We drove 45 minutes to meet up with hub's relatives, whom I love. Very warm, hospitable people. Very talented.

So cousin (Janice) was visiting from Chicago, and we hadn't seen her since 25 years ago, when she got married. Since then, we had a son (now 24 y/o).

The get-together was at the beautiful home of hub's other cousin Jim (Janice's brother) and his wife Linda, whom we hadn't seen in 20+ years. He's a retired firefighter and she's a realtor.

2 uncles, 1 aunt, 2 cousins, 1 sil, 1 cousin-in-law, an Aussie Shepherd, and 3 hours laters, we were exchanging emails and saying byes.

They all looked great and we were marveling that for our ages, we were all in good health. Almost all the men on hub's side of the family were firefighters and in their retirement, took on hobbies such as computer classes and real estate. Knowledgeable group of resources.

Really wonderful brunch in an almost perfect, Stepford Wives kind of neighborhood. Kind of surreal setting, but then we drove back home to South Pasadena, where we could hear the familiar cackling of exotic parrots as they flew above our car.