Family Reunion

We went to Hubby's family reunion this past weekend. Everyone on his dad's side is very close and gets along famously, even those of us who married in, so we all look forward to the annual family events. Last year's reunion was our wedding, and this year's was in his hometown. We drove down Friday night and stayed through Sunday afternoon, and my own mom was there for Saturday with her boyfriend :) I'm so glad they were able to come and see everyone (especially a certain wigglebug she hadn't met yet). I got in plenty of cuddling with Juliebean, who's now teething, smiling a lot, giggling, and just learned to suck her thumb. We also found out from her daddy that she loooooves Queen, especially a certain line in Bohemian Rhapsody. If you sing it to her, she breaks out in smiles and giggles. Too cute, and in good taste too! No one gets a grin out of her more than daddy singing to her though. I'm a lot more comfortable with holding her, but I'm at a loss for what she needs if I'm left with her. When she cries, does she need food? Changing? Burping? Does she want to be put down? Is she just cranky from needing a nap? I am so not ready for my own kids. Julia's mom, K, taught me my first few words of sign language while we were playing with Julia. I now know the signs for Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, eat, drink, sleep, and dog. I need to learn "Aunt" and "Uncle".

We technically went to two museums on the trip, but I'm not counting them towards the Museum list. While they were fun, one was a children's museum with a small aquarium, some birds and animals, and lots of science stuff to play with. We loved watching little Oliver (who is EXACTLY one year older than Juliebean) run around and play. It was enjoyable, but not what I had in mind for a museum when I made that goal, so I'm not counting it. We also went to an art museum where my Mom-in-law has a photo on display, but we only went to the room with her work. Had we explored around the rest of the museum, I'd have marked it.

I'm almost done with Book 2 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and my Dad-in-law picked up a book for me after the reunion, Jennifer Government that I'll probably read next. He agreed with my review of Crab Town and liked this one, so I've got a good feeling about it. I also know how I'm going to finish #81 now too. We went back to Waxhaw on Sunday to shop around and found this little bookshop hidden away at the far end. Apparently they're a completely nonprofit shop selling books to raise money for a new library in the town. Their current one has parking for 3 cars and isn't in the best position. All the workers donate their time and all the books for sale are donations. So I decided that next time we go to visit the in-laws, I'm going to bring my five donation books with me for this store. It's not my local library, but my town's a lot bigger than little Waxhaw and probably doesn't need my donations as much as this one does. Maybe I'll complete #88 at the same time and leave a little note for whoever buys the book.