Richardson Day

I had the gift of a few hours yesterday of just being a daughter, sister and aunt......hanging with my parents and my sister and her littlest baby Ian (who is her 7th child and only 5 weeks old).

Such a little peanut!

My Mom and my Sister Jill have been in New Orleans where my sister was presenting at and attending a conference - that is my sister- Dr.Jillian Gates PhD!  My Mom went to take care of Mr. Ian and from the sounds of things they had a wonderful time together exploring New Orleans.  My Mom is an amazing Grandmother (affectionately called Gaga by her 9 grandchildren) and is always so delighted to be with them.  She is as in love with this #9 as she has been with every other one.

Gaga

My Dad and I drove down to Seattle (a 2 hours drive) with a stop for breakfast in Bellingham.  It was great to have a couple of hours of Dad time.  We chatted about such a broad range of subjects and caught up on several things.  We live close by and see each other often but its not often we long chats.  I cherish those times.

My sister had a long layover in Seattle before her flight home to Anchorage so we headed to the South Centre Mall area and my parents treated her (and all of us) to her favourite restaurant - the Olive Garden.  We were there for a couple hours eating and chatting and we took some family photos too.  Then we did some shopping and headed back to SeaTac for a teary goodbye.

The Richardson's

Sisters

It is a rare thing for our family of origin - just the Richardson's - to be together and I felt blessed to have the time - it was a gift.  It was an added bonus to hold a wee nephew and tell him we love him.  I so seldom get to be the Aunty in person.

Aunty Nicky

My heart is full of gratitude for my Mom, my Dad, my Sister - for all the complexities those relationships hold but for all the joy and the love that we have been lucky to have in one another.  And for the laughs......man.....we had some great laughs.

Love you guys!

My Mom will kiss the screen when she sees this!