once upon a time

once upon a time there was a girl who loved summer, swimming and sunshine.  

she also loved a boy who didn't particularly love those same three things.  

but the boy saw how much the girl loved to be in the water, so the boy...

took the girl...

to one of her favorite places...

and they had the 

best day ever!

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hanging from the rafters

our most recent family reunion was a special one for me because it was the first time donald came too.  though he had already met almost everyone it was fun to officially have him there as part of the family.

as usual we had fun talking, laughing and just being together.  typically the same stories get told year after year, but this time we put a new spin on one of those old classics.

back in the good old days, when the six original cousins were considerably younger, they spent a lot of time in grandma and grandpa meinhardt's basement.  in that basement there were some exposed beams.  legend [and video evidence] tells us that when they got a little crazy my grandpa harry and great uncle bob liked to hang from those rafters.  so imagine our delight when we discovered that our new reunion destination had an exposed beam as well. naturally our family stepped up and honored our elders in the only appropriate way...

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