A Mini-Reunion

My blessing message for this post is that I am thankful that we had the opportunity to reconnect with one of my cousins!

My cousin Tim and his wife and three daughters were in Orlando this past week for a vacation. They traveled from Canada to take the girls to Disney and Sea World for a week of fun and laughs and memories, and I really hope they got all that and more. My parents and I drove down to Orlando (it's only 2 hours from my home, so not a bad run at all) on Wednesday this week and met them for breakfast on Thursday morning, and then we all went to Sea World together for the day. We drove back home Friday and then Tim and his family flew back to Canada this morning.

I haven't seen my cousin in at least 12 years. I don't even know if it was summer of 1997 or 1998 when I last saw him...it's just been so long that I don't remember! I only got to meet his wife once or twice, and I had never met his daughters (his oldest will be 11 this year, so none of them had been born when I was last in Canada visiting family). My parents try to visit him once a year during their annual trip to visit my mom's sisters, so they've gotten to watch his girls grow up. They're all very sweet and kind and just as pretty on the inside as they are on the outside. It was so nice to meet them and spend time with them. Megan and Jeremy were also very happy to have them along for the day at Sea World! I confess that my kids weren't exactly on their best behavior that day though. I suppose when you figure they had less than eight hours of sleep the night before (as opposed to their usual 10-11), and no break for a nap at the park all day, I couldn't have realistically expected them to be perfect angels. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I took lots of pictures to remember it by. Kate, the youngest, and Ali, the oldest, were both chosen to participate in a show at some point during the day, so that was also very entertaining!

Jeremy took a special shine to Tim (even if he didn't want to smile for the photo at left...he kept asking Tim to pick him up and show him all the animals). I think Jeremy really missed his daddy on the trip. Unfortunately, Steve had to work and couldn't join us in Orlando, but we're planning to get down to Sea World for a visit again sometime soon, just the four of us. My parents now have Fun Cards and can go to Sea World from now until the end of the year with those, so we will probably ask them to join us, too!