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My uncle (Mom’s oldest brother) and his family have lived in Tennessee for as long as I can remember. It was always a special time when they came out to California for a visit – girl-cousin time! My cousin A is 3 years older than me and M is 3 years younger. When we got together it was as if we’d never been apart. When I was 17 I got to fly to TN by myself and visit them during the summer. M and I were BFFs during that time and A drove us around, mature college student that she was.

Uncle D and cousin M came on various visits since then, but I hadn’t seen Aunt N or cousin A in 14 years! This year they all came to CA, including A’s husband and 3 year old son. At first it seemed that I wouldn’t be able to see them, since they were coming the week before our Thanksgiving traveling. But the stars (my job, our travel plans, and Amtrak) aligned and I got to go down to Redding and catch them while they were visiting my other uncle, aunt, and cousins.

I took the train. The only drawback (besides 9 hours in a moving vehicle) was that it arrived in Redding at 2 am. My Saint, I mean Aunt, picked me up at the station and I crawled into cousin M’s bed, just like old times when we were teens.

It was a great visit.

On Friday the ladies went Junkin.’ My Aunt N is a professional antique store treasure-hunter and her daughters are right up there with her. We browsed vintage lingerie and antique glassware and had a great time. That night we filled an entire section of high school gym bleachers to cheer for my cousin DR (my uncle’s namesake) in his basketball game/fundraiser night.

On Saturday we drove to Burney Falls. It was beautiful day, and a lovely drive, minus a bit of carsickness for the 3 of us girls in the back of the big rental van. My Uncle P was also with us, visiting from San Francisco, and it was fun to see the 3 brothers together.

On Saturday night Aunt M’s sister hosted all of us for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently gracious hospitality runs in their family! It was a lovely party and it included a magic show provided by PW, cousin A’s husband.

I had such a great time, re-connecting with my cousins and meeting the added members of their bunch. It made me wish we all lived in the same city and could be together all the time.

What a great-looking family, huh?

After the Tennessee folks had departed, I stayed 3 more days with J & M and their kids. That was such a nice, relaxing visit. They have a beautiful home outside of Redding, with spreading oaks and horse ranches nearby. It’s soooooo quiet there. BN arrived on Tuesday night, and we drove to Tahoe on Wednesday morning.

… other than the new babies:

My mom hosted a family gathering on Saturday, and it was great to see my grandparents, some aunts and uncles, and have mostly everyone together.

We went to Great America to get a roller-coaster fix, we hadn’t been to any theme parks since before we were married. It was a good day, sunny but not too hot, and not crowded at all. The main flaw was that Flight Deck (previously known as Top Gun) and Invertigo, the two most popular and exciting roller coasters, were closed for the day. Boo. My favorite ride that we did go on was Survivor the Ride, where you sit facing out on a big rotating disk (with about 25 other people) and it travels on a swooping track while it turns. Lots O Fun.

We visited my brother and sister-in-law at their new house in Gilroy. It’s new, beautiful, and huge – you could fit our entire apartment into their master suite. What I really envied them for, though, is the closet space and the little office alcove. We brought pizza fixins and had a nice visit with them.

BN’s mom hosted a dinner with several of his siblings and their kids, in her beautiful backyard that she’s been working on landscaping the last few years. Lovely roses.

I went out for lunch with my freelancing partner IK (I do contract design work for her firm) and a fellow designer that I hadn’t met in person before, IL. I love the flexibility of working at home, and the opportunities available for working remotely, but it’s great to get some “face time” with the girls I spend so much time on the phone and email with!

I also met my friend FT for lunch, this was our first time meeting since I had moved out of state. We graduated together from the SJSU design program (9 years ago!) and had been in touch off and on, until recently when we re-connected on Facebook and became loyal readers of each others blogs. We had a wonderful time catching up on each others lives and talking about family, faith/philosophy, science, and even a bit of politics. I wish we lived near each other – FT would make a great next door neighbor.

The food bloggers meet over vegan-Asian-fusion cuisine - delicious!

I also visited two other dear friends. JI’s day took a downturn right after I arrived, but I was glad to at least see her for a little bit, and see how her boys are growing… so fast! I visited TS twice in one day – breakfast with her and the kids, and then some more intensive KT&T time in the evening, both of our husbands were away on camping trips.

BN got to go camping with my brother, his father-in-law and brother-in-law, my dad, and my little brother. The 6 of them had a great time, including BN’s first time sailing.

BN’s dad was also out of town for the weekend so I got to hang out on Saturday with BN’s stepmom. Lunch, a little bit of shopping, and she got a peep at my baby nephew too.

Because RC was on the camping trip I got to top-bunk-it in GC’s room. It’s been a long time since I shared a bunk bed with a sister! We got some good chat time in on this visit. I got a walk to the mall in with MA and HN, GC, MA and I played Taboo. HN and I did our best but it’s hard to beat a team of sisters who see each other every day and have so many inside jokes and shared experiences. Coonskin cap? “The King of the Wild Frontier wears this!”

Whew… It was a packed week and couple of weekends! More family time to look forward to when we go to Hawaii.

Last week we were in California visiting family, including 2 new members – my sister’s son JWS and BN’s brother’s daughter EAA. I had been so eager to meet these two little ones – Facebook pictures are not enough!

Little E was born in March. She has wonderful sparkly blue eyes and pink cheeks. She’s a little character already, and we can see resemblance between her and both of her parents. She hit it off with her uncle BN right away. We are so glad to welcome this precious little girl to the family.

It was a special treat to meet my little nephew, the first grandchild on my side of the family. My sister is a terrific mommy, and she and my brother-in-law are having a great time with J. They are a bit sleep-deprived, but happy. I’m so glad I got to see him at 4 weeks old – still very new. He’s a super-baldy, just like my siblings were, and he’s got a serious forehead that reminds me of his mom’s baby pictures. He’s too young to really be smiling yet but when he does he’ll have dimples like her, too. He has a perfect little cleft-chin, taking after his dad. I was struck by his long fingers and toes. He likes to wave his hands around and with those long fingers I think he should become a musician someday.

My favorite time was when he was on the changing table, all clean and dry, looking around and wiggling his arms and legs. His aunts have a new hobby – baby-gazing. He’s just so fun to watch.

It was fun for me to see my little sisters with the baby, it really brought back memories of when they were born – I was HN’s age when GC was born, and GC’s age when HN was born!

My mom is a lucky grandma… J lives just a block away! (Lucky for J’s mom, too!)

And here he is with me, proud Aunt KT:

Who is this lady? She kind of reminds me of my mom...

Next time I see him he’ll be 6 months old. I wonder if he’ll remember me?