Oh the Hilarity!

As mentioned before, last Friday after work we headed to Baltimore for a weekend with *almost* all of the family.  The only ones who couldn't make it were our four great-nieces and great-nephew in Arizona (all in school of course), and my niece Lauren, her husband, and their two little kiddos.  But everyone else was there at one point or another, and the hilarity ensued.  

We lucked out, because the weather the entire weekend was lovely!  Cool, but sunny and not too windy like it had been here in Philadelphia.

Upon arrival, and parking our car in the back of Amanda's house, we acquired a new hood ornament:

This is our great-nephew Oden, who lives in Brooklyn.  He was THRILLED to see us and then as soon as we got out of the car and said, "Hi Oden!" he yelled "Shingles doesn't care!" and ran inside. (Apparently that is the tag line for a commercial for shingles medication and he is obsessed with that line. Seems about right.)

Once inside, we got to see everyone, and it was so great.  This is my nephew Chad's wife, Liesl, and my niece Julie (Oden's mother):

Liesl and Chad and their kids live in Arizona, and we hadn't seen them for about 10 years!

Here's my niece Liz (aka La Liz) and my sister Nancy who lives in California:

Here are my two brothers-in-law, Michael (California) and Patrick (West Virginia):

The Tim and my nephew Chad (Arizona):

Me, Greg (Liz's husband), and Nancy:

My favorite picture of the weekend - the sisters:

(Please note that I was making myself shorter here so I could fit into the photo.  My sisters are tiny people! We are shown from youngest (me), to middle (Mary Ellen), to eldest (Nancy). My two sisters are Irish twins - born 1 year and 28 days apart.  Then, 10 years later, I showed up.)

The next day, we planned to meet at the hotel where the West Coasters were staying, to spend the day at the Inner Harbor.  

Mary Ellen with Oden and his sister Penn (they are her grandkids)

Lest you be concerned, we almost immediately stopped because my brother-in-law Pat wanted a drink:

(Liesl: "I don't think I've ever had wine at 10 a.m.")

"Paddy" (what the grandkids call my brother-in-law Patrick) making scary faces at Oden and Mary Ellen!

Penn and Oden had to show Pat the fish in the harbor, which were frankly, creepy, but I'm not a kid, so what do I know? Also, Pat kept telling them that he lives in Baltimore, so he was not surprised. Then they would look at him like he was nuts ...

Penn and Oden

Then Annie and her partner Forte showed up, and everyone rode on the dragon boats:

(Oden:  "I LOVE this dinosaur boat!")

Penn, Pat, Amanda

Penn, Pat, Amanda, and Nancy

We finished the day with the whole crew going out to dinner together:

The only person not in any of the photos is Julie's husband Keith - he was busy bartending on Friday night, and then on Saturday spent most of the day in Harrisburg, visiting his mom who is not doing well.  He joined us again at Amanda and Pat's house after dinner, but was again bartending and didn't make any of the photos.  (I sincerely doubt he is too broken up about it ... 😉)

Sunday morning, flights home for the West Coasters were early in the day, so we said our goodbyes on Saturday night, and headed home on Sunday morning.  We were lucky to get back to Philadelphia around 11:30 a.m., so we had the rest of the day to regroup, unpack, and just relax.  

Because seeing the family is fun, and I'm so glad we had the chance to really spend time together.  But to be honest, they're an exhausting group!  

Here's to chances to be exhausted again for years to come. 💗