Goodbyes and reunions

We had to cut our trip a day short because my dad's grandfather passed away on Thursday. We attended the funeral on Saturday afternoon (after getting home at 2am). I have decided that Mass is the Catholic word for LONG. The Priest was actually pretty funny, a really old guy who added "you see" and "uh huh" to the end of almost all of his sentences. My sister and I had a hard time not giggling because he was just the cutest old guy ever. The fact that he was funny and the fact that Grandpa had been a funny guy (and stubborn and ornery as all get out) actually made for several laughs during the funeral. Even still, the service was almost 2 hours long and my back was already extremely sore from bad beds, tubing and long car rides, and the wooden-backed pews didn't help. And THEN, we drove to the cemetery for the burial and my dad accidentally shut my foot in the car door, so I was in great shape. lol

The burial service was only about 10 minutes (and held several jokes) and then we went back to the church for a meal and some conversation and pictures. My brother is the only one in his generation who actually carries the last name Schwindt. I think he had contemplated not going to the funeral (he may have even had the choice to stay in Idaho and come home with some other cousins), but it was all worth it to him when he discovered a plaque with the Schwindt family coat of arms. He looked at my dad and said, "I'm gonna start printing that on stuff!"

3 generations of Schwindt:

My grandfather and a few of his siblings (he's one of like 10 kids). And boy, you sure can't tell that THOSE two are brothers!

One of my dad's sisters was able to come up from California for the weekend. His youngest sister is a long haul truck driver and was somewhere between Arizona and Washington so she wasn't able to make it. She arrives in Washington today so she'll be able to see Kim (these visits are rare) but she wasn't able to make it to the funeral or my aunt's birthday party. (You can imagine she's in the picture because she looks JUST like Kim, on the left.)

My aunt on the right turned 50 this week so we had a party yesterday. Two of my California cousins were here (this is a different side of the family than the Idaho trip, by the way) so we had a photo session.

Vince's family:

Carmen's family:

Kim's family (minus my older cousin, Kristy):

The cousins! First in age order:

Then height order (Trevor is 6'8")

This didn't work so well because they didn't stand above us in the right place and the sun was RIGHT in our faces. I'd love to try this shot again sometime, but with myself taking the picture.

Man, they are heavy!

It's been a full week of relatives! I love my family.