Family

My paternal Grandma has 2 sisters & 1 brother - our big, crazy family all grew up together....first cousins, second cousins (or is it 1st cousins once removed?).  We had reunions every year & EVERYONE attended - we traveled to Florida to visit my grandma's sister Rebecca (Aunt Beck) and her crew.....they traveled to Illinois to visit us....we traveled to Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and did I mention Florida for each other's weddings and "big" anniversaries.  Aunt Beck (92 years young), Uncle Francis, their daughter Carol, her daughter's Lori & Leigh, and last but certainly not least Leigh's daughter Haley arrived in Illinois today for what they say will be Beck & Frank's last trip to Illinois.  I've been working on a little video/slideshow project that I'm oh so proud of to show at our reunion on Sunday which I will share with all of you later - now I realize, you don't know our family but please consider taking a trip down a very long memory lane with me...I promise, the hair-do's & wardrobes will be worth it.  What you don't know is that our sweet Piper is the first Hale cousin to be born in China - no, really....when we opened the email with her referral pictures in it the first thing I said was "she looks like Aunt Beck". 
Here are a few of my favorite pics....

My grandparents on their wedding day - they got married at 6am....Grandma had to do her chores first and they took an aunt & uncle on their honeymoon with them and ended up sleeping in a 3 legged bed

The "senior" Hale generation

front row: Uncle Ben, Grandma  back row: Aunt Beck & Aunt Darlene

My cousin is 7 weeks older than I am - our grandpa passed away in the spring of 1977 so we were the only grandchildren who were lucky enough to share a bowl of bran flakes with in the mornings. 

I'm on Grandma's lap

A more recent picture of the "seniors" - it was taken at my cousin's wedding in August 1998

Uncle Ben, Aunt Darlene, Grandma & Aunt Beck

Looking foward to seeing them all together again!