Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #14

Thirteen Things That Made Me Happy During My Visit With My Family

1) Sitting out in the garden next to the pool in my Dad's backyard. It's peaceful, relaxing, beautiful, and smells like flowers.

2) Standing around the kitchen counter with Bean, Bacchus, and my Dad eating caramel popcorn, laughing, and feeling close to all of them.

3) Hugging my mom hello after not seeing her for many months. She always smells fresh and clean with a hint of perfume.

4) Sharing a late dinner with my brothers, sister, sister's husband, and my mom. My mom usually goes to bed at 10:00 pm, but when all her kids come to town, she pulls out all the stops. There was pork tenderloin for them, spinach quiche for me, and an awesome dessert. I love the good moments with them, when we can all be together, talking, catching up, and laughing.

5) Seeing Bean's baby bump. She looks so cute with her little belly and so beautiful. The baby-to-be is now, apparently 5 inches long. I still can't believe my baby sister is going to have a baby!

6) Hanging out with my Aunt Svea (from Sweden). She is strong, smart, and has an incredibly dry, quick sense of humor. I laugh often when I spend time with her. She's also very genuine and warm, and I had a great time talking with her.

7) The pot of coffee in my Dad's kitchen that was perpetually in the process of being emptied and refilled. Swedes drink lots of coffee, throughout the day, and often right up until bedtime. It's something I associate with feeling like I'm home.

8) Hanging out with my cousins, K and J. Last time I saw them, about three years ago, they looked like little blond-haired boys. Now, they've both grown by about 3 feet each, and they look like young men, particularly K.

9) My Dad and Stepmom made me a special piece of salmon after grilling piles of meat for everyone else. That was very thoughtful, and a much appreciated change from saying in jest, as they have during the last few years, "What? Since when are you a vegetarian?," and offering me salad.

10) Getting ready in my Mom's palatial bathroom. It's gigantic with tons of fun products, and my Mom always says nice things, such as how beautiful she thinks my hair is. It's nice to be surrounded with love.

11) Driving with my brothers. Bacchus picked Frey and I up from the airport, and on the way to my Mom's we chatted and listened to Bacchus' music. He's listening to a remix of Dolly Parton and some guy who makes all these sounds with his mouth. It's hard to describe, but it was super fun to listen to while flying down the highways in Houston.

12) Showing my cousins an American movie theater, and sharing with them the delights of junior mints. According to them, the theaters in Sweden are smaller and more expensive. They were blown away by the 18-20 theater complexes that we have here. They also really liked my junior mints; possibly the only American candy (along with good & plenty) that is as good or better than the average Swedish candy (which is awesome!).

13) Bean laughing until her stomach hurt after I sprinted out of the haunted house in order to escape the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy. The minute I heard that chainsaw start, I was gone, leaving everyone else in the dust. Bean thought it was a riot that I nudged her aside in my haste to get out. Ooops.


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

how nice! makes me look forward to my parents visit next week!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great visit!

Hen Jen said...

oh, I love your list. Your visit sounds so nice-makes me want to join you all!
I can sense the love surrounding all that you wrote.

first time to your blog, glad to find you!
blessings,
Jenny in Ca

Tug said...

How NICE. Cool.........

Unknown said...

It is so wonderful to have family visit! Sounds like you all had a great time!
Happy TT!

Stace said...

Great list! I'll bet it was hard picking just 13.

Anonymous said...

Big families sounds like so much fun!

Anonymous said...

Oh...and Bean...good luck with the baby. In a snap they go from that tiny bump to rolling their eyes at you and slamming doors!

One of my best friends from college lives in Park City. She and her husband teach there.

Darla said...

Junior Mints, huh? I'll have to see what my German in-laws think of them. :)

Sounds like you had a wonderful visit.

K said...

Sounds like a wonderful time and a great, fun family!!

Anonymous said...

I wish I was a member of your family! I drink buckets of coffee so surely I would fit in.

Tracy said...

It IS nice to be surrounded by love! Glad you had a good visit with family. Sounds like it was wonderful. There's nothing like family. Will you be in Houston at Thanksgiving or Christmas? I will be, and I'd love to meet you if you'll be there.

Anonymous said...

Aren't family visits great? It's time to catch up with everyone and spend some quality time together!

BlondeBrony said...

Glad to hear you had such a good time.
Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

Climbing over the pregnant lady to get out of the haunted house? That's why I don't go in in the first place!

Houston freeways are scary places.

Happy TT.

Anonymous said...

What a great list! Fun times with family should be cherished.

Anonymous said...

Great list. :) It sounds like you had a great visit with your family. :)

Happy T13. :)

Tammy said...

what a wonderful TT!!

Norma said...

How great that you had a good time with family.

My TT on women and finances is up.

Anonymous said...

Man, that makes me miss home too! I do a lot of those things...
esp #1-3. Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

spending time with family is very important. thanks for dropping by! ;)