Rambling (and a Brief Emotional Outburst)....

So, school has been out for exactly ten days and I am even more tired than I was that last crazy week of finals and programs. I thought that the post-school-year grass would be ever so much greener, especially when it comes to my tired levels, but alas... I have not been in my house for more than a few hours since last Monday (out of town twice) and I am now sunburned, fat (okay, "heavier"), and exhausted. So, in the spirit of delaying the inevitable, now you know why I've been MIA lately. I promise I have some new posts coming up (new movie lists! summer to-do's! online bullying! (vaaat? yes, you shall see.) Anyway, I did have a simply lovely time spending the last 24 hours with my family, including my too-distant cousins and my darling second cousins.

This is my sweet Ashlyn (I tell everyone she's named after me even though she's kind of not.) 

I love her!

She was really getting creative with her "crazy face." (Also, her brother is equally adorable but refused to sit still for me declined the opportunity to pose with "Ashwey."

This adorable little psycho is crazy and I must really love her shenanigans because we were up talking until three (THREE!) and you know how that happens exactly never times a year for this grandma. 

These two... Salt and Pepper since birth. (They're still about eight years old when they get together.)

I really feel sorry for people who don't grow up knowing their cousins. Not only were we close, but we were next-door neighbors with a path worn out in the grass from our constant tromping back and forth to one another's homes. (Well, I went over to their house a lot, mostly for the chocolate milk.) And now we're all grown up and mostly married and some have kids, and (dramatic pause) I just love these people so much. I could write a whole post of Cox-Baines stories (Rachel's broken nose? April's detached finger? Anna's head injury? Aunt Ginger picking us up from school in a clown costume? Screaming loud enough to alert the deaf neighbor? (true story!) Walks to the park? Bike rides around the neighborhood?) but our memories are many and wonderful and now I am an emotional basket case. Ah, family. The very best.

Be back soon with all sorts of riveting information. Or, you know, I might be sleeping. We'll see who wins that argument. 

Ash