Merry and I have always been close as sisters. We shared a room for most of my memory while growing up. She first taught me to do my make-up, and told me stories about dragons. I make it a point to visit her as often as occasion (and money) permits. As soon as school ended for my students I took off to spend a week with Merry and her family.
I try very hard to be the 'favorite aunt' to all of my 10 nieces and nephews. Her 3 boys are the ones I see the least as they live the farthest away. However we jumped right in to playing around as soon as I arrived. They seemed to think it awesome that I would sit and play Wii Super Mario Brothers for 2 hours with them. (Thanks Brenda for showing me that game ahead of time!) I helped them beat World 1.
We played swords and dress up and blew bubbles in the back yard. I read books with them and taught them a few words in Chinese. We went to the zoo and even did some geocaching with their dad.
They are three of the best boys ever. My only regret is that I could not stay with them longer than the one week.
I did more than just play with my nephews, I also sat around for hours talking with Merry and playing games with her. We found the perfect game for us, it's a card game called "Once Upon A Time...". The basic idea of the game is to tell a story using characters, items, and events on the cards you are dealt. You are also dealt an 'ending' card with the words to the end of your story. It's up to you to make sure the story makes sense and flows correctly to the end. There is a catch, you are also dealt 'interrupt' cards that allow you to interrupt the other in the middle of the story so you can take over. We had a lot of laughs with this game. Prince Mirliflir and Nimrod the Cook were regulars to our tales.
As convenience would have it one of my dearest friends in the world lives 20 minutes away from my sister so I could not fly all that way without a couple visits with Andrea as well. Saturday evening we got together so I could finally meet her finance. It was strange to meet someone I already knew so much about. I'm sure the reverse was true for him as well. We played mini-golf and had a lot of fun. Monday evening Andrea and I went wedding dress shopping and found an absolutely gorgeous dress for her. I still can't believe she's getting married!
My first vacation of the summer is now over and I'm back home preparing for work in the morning. At least I have something to look forward to: Cruise Reunion 2010 is coming this weekend!
