hours.  Now, it takes at least 14 on a good day to get to them.  It kills me.  So, I made sure I got the chance to see as many of them as I could.

We stopped in Kentucky to see my cousin and his wife (You've already seen the one good picture I got from that stop).  We stopped in my birth town to see some "family" that we came to call our own as I was growing up.  We stopped in Virginia to see my dad's family (Again, I've already put the best one up).  On my last day, a lot of my mom's family came to see me (I'll detail that on a later post).  Oh, and when I say "we," I mean my mom, my friend Alex (who may as well be a sister or cousin, the way we mix with each other's families), and myself.

It was renewing to my spirit to visit my family.  I never have to explain myself to my family; they know me and always have.  I can make an offhand comment, and they will know every layer of meaning it could have.  One of my favorite memories was when I was gathered with my mom's family, feeling crankier and crankier by the moment.  Finally, my cousin Becky said to me, in an exasperated tone, "Would you just eat something already?!"  When she finally convinced me to, it was only a matter of 10 minutes before I was perfectly cheerful again.  In spite of my protests of being not hungry, she knew that low blood sugar means a cranky Anne.  It's things like this that make me oh so glad for my family. I never need to explain my background, because they lived it with me.  Knowing the context that intimately makes every story so much better.

Now, for your viewing pleasuring, more photos of my time with my dad's family:

This is what time we arrived.

This is what my grandmother decided we needed.
Actually, this is more like a third of what she decided we needed.  :)
Alex's face expreses our sentiments.

These are some more festivities that took place - all of them in good taste, I think. ;)
Oh, and don't worry.  The kid loved this game.