family reunion accomplished

[lizziebelle]

fire good, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I had a good time visiting the family in Binghamton this weekend. We are a wild and crazy bunch, and I wouldn't have it any other way. :)


The cousins made the annual pilgrimage to Denny's, where they put us all by ourselves in the way back room (perhaps they remember us from last year?) and gave us a carafe of creamer instead of individual ones. So we stacked jelly packets.



Which, as it turns out, are a lot less messy when they fall over. *g*



We stopped at the store to get s'mores fixins, and gathered around the lovely outdoor fire thingy (pictured above) and assembled them. They were quite yummy. We then stayed up much too late, catching up and laughing lots.

Saturday morning, we went to the cemetery for the memorial for my aunt Pippi. It was quite emotional, especially when I looked around at all the markers for people I have loved. That's the hardest thing about getting older, I think: losing loved ones. I put stones on everyone's gravestones, and remembered them.

I really had to smile at this one, though. It's right next to Pippi's.



This is the view from the cemetery, near my grandparents' graves:



It's like this all around, nothing but hills and sky. So beautiful.

Then we all gathered at the farm, where it was a perfect day for a family picnic.

They rented a bounce house for the kids. That's my brother and his wife in there, with my cousin Sara's son, Josh.



The more things change, the more they stay the same! *g*

Speaking of which, we went on the annual hayride (sans hay). There were 42 of us on the wagon.



Aunt Sharon's flower garden is as beautiful as ever. I captured this hummingbird moth with my lens. He was so quick!



It was great to see all the little ones, and meet the newest members of the family.



My cousin Cheryl couldn't come with her new baby, because she's too new to be meeting lots of people. That was a bummer. There were three other babies to coo over and pass around, though. :)

I think Izzy here demonstrates perfectly how we all felt by the end of the day.



Tired and happy. :)

I went out and picked some sweet pea pods so I can plant them around here. I miss seeing sweet peas along the road, like in NY state. I am determined to spread them here in MA.



We ate even more last night. Spiedies (of course), and ice cream cake. We were too tired to make more s'mores. We watched the DVD my uncle made, featuring lots of old pictures that various people sent him. That was fun.

I scored a jar of my cousin Annie's sweet garlic jelly (OMG, yum. It sounds weird, but it's so good) and a CD from my brother with a cool song about witches dancing around a fire.

The trip home was uneventful. After uploading all the pix, I went for a nice walk. It will be an early bedtime tonight, I'm sure!

How was your weekend?