Cathie's Visit

Have I mentioned lately what a procrastinator I am? This is proof! I am such a slacker!

My sister Cathie came all the way from California at the end of May for a short visit. Hey, a short visit is better than NO visit! Considering she was only here for a few days, she packed a lot into them days for sure. I have a feeling she needed another vacation as soon as she got home from this one!

We hit all the hot spots while she was here. We went to Mutt & Jeff's for dinner and Pete's for breakfast! Nothing but the best for my family! We all even went to bingo one night. If that doesn't spell family fun, I don't know what does! Cathie won a door prize and my sister-in-law Mary Jane split a bingo! It was an exciting freakin' night! The rest of us were just there for comic relief as we did have a blast.

In the middle of the visit, family from near and far all headed to Mike and Mary Jane's for a good old fashioned family dinner. Jim of course, came from Erie and our niece JoBeth was awesome in making the trip all the way from Rochester New York with her boys for some Aunt Cathie love! You are the best, Jo!

Aside from celebrating Cathie's visit, we threw a bunch of birthdays in there for good measure. The day we had the picnic, May 22, was actually my nephew Mike's birthday. With company from so far away, we made poor Mike share his birthday with two of his favorite uncles. Uncle Phil celebrated on May 29 (go ahead! Ask that old fart JUST how old he is!) and Uncle Jim was the final one of our birthday trio with June 6. That's a lot of birthday goodness if you ask me!

The weather cooperated and we all ate outside and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Of course, what's a family picnic without pictures? Thanks to Cathie and Jim for providing the pictures since my dumb ass was too lazy to take any.

Cathie and Mary Jane enjoying the birthday cards with Noah and Grady.


Jenny with Isaiah, Evan and Grady.


Jenny and the birthday boy (AND my favorite nephew!) Mike.


Noah and Isaiah taking a break from playing.


Me and Ron with my favorite niece JoBeth!


Mike and JoBeth - my favorite nephew and niece.


Phil, just waking up from an afternoon nap in his chair. I told you he was old!


Cathie and Mike.


You can always count on Mike for at least one good photo op. Here's Mike, taking a picture of . . . himself!


I gotta throw a little side story in here. When my Dad was alive, he had a shirt similar to this one that Mike is wearing. We called it his "bumblebee shirt". For whatever reason, my Mom HATED that shirt! I guess just out of spite, I used to tell him I LOVED that shirt! Being a daddy's girl, every time they would come to my apartment for Sunday dinner, he wore that shirt. Later when that shirt wore out, he bought himself another one just like it. He wore it every chance he got. I don't know if it was more to irritate Mom or for me, but he wore that shirt a lot. Mike wore this shirt in honor of Dad. Really, how cool is that!

Then, there is the whole motley crew of us.


Only five left. But what a group of five, huh?

Lastly, Cathie even got to take a side trip for a day to Erie. No trip is good without a quality visit with every one's favorite Aunt Mary.


Like I said, a fast trip but a trip filled with fun. Cathie and I got some serious shopping done and played a lot of Rummikub. Best of all, just the face to face sister time. Priceless.

Thanks for coming to visit, my sister. Let's do this again SOON!