about the Cuz Club mini reunion

I'm still a little behind on my posts from the past couple weeks. Here's one I've been waiting to share...

So, a couple weeks ago, I got to see my Aunt Kris (my dad's little sister) and my cousin Jackie. I had seen Kris in June for literally an hour, so I don't feel it counts much. Before that I hadn't seen her in like a year or more. I hadn't seen Jackie since she graduated from high school in 2007!

Jackie and I are pretty close in age, just a couple years apart, and so we were always really close when we were little. We were the founding members of the "Cuz Club." That was the club of all our cousins (me, Jackie, Courtney, Tyler, Travis, and Josh). Don't make fun of us, please.

Anyway, we had meetings and secret spy plans in our club. And there was the annual "Water Stunt Show" in Florida Gramma's pool. We also enjoyed wreaking havoc at my great-grandparent's house. They were fun to spy on. And we can't forget the lizard catching, card games, and K'nex masterpieces.

I was the president of the Cuz Club, as the oldest (we had 2 older cousins, Renae and Sarah, but they were so much older, they were only honorary members of the Cuz Club). Jackie was the vice president. She and I were good at telling the four little ones what to do. :)

We had a lot of good times growing up and on vacations at Florida Gramma's house. But, then I lived in NC and she lived in NY, and the older we got, the less family vacations seemed to line up.

So, I hadn't seen her in almost six years!

It was so, so much fun to see family the other week. I get vacation with my job, but it hasn't worked out for us to use it to visit family in the past couple years. That is one thing I'm looking forward to next year!

Kris and Jackie were only making a pit-stop on their way up to NY, but we got to take them to dinner in Downtown Raleigh and take them on a quick tour of all of the hotspots (giant acorn in Moore Square, past the IMAX, to the giant globe at the Science Museum, down Fayetteville Street...).

We had a great time catching up and laughing a lot. They also got to meet Penny. Who was crazy excited to meet new humans, as always.

I love my family and wish we all lived closer together. I can't wait to see them all soon, and a Cuz Club meeting might be in order, just for old time's sake.

If I could only find the official notebook and seating chart...


**An editorial addition had to be made to this post**

First, I must publicly apologize to my dear Uncle Steve from the opposite side of the family. I did not mean to leave you out. Indeed you were an honorary member of the Cuz Club. We did so love your puppeteer skills that entertained us for many hours on end. Especially the goat. I am sorry. Please forgive me. :)