the big day

last weekend, my uncle george celebrated one of the biggest milestones that one can achieve...literally. he turned 90. that's not even a typo. seriously.

our family had a cabin in Estes Park, ever since i can remember. the first one was AWESOME. it was so cool. i played many a game of Hi-Ho-Cherry-O there. I climbed on rocks, i fished off the bridge, i got warned more than once, not to go too close to the river. we were a family there. a BIG family. you see, my grandmother and grandpa got married...then their siblings wed...each other. sounds weird, but in any case, it's not incestuous, and it made our family great, and big. we spent a lot of time up there. then, the cabin washed away in a flood. it wasn't salvagable in any way, so we sold it, and bought another....on a big hill. :)

after many years there, they sold it...i guess they caught on to the fact that only me, my cousin Jamie, and my cousin dean, used it.

so, all that to say, our family celebration this year, was in Estes. on the way up, i saw this elk

this little guy kept coming by

here is the cake. it was so cool. our family farmed land for years...ignore the fact that the people that made it made the carrots and radishes come up out of the ground, upside down. dont' worry, i didn't catch this, my 12 year old cousin did

uncle george liked the M & M's the best

seriously really good genes in this family. aren't they all cute?

and with the last picture, i'm not trying to perpetuate any stereotypes, but don't you think it's funny that ALL of my family members are taking the same picture? they all live in the same town for the most part and we all DO have email. you should have seen the big family reunion...hysterical.

all this to say that it was a very special day, with a very special family. times like these make you realize that that is what you have. no matter how many friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, come through your life....these are the people that are still there for you.

are things different than i thought they would be at this time, absolutely. i thought my grandpa would be there making us all yell "BONZAI", but he wasn't. i thought the person who was the healthiest family member (kids included) would be there, for sure...but he wasn't. i thought about him the whole time i was up there...i think there was some other people that thought the same.

but it also made me realize that there is a new generation that is coming up, that has grown apart...or at least more apart than the previous one. things are not the same, and it's a scary prospect for me, an only child, to say the least. i think there needs to be some changes. i sense a cousin bowling party coming on