My younger brother Andrew and his wife Rachael recently had a baby boy, and I hadn't gotten to meet the child yet. So, when I heard that Alissa and fam were planning a trip to South Carolina to meet Dru and see the boys and their families, I thought perhaps I should go, too. It didn't take much convincing for Mom to come along, so off we went.
It was great to have everyone in the same location for a few days. All the cousins seemed to get along well. The little girls (Emma, Erin and Lilah) even had a slumber party. We "hid" Easter eggs in the back yard Saturday afternoon, and everyone younger than Brenden and Avery (that would be the girls, Ryan and Mark - Dru's not quite big enough yet) spent some time running around picking up plastic eggs filled with plunder. They collected some serious loot, let me tell you.
We went to a couple different parks and saw some lovely waterfalls. We went to playgrounds and took advantage of the fun equipment. Alissa's family stayed at a hotel with a pool, so we spent some time watching the kids splash, jump, flip, dive, swim and thoroughly enjoy themselves.
Andrew and Rachael scheduled Dru's dedication for Sunday, and Rachael's parents came up from Alabama. Jane (her mom) convinced us to have an impromptu "select your favorite hymn" evening. I played, everyone who wanted to sang and everyone who didn't want to sing listened. We hadn't gotten to do something like that in awhile, so that was a lot of fun. If Dad had been there, he would have loved it. He always liked family sings, so that would have been right up his alley.
All in all, it was a great few days. Now tomorrow, it's back to reality.
