Family Reunion

Oh boy, what a fun summer it's been! Except for taking a full courseload and all. Summer quarter has been over for a few weeks though, and I've been enjoying having extra time to relax.

Last weekend was the big family reunion. It wasn't really that big, since my dad's side of the family is fairly small. He has two brothers and one sister, and only one of those has any kids: one cousin (Betsy) lives in Seattle, and the other (Josh) lives in LA and works in the, umm... film industry. Anyhow, my Aunt Fran flew out from Maryland (her husband stayed behind), my dad flew in from California (my mom stayed behind), and my Uncle John and Aunt Becky came up from Colorado; my Uncle Bill and Aunt Susie live in town, so they acted as tour guides and chauffeurs. My dad and Aunt Fran got in on Thursday afternoon, so we walked around the Sculpture Park before being joined by David and Betsy and heading over to Westlake Center for a Public Option rally. Then we went to Happy Hour at a Japanese restaurant for dinner and hung out for a little bit before coming back to our apt with my dad.

The next morning, I did a couple hours of work, then we went to Best Buy because my Uncle has a temper and somehow killed his computer. I've said it before and I will say it again: my family is very tall. One 6'8" guy draws sideways glances, but two of them together draws stares; my dad and Uncle Bill are both this height, so going out in public is always fun. Anyhow, after a successful best Buy adventure (my Aunt and Uncle left with a netbook, which, now a week later, they still have not figured out) we headed out to the Locks for lunch and to watch the salmon. We hung out again at my Uncle's before going to another Happy Hour for dinner. David joined us after that, while we waited for Uncle John and Aunt Becky to get in.

The following morning, the siblings headed out somewhere to visit some other relatives, and Aunts Susie and Becky headed to Bill and Susie's place on the Hood Canal. David and I chilled here. I can't really remember what we did, but the following morning we too headed to the Hood Canal. It was raining pretty hard, so we stayed inside, played cards, drank beer and ate food. The old folk shared family stories, most of which involve a shared dislike for their father, who apparently was kinda a jerk. Uncle Bill just turned 65, so we celebrated that as well.

We stayed the night, and the next morning my dad headed to Anchorage to see my brother, and David and I headed home. Yesterday, which was my Uncle's actual birthday, my Dad stopped in on his way home from Alaska, and we all went out to celebrate again. We hung out over there for a while, then came back here. I'll see him again in a few days: I'm going home for a week starting Wednesday.