6/17/2005 09:31:00 AM|||Garnet|||

Honey's mother's side of the family is GI-normous, to put it lightly. She has 7 brothers and sisters, one of which has 8 kids of his own. Plus grand kids and so on. Honey's got more cousins than he can count. They have a family reunion every four years. The last one was in Jackson Hole, WY and the first time I was introduced to such a huge family. To give you an idea, picture this: the first full day in Jackson, we all took a trip up to Yellowstone. We left at some ungodly hour like 6am. We took a tour bus. Scratch that...we took THREE tour buses. One of the family members in charge of the reunion chartered three of those full-size huge tour buses to haul all 150 of us up to Yellowstone.

In comparison, my family could probably all fit in a Subaru Outback!

I've got two uncles, one of which was gay for the majority of his life. He is now married to a woman who has three children of her own. I don 't really count them as cousins but I guess I should. Other than them, I have one cousin by blood. My dad was an only child, as am I. The end. Fini. Family fits in a car, not a bus! And we don't do family reunions, unless one of us gets married and there's only one unwed one of us left so ... *shrug*

Back to my original subject....this family reunion is going to be wonderful! I am really looking forward to it. I simply adore my husband's family and watching them all interact with one another. When I went to the last reunion, I was only Honey's "girlfriend." I don't even think we were engaged yet. Everyone wanted to meet me, kept teasing me about how I was managing dealing with all the relatives, etc. It was super fun. They all came to our wedding and we had a great time!

So two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be boarding a plane with Honey and his father en route to Hilton Head, SC. I've never been there but his family has a couple of vacation homes on the beach that they've been wanting to get me to for years (because of the dolphins that swim just off shore -- I looooooove dolphins!). I've never even really been to the south before - except for a couple of days in Virginia when SIL graduated from college.

The reunion this year is very casual and laid back. No real big events arranged like the trip to Yellowstone, hot air balloon ride, wildlife viewing expeditions like we did in Jackson. After the four day reunion conclues, Honey and I will spend the remainder of the week at the in-laws' vacation home. We'll probably spend most of our time lounging on the beach and we're talking about driving down to Savannah or Charleston for some sight-seeing and shopping.

I have to go bathing suit shopping next week. YUCK! But at least I'm 15 pounds lighter than I was the last time I had to endure that nightmare so it shouldn't be so depressing.

Other than a swimsuit, some beach towels and a half-dozen novels to read, what else do you suggest I pack for the beach and my trip to the south?

|||111902317180749674|||A Family Reunion