howdy

I'll hide the update here and see if anyone finds it.
Since it's about a month since our family reunion (all the relatives on my mom's side of the family) and I have fully recovered from talking, eating, talking, drinking and not sleeping. It was really a blast! We had a picnic at a beach along Lake Superior - complete with frigid water and thick swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies - which is pretty much just how I remember it from my own childhood. We spent a lot of time in the water, if only because that kept the flies off our legs. Fortunately (?) that was also the hottest day on record ever in June up there (95 deg F). So the lake temperature may have been in the 50's or so.

We also had the usual lunches and dinners and cocktails - well, beer mostly - gab sessions, and that was pretty fun too. Two couples came over from Finland (cousins of my mom) and I got to see lots of my own cousins and some of their newest kids. I volunteered my motelroom as the after-hours gathering spot. So the earliest I got to bed was 3am. The best (or at least longest) night was when some cousins filled my bath tub with ice and beer. So not only did we have a challenge to *try* and finish it all, but I actually had to go shower in my mom's room. But the last of us called it a night at 5am, and I had to be up at 9 to pack, clean-up and then get everything set for the picnic that day. We had the grill going before noon, and the burgers, hotdogs, sausages and brats were widely acclaimed as "being edible" - with me and my rocket scientist (really!) cousin as "chefs." So from now on the world should know that I can still drink all night and feed 60 people the next day.

I feel guilty mentioning how much I enjoyed talking with (and looking at) the teenage female exchange-student from Venezuela who was staying with the local reunion hosting family. A pity she was too young to be on here yet...