87 Years Young

Last weekend we drove up to Reno to celebrate my grandmother's birthday with her twin sister and all our extended family. Between the two of them, Gandma and Auntie Pat had 21 kids. I have talked about their tendency to take 21 kids camping for weeks on end before. I am blessed to have both of my grandmothers still in my life and fixtures in my own kids' lives. It is really an honor to get to watch my kids interact with them. They refer to Granny as the one who goes on trips and out to breakfast with us and my Grandma as "the little Grandma who likes Sees Candies" and oh, how they love her for that.

The highway between Reno and Sacramento is very familiar. We would drive to Reno every few months to visit with my mother's 13 cousins and their kids. For some reason, since Aaron and I got married, we haven't gone up to Reno very often. Life gets busy and it's easy to forget people in the shuffle. The upcoming birthday party for these special ladies was the perfect excuse to remedy that situation. My mom was born on the same day, so we celebrated her as well (though she refused to let me take pictures of her, brat).

I followed my grandma and aunt a little like paparazzi, snapping picture every two seconds, eliciting teasing and jokes from my 60+ cousins. You think it's rough being given a hard time by YOUR faily? I promise getting hassled by my cousins Dennis and Ray and Gail and Daniel or the the twins (there are three sets in the family) can be rough. Luckily for me I can dish it out as mush as I can take it. As long as it isn't from my brothers, they still tick me off 90% of the time. Some things never change.

I get the last laugh, because not only do I have ridiculous photographs of ALL of them to snicker at whenever I want to, I also got amazing pictures of our honorable octogenarians for the family to enjoy for the years to come. Mwahahaha!

My cousins all live in great houses with spectacular views and easy hiking. We partied, laughed, hiked, gazed at sunsets and cityscapes while celebrating three great women. It was so sweet how tickled my great Aunt was that we came to the party and brought our kids. She was grinning from ear to ear and told me several times how happy she was that we came.

Happiest of Birthdays to Grandma, Auntie Pat and my Mom!!