An amazing sunset captured the final moments of our fantastic visit

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Bill's Uncle Barry and Cousin Hannah recently and what an awesome visit it was!  Bill grew up not having much of a relationship with his extended family, something that was completely opposite to how I was raised.  Both of my parents have large families, I have many cousins and second cousins, and one grandmother still holding strong.  Family gatherings were the norm growing up.  Every holiday meant a house full of people, lots of talking and lots of wine.  Amazingly, we all (my immediate extended family) still live in the same state and, except for one cousin, all live within a few hours drive of each other.  We don't get together as often as we did when I was a child, mostly because we all have our own families now, but family reunions still happen occasionally.

Bill's dad was an only child, so there were never any large family gatherings on that side.  There could perhaps be distant relatives in that family line, but I've never heard about them.  Bill's mom is one of three and her mother is still living.  I've been a part of Bill's family for 14 years now, having only met his Grandmother once and his Aunt once, maybe twice.  I had never had the privilege of meeting his Uncle until just last week.  I'm so happy that I did get the chance to meet him and his granddaughter, Hannah, and it was an amazing feeling to be able to introduce my children to their extended family. 

To me, family is family regardless.  Yes, everyone has drama and challenges, but all families have drama because that is what happens when you bring people together.  But they are still family.  To me, family doesn't have to be blood related.  The relationship could be made via marriage, but it could also just be a spiritual bond.  We have several "family members" that aren't in our blood line, but I would not consider them any less of a family member than my own blood siblings. 

Fortunately, Barry viewed family that same way I do.  We only had one day to visit, and it definitely wasn't enough, but from what I can tell, Barry is a very loving grandpa and a really nice gentleman.  My girls thoroughly enjoyed their visit with their cousin Hannah.  Hannah is one year older than Katelyn, so fit well into the mix of our gaggle of girls.

Bill said, the day after our visit, that he was really sad that he never had much of a relationship with his Uncle growing up.  I reminded him that its never to late to start, so why not start now and why let another year pass.  I am looking forward to watching my husband build a relationship with his extended family.  I'm looking forward to watching my girls learn about their cousins and how life is so similar, yet so different, than the ones they lead (unfortunately, we don't own a horse, live on a ranch or own cattle).

Hannah, Katelyn and Vanessa.  Paige had just woken up from a nap, was grumpy, and refused to be in the picture.

We decided to head down to the beach after dinner to dip our toes in the water.  It ended up being a spectacular sunset and we were there until it was long gone.

She looks so small in comparison to the vast ocean.

It was only a matter of time before they jumped into the water.  Can you guess who fell first?

 

And yes, we came home with a bucket load of sand from off of their clothes.

I have a feeling that we'll be taking a trip out of state within the next year and I'm eager to make it happen.