So much family, so little time

I've always been pretty lucky in that no matter where I've lived, I've been able to see my family more than a couple of times a year.  When I was in Austin, I had the luxury of making my own work schedule so I had a nice long Christmas with them and was able to be back home for my nephews' birthdays.  However, with India on the horizon, I realize that this will no longer be a possibility for the next three years.  Even just moving 3.5 hours further west has had an impact on my time with family.  And my family size has doubled as well - Stewart's immediate family is spread across three states whereas mine is concentrated within two hours of each other.

So.  We've been trying to spend as much time as possible with our families before we move.

Every year, my siblings and I go on a "Sibs & Sigs" camping trip.  Basically, its our family minus our parents.  When I realized I was moving to India, I told Stewart that if we were still here for the Sibs & Sigs, I wanted to go.  He very graciously obliged me.  We left after work on Thursday and drove through the night arriving at my parents' house right after 5am.  After grabbing a couple hours of sleep, we headed on to Fountainebleu State Park for the weekend.  We stayed in a really neat little cabin that was over Lake Ponchartrain.  The water was a lot more shallow than it was last year when we went but it was still really pretty and serene.

Stewart taking the kayak out in
ridiculously shallow water.

We brought along a kayak and bicycles for the weekend.  It was so great being able to spend time with my siblings and nephews.  Unfortunately my two brother in laws weren't able to make it but everyone else was there.

Wish I was there now.

My nephews were very excited about the "boats" as they called them and couldn't wait to go out in them.  My brother and his girlfriend brought a kayak as well.

Friday afternoon we was just spent hanging out and playing with a light up frisbee in the dark (another favorite of my nephews).  But I think the highlight was when James wanted to try on the life jacket which was just a smidge too big for him.  He was very excited and wanted to go out in the kayaks right away and didn't want to take the life jacket out.  Saturday, we went for a bike ride on the Tammany Trace.  It was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  We spent a couple of hours riding and had a picnic lunch.  We got back in time to put the kayaks in the water.  Both of my nephews loved it and would have stayed out there for hours if it hadn't gotten to be dinner time.  We had such a great time hanging out with everyone.  We'll definitely miss being able to attend the Sibs & Sigs camping trips while we're gone.

Obligatory group photo

The following weekend, Stewart and I headed to Austin to visit his brother's family.  Stewart had spoken with him earlier in the week and stated that we were interested in going to the Texas A&M football game with him and our nieces.  Otis was able to find tickets for us 20 rows behind his tickets.  So we set off for Austin Friday.  We hung out at the house Friday night.  It was a treat to be able to spend time with our nieces and nephew.  They're so much fun and can be quite the hams.  The next morning we set off early for Kyle Field.  Rachel instructed me to sit in the back with her and Rose and "Uncle Stewart" could sit up front.  I'm so glad that the girls have warmed up to me quickly given that I haven't exactly been around that long.  When we got to the stadium, Rose just had to hold my hand for the walk there.  She didn't want to hold anyone else's.  And I guess I should take it as a compliment that Rachel refused to let anyone else take her to the bathroom.
The game was pretty good.  I was told that the A&M vs Missouri game wasn't going to be all that great but they ended up going into overtime.  Sadly, A&M lost.  We were able to move down to where Otis and the girls were sitting towards the end of the game.  Rose immediately wanted to sit in my lap which was perfectly fine with me.  After the game, we drove to Stewart and Otis's cousin's house for dinner.  I hadn't been out there since the second weekend we started dating (which ended up being a very important day for us - both of us realized we had something very special).  It was nice to see Gwen and Dan and they served up some yummy food.  Sunday, we put in more play time with the kids before heading out.

I hope that we're able to see more family and spend more time with them before we head out.  It's really hard when we start to think about how different everyone will be when we get back from India.  My sister is pregnant and due in March.  When we get back, the baby will be as old as James and Rose are now.  We're going to miss out on so much.  Thank goodness for Skype and webcams - maybe we won't miss out on as much as I'm afraid we will.  Family is so important to us and we cherish the time we get to spend with them.  These visits leading up to our departure are that much sweeter.