Eureka!

Saturday dawned bright and early, and we finished packing up, got everything ready, and flew the Saratoga to Kansas. We had some pretty good headwinds the whole way there, so it took over 4 hours to get out there. That's still a lot better than the 11 hour drive it would otherwise be. The only potential problem is that we are talking about a four hour plus flight with no potty stops. I don't know how many people would take a seven year old on such a flight and expect them to make it without a bathroom break, but fortunately Kaylee inherited a "camel bladder", and has never had a problem with this. She and I waited until we were an hour and a half out before we cracked open food and drink, and Steve waited until an hour out. It works for us anyway. :) There were some storms out there in Kansas, but we skirted the edge of them and all was well. We gained an hour out there, and arrived in time to have a late lunch at Sonic before hanging out with Grandma and some family. We did arrive too late for the parade and carnival they had that morning downtown though. Kaylee was not as happy about that!

Grandma's house is always the gathering point, and people come and go and just sit and talk. This year the air conditioning was actually on, and Grandma was wrapped up in a black fuzzy robe thing to stay warm. :) Grandma is so tiny these days. She looks (and is) very frail, but she is still just as feisty and mentally "with it" as ever. We took a four-generation photo with her, my mom, me and Kaylee. We do that every year that we can.

Mom & Ernie and Steve, Kaylee and I all stayed in a hotel Saturday night, and then Sunday morning was breakfast at the new cafe in town, hanging out at Grandma's for the rest of the morning, and then the reunion started, as always, at noon at the Senior Citizens' Center. It was odd for me, watching the next generation. My daughter playing with the daughters and sons of my cousins that were mostly younger than I was. It was a whole "circle of life" kind of thing. I remember the year I got my driver's license, and I was able to drive my younger cousins to the pool during the reunion. Or before that, when my older cousins or my uncles would do fun stuff with me. Now I'm one of the grown-ups (sort of) and my daughter is the one playing card games and running around and playing the piano. She mostly hung out with an older cousin, playing a game, and this girl was very nice to spend so much time playing with Kaylee. Kaylee usually does gravitate to kids older than she is. Only child syndrome and maybe used to 'older' interactions, perhaps? Well, either older or younger. She also gravitates towards 'mothering' the younger ones too. Either way, she had a good time.

One funny thing. I introduced Kaylee to a couple of kids and said "these are your cousins." She said "I have more cousins than the Cherry kids? How many cousins do I have?" I laughed and I said "You have a LOT of cousins. Pretty much all of the people here are either aunts and uncles or cousins in various stages of "removal"." She was amazed every time I'd point someone out and say "that's your cousin." or "That's your aunt." She said "I didn't know I had any aunts besides Aunt Cathy." So I pointed out each aunt to her. She liked knowing she had such a big family. This is not the first time by any means that I've explained this to her, but it seems to have finally made an impression this time. ;)

After the reunion, we went ahead and headed home in the airplane. We didn't have any winds helping us today, either, but at least it wasn't a bad headwind. We were home in 3 hours and some change, which again is not bad. We were even home before it got dark. I've gotten unpacked, and got my email somewhat sorted, and all I have left is to download photos. But I'll do that tomorrow, as it's already getting a little late over here. It's been a busy 24 hours! It was good to see everyone though...