Family Time: Like Herding Cattle

Since the visit took place in Seattle, I became the Event Coordinator for the week. It was exhausting:
Bainbridge Island twice, Space Needle, Carousel/Ferris Wheel rides, Greenlake twice, Alki, Place Pigalle for dinner w/ all the family, swimming, flu, play ground, watching my 5 year old niece read books, write and answer flashcards, walk through the Market, shopping, and LOTS of eating.

Almost Sister's Weekend

Today I leave for Spokane. My flight is at 11:30 and I should be on the ground an hour later. There I will meet up with two of my three sisters. Paige ultimately decided to spend her birthday weekend with her husband and kids so she won't be joining us. (Can't say I blame her. I'd pick time with her babies over the sister's any day. ;) )
Once we get settled, Laurie and I will head to the Keith Urban concert while Jill meets up with some old high school friends that live in the area. (Laur recently told me "what happens at the concert, stays at the concert." I'm curious to see what that's about.)
Tomorrow we'll all be lounging by the pool, going to the park and having a nice dinner out. Then on Saturday, if all goes as planned, I'm going to surprise the sisters by meeting up with our brother, Tom for dinner. They don't know he's going to be in Spokane for a birthday party so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise them. Laurie hasn't seen him in over three years so it should be pretty exciting.
Sunday, we all fly home. And start planning the next sister's weekend. Only this time, we'll plan it around Paige.

Sisters Weekend

If everything goes according to plan, my sister's and I will all be meeting up in beautiful Spokane (heh) in September for our very first Sisters Weekend!!!
It all started when I noticed that Keith Urban will be in Spokane on September 13th. Laur and I have talked about meeting up in Spokane for a concert and a relaxing weekend so I just had to call her and see if she could make it. She was as excited as I was and we began planning our trip. Then we told Jill and she suggested flying up for the weekend so she could spend time with us. After that, we looped in Paige and even though she has 2 young children at home, she's considering the trip too!

An American In Paris

My sister, Jill owns her own catering company. It's not how it sounds. She doesn't cook. She sets up functions for her clients and pretty much makes the rules. It's because of this that Jill has a lot of flexibility. And a lot of money.
So when her friend Sheila mentioned she would be in Paris for 5 days last week, Jill decided to take the week off and join her. This was Jill's first trip to Europe but not her first last-minute vacation. Sometimes I wonder how she's able to do things that most people only dream of. Then I'm reminded that she has sacrificed a lot to get where she's at. She's 38 and single. Not that it's a bad thing to be single, but Jill wants to be in a relationship. So it's been quite a sacrifice for her.
I say, if you can't have a man at least be an American in Paris.