"Over here is my brother Ted, his wife Melissa, and their children Anita, Diane and Nick. Over here my brother Tommy, his wife Anzie, and their children Anita, Diane and Nick. And here, my brother George, his wife Freda, and their children Anita, Diane and Nick."

For those of you who do not know, I have a very large family.  And we are very close.  Many people may see their "extended" family once a year.  I do not understand this behavior.  My "extended" family is not the same as everyone else's.  Reason:  My mother is the last of THIRTEEN kids.  Big families always seem to stay closer longer.  By that I mean (instead of just siblings and maybe first cousins being close to each other) I have first, second, and third cousins that I am very close to.  Another reason for that is:  My mother is the LAST of 13 kids.  Because my mom is the baby of the family, some of her older siblings ended up being more like parents to her since some of them were married and having kids of their own (or about to) by the time she came along.  Which means for me that I have first cousins that are the same age or older than my parents and second cousins that are closer to my age.  I could talk about my family forever!  Ever seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"?  That's us, except not Greek.  :)  It's horrible because everyone is wrapped up in everyone else's business, and it's wonderful because everyone is wrapped up in everyone else's business.  I love it.

This was my first family reunion as a married woman!  And because of this I get gifts now!  My aunt brought all the married ladies these cute key-chain teacup tape measures!  I knew I got married for a good reason.  :)

This is the view from my aunt's lake house where the reunion was held:

And there I am in the lake.  I have decided I am a pool kinda girl.  The lake was fun, but I like clean water without animals in it better.

This was a REALLY good restaurant we ate at.  It has a museum right by it.

The Dinner Rules

My lovely husband was pretty full at this point.  You can see it in his eyes.  This is (from right to back) my mom, my cousin Ben, my aunt who I call Maw Maw Liz, and my other cousin Alyssa.

This was in the gift shop across the way.  I seem to have a lot of pictures of me in phone booths and cages.

My cousins Morgan and Bree went out on the lake and picked some really pretty water lilies.  Bree was too busy to have her picture taken.  ;)  FYI, water lilies are slimy.

My proud cousin Ben and his bass he caught.  I don't think anyone else caught a bass while we were there.  I tried using his lure after this, but alas, I still caught nothing. :(

These are some of my cousins (except my mom in the back).  Poor Bree was worn out and pretty sunburned.

The Beautiful Courtney  :)

My beautiful cousins with my handsome husband

Fighting over a kiss.  I can't blame 'em.