We had a lovely extended weekend. We spent Sunday in the garden and relaxing, and on Monday we joined the family at my oldest niece's home for a family get-together. We don't have those often because of the sheer numbers when everyone actually comes along. Let's count, shall we?
My sister-in-law is the nominal head of the family, with DH and I in the second tier. After that come my sister-in-law's kids - Michael, Catie, David, Mark (who rarely appears at these and didn't this time either), Mary, Anne, Joe and John.
Michael and his wife Mary have three kids - but two were from her first husband and they never do the "family" thing. Their daughter, Emma, will often show up, though. Apparently this time, however, she was working as a barrista at a local coffee shop, and Michael's wife was dealing with some stuff with her parents, so he was solo.
Catie and Jet, at whose house we were, have two kids - Lexi and Flynn. They're both older, Flynn is in 9th grade now, Lexi will graduate either this year or next (not quite sure about that one).
David is a firm bachelor, so he came solo. He's one of my favorite nephews, though. Quick with a smile and a helping hand.
Then we have the girls - Mary and Anne. Both of them have three kids each, and they are at the same ages - when one was pregnant, the other also was, and their kids are within a month or so in ages down the line. So that's ten people right there. The kids kept busy driving the small tractor around the large yard, and jumping on the trampoline. Normally they would also have been in the above-ground pool, but Catie hadn't filled it until a few days ago and the chemicals still need to settle, so no swimming was allowed.
Joseph and his second wife Colleen were there. She's a delightful young woman, and he's also a lot of fun. Her daughter Anna was also with them. John and his wife Nicky (I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering her name properly this morning, but I think I'm right) were there, along with another young woman whom I don't think I've met before.
Add in DH and myself, and you've got a serious CROWD. This is my family - LOL. Now, I came from a family where I was the only child, and my Godmother (Mom's best friend) had two kids, my "Aunt" (actually a cousin) had one child, and my other aunt was childless. Family gatherings like what we have with DH's side of the family always leave me a little shell-shocked. In a good way, but dang ... its a LOT of people. But the best things is that I really like these people. I enjoy spending time with them, and the kids are great at self-entertaining, so that's good too. I'm not so god at kid-speak.
So that was my Memorial Day holiday weekend. We came home from the get-together, sat in the garden for a bit to decompress, and finally watched a couple of episodes of "Inspector Lewis" before switching over to the hockey game for a bit and calling it a night. I hope all of you had a lovely long weekend. No photos today because my youngest niece hasn't posted any yet and I was going to "steal" photos from her - LOL. Have an excellent Tuesday and Slava Ukraini.
No comments:
Post a Comment