Reunited

School has officially started for me, which means summer has officially ended. And in some ways I'm glad. Pippa was too young to wear sunblock, and the humidity out here negates the shade, so we spent most our time indoors anyway. We also fit in two family reunions, one built around my brother's wedding and the other built around a NASCAR detour. Both extraneous events ended with tired eyes and huge smiles and to prove the success of our relations with our loved ones, I'll post some photos.

(Disclaimer: We constantly loose and misplace our cameras. Even when we've packed them in our pockets for the event. So we don't always have pictures of everyone we'd like to. Blame it on bad planning.)

Swimming in the river, a daily occurrence in Arkansas.

Who knew there was great shopping in Mena? These girls.

The non-photo bombed edition. I was in big trouble for ruining the family portrait...

Pippa's blessing the day after Travis and Jessica were married.

Those under 10 nearly outnumber the rest of us!

The Skipper's crew for Pippa watching.

Infamous group hug.

Sister photo. Did I mention we all had babies over the year?

Yai Yai and Papou

Wicked Chicago

Since moving to Illinois we've joked about how corrupt the state government. In all fairness I haven't paid much attention, but I was sidekick to a mugging my first trip to Chicago and the state tax went up by some ridiculous amount (I want to say 50 percent...).

So I conned my family into visiting by tempting them with the perfectly named Broadway show Wicked. The twins followed that up with a plan for some indulgent spending in Chicago. Sorry boys!

Amber, Heather, Mom

Somehow I left my camera at home for the weekend, and as a family we must not be tourist minded because we constantly thought of cool pictures we should have taken afterwards. Amber and Heather did manage to get a passing shot posed in front of a Windy City bus stopped at a red light. I took a handful of mobile shots. Yep, that photography class is paying for itself.

Would it be small of me to blame my professor? He told me I had shaky hands. We refer to it as the Hall shakes and what kept Travis from surgeon stardom. Crushed dreams.

Regardless, it was wonderful to have a girls and Pa weekend. We all loved Wicked and it wouldn't surprise me to find my little nieces singing Popular this holiday season. Thanks for the visit!

México Pequeño

A week of family adventures in Little Mexico, my hometown in Southeastern Colorado. I dubbed it Little Mexico because I forgot the mix of cultures that it is. In Mexico I remember the people I’d met there asking me what I thought about it and how different it was from home. I shook my head and replied that it reminded me of home. They looked at me with disbelief and I began doubting my memory.

Then I went to home to Lamar for a week. I think the town is at least 50/50 white to Hispanic, possibly 45/55. Something you feel when you enter town on the North side. That feeling was validated on day two. After painting Grandma and Grandpa’s house, many cousins and siblings sat in the living room. The ringing of a bell drew our attention to the two large windows face out to the street corner and the park. A little old Mexican man pushed his cart of popsicles down the street. The 106 degree heat pushed us out the door and we each picked our favorite flavor, mine a frozen strawberry bar dipped in chocolate and coconut. Various members of my family speak Spanish fluently so the conversation flowed and I piped in with hola and gracias. (I do know a little more, but nothing to do with frozen fruit bars.)

The next few days passed by and the subculture faded into the background, until late Saturday night. Laughing in the hotel room and after eating too much ice cream my cousin turned to me and slapped my leg. I’ve seen that same expression of excitement before—on the Latin dance floor. The not so faint Banda music played late into the night. And again throughout the park on Sunday just like I remembered. When we left at 3 this morning I mentally mapped out the steps to the Mexican Hat Dance and whispered Adios, silently drifting to sleep as Trav drove us to the airport.