Growing up our family used to visit So Cal almost every other summer our family would drive down 16 some hours to visit my dad's side of the family. We'd get to see Grandma and Grandpa Miller who lived in Culver City. My Aunt Cathy (Dad's sister), Uncle Don, and cousin Darryl. And then we'd usually get together or go down to San Diego to see my Uncle Skip (Dad's Brother), Aunt Suzanne, Cousin Lily, and Cousin Williiam. Many memories are full of going to Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Magic Mountain, The Beach, etc, etc together. Lily was only two years younger than Maryanne, making her 3 years older than me. It made for interesting times when we were little (Lily still remembers me as precious little princess...or more like the crazy sometimes annoying little kid...but hey I was starving for attention!). Anyways, it seemed like we kind of grew up together, and over the last many years as we've grown up and gotten our own families we haven't gotten together every other summer....which I kind of miss, I wish our Miller family was one of those families that had a big reunion every year, but unfortunately unless I wanted to organize (and even if I did) I'm not sure it would happen.
Needless to say, Lily called me and told me that her family would be visiting their parents again this summer (they live in Ohio now). Lily is now married to Jimmy and they have a 3 1/2 year old son James. Since I'm living so close to San Diego, I seized the opportunity and found a time in my schedule to drive down to San Diego and visit. I'm glad the Lord worked out my schedule so that would be possible because I thought July (which it pretty much is) would be work work work. But thankfully I've gotten a few breaks and taken the oppotunities that I've had.
We had fun going up to this Mountain Town of Julian, California where they are known for their apples and thus their apple pies, which I might add was VERY delicious, most likely one of the best apple pies I've ever had! But honestly the thing I cherish most, is the fact that we can laugh, remenisce, and continue to love each other as family. And that our family is growing. It was great to get to know a new cousin, Jimmy, and play with my little cousin James. Family is a very important thing. We may have some crazy and funny history, and BOY was that ever true! Lily had this photo album of photos of the diffierent Miller family vacations collected together, and let's just say I really don't want some of those photos being tagged on Facebook! I guess what I'm trying to say is family is a special thing, and we should cherish it no matter how crazy we are, or how sporadically we see one another.
Maybe I'll plan that family reunion after all...we'll see. =) Here's some photos of my time there:
"This is STONEWALL MOUNTAIN," Uncle Skip excitedly shouts as Lily is about to puke in the hot backseat of the van and I'm about read to pass out and would definitely be car sick if I was pregnant like Lily, and Uncle Skip just drives on, makes a sharp turn and stops suddenly on the shoulder of the road to get a beter view...all the while Lily is looking more green! Yup, that's the Miller Family for you!
So I had to take a photo of Stonewall Mountain at least to document the memory:
Here's the rest of family back at the van trying to recover,
and trying not to expire in the heat of the day!
and here is what James was doing....probably the smartest of all those options:
And to add to our classic family photo albums:
The Girls: My Aunt Suzaane, Lily, and Me (notice the prized "find" that Aunt Suzanne got at the local store in Julian..it's on her knee. It a little horse. She had the cutest and most excited expression on in the store before she got it. It's the little things that can bring us so much joy!)
The Boys Smiling (Uncle Skip, James, and Jimmy)
The Boys being crazy
This kid is only 3 1/2...you'd think he was about 5!
He's on his way to being an NBA player or something!
And this is more in line with family photos of old. Here are the original Miller family (minus poor William who seems to always be gone when we visit, and even if he's there he doesn't remember seeing his cousins anyways).
The beautiful "hills" of which we CANNOT term Mountains because they are not over 10,000 feet but for James sake we called the mountains because he was so excited to "go to the mountains." And of which Jimmy and I got in quite the delightful argument (as loving family that is) that the "hills" in Ohio cannot classify as Mountains. It was clear, I had hit a nerve and we argued over whose Soap Box was bigger and taller....I think I won. =)
James, Jimmy, and Aunt Suzanne
I spent the second night in San Diego just to get enough rest to drive home and sleep some more to prepare for work on Friday night. Jimmy convinced me to stay the second night and rest, by 9:30pm I was easy to convince, and let's just say I'm grateful he did. I got to spend just a little more time with family and I was probably more awake in the morning driving up. Espeicially since Jimmy treated me to a caramel macciato for my drive home (It's nice to have a Starbucks Barista in the family!) Good family times were had by all, and hopefully next time Tobin can join in on the fun too. I think I'll hide some of those photos of me first, though. ;)
Stephanie, Kelli, and Susan
