P.S.

I'm still the only one in the family to have blogged about the family reunion - so again, I rule.

Part VIII

Well, as you can imagine - Saturday morning was very hectic. Ben had to turn in the keys to the realty office by 10 AM, so the scrambling to finish packing and loading cars began early. Rachel let me sleep in a little bit, as I was up and running by 7:30 AM at the latest each day. Everyone got their cars loaded, and then did a quick sweep of the house to make sure we didn't leave anything under a chair, in a couch cushion, or in any of the bureau drawers. It suddenly occured to me that Rachel nor I had taken any pictures from the back deck of the house, or from the view we had from our room. I quickly snapped a few pictures before we left the house. It was funny, about 8:30 AM, there was a pick-up truck sitting in the driveway with people inside. We naturally assumed it was the cleaning crew to get the house ready for the next occupants. Boy, I'm smart. Anyhow, here's the pictures from our room and the view from the third floor deck we had the whole week.

Rachel and I didn't get a chance to see the Bodie Island Lighthouse, except from afar, so we decided to make a side trip. Everyone pretty much went their separate ways at this point, since the agendas of the families were also so different. We went to the lighthouse, checked out Nags Head Hammocks, and basically just wanted to stay as long as we could before heading back. We stopped at a place on the border of North Carolina and Virgina to get gas, and ended up buying a 5 lb. bucket of Carolina BBQ for later. We busted it open on Sunday when we got home, and I was a little disappointed. Just not that great.

We made a stop in the Williamsburg area, not only for bathrooms and to stretch our legs, but because I needed a new pair of pants. Yes, I know it's an odd thing to stop for. Vicky and Ben both had asked for all four brothers to be in the blessing circle for their infants, as both had permission to bless them in Mom's ward. I knew from the Sunday church fiaso that my pants were still way too dirty to wear for a blessing. I was able to secure a new shirt, pants and tie for the occasion. Thad and Brooke graciously opened their home for us to stay with them on Saturday night, and we decided to stay. We arrived at Mom's house in the afternoon to the relief of Lindsay who was screaming bloody murder for the last ten minutes of the trip. All in all, a great trip with minimal problems and blow ups. The next post will be funny and memorable moments that didn't make it into the posts of the week in the OBX. I invite my family to submit their own stories to me, as I probably missed some.

Love to all.

Part VII

As with all good things, our week was surely coming to an end. Rachel and I talked on Thursday night about possible activities for our last day. I told Rachel that I thought we should start packing our bags, so that Friday night and Saturday morning would go much smoother. Yeah, fun - I know, but at least we could get some laundry in and done. I mean real laundry, not Beth's kind of laundry. We found out that some of the family were going to do the aquarium that morning, so less of a chance for us to get behind on packing. Well, best laid plans sometimes go by the wayside on vacation. We did get most of our laundry done, but we ended up taking the girls out and flying our kites on the beach. Rachel got her's started in the front yard really nice, but we reeled it in and went to the beach. Well, the beach SUCKED on Friday - we thought the wind was being blocked by the house and the sand dunes because it was almost impossible to get the kites to stay up in the air for any amount of time. We moved back down the beach to the public walkway, and no more dunes equals KITE in the air.

Allison had to use the bathroom, and there just happened to be a port-a-pottie at the end of the walkway to the beach. Allison told me to wait outside, because she could do it all by herself. Ryleigh was allowed in, for reasons I still don't know. Allison is turning into a little woman more and more each day. I thought that by raising three girls, I may get an inside view of the confusion that women cause men, but I still haven't figured it out. So, I was flying my kite outside the pottie waiting for Allison to finish. Rachel was off with her kite getting it up high in the air, and she yells for me to come over. We walked over, and saw that the crabs on the beach were busy digging their holes into the sand. I thought it was pretty cool, so I snapped off some pictures. Allison and Ryleigh, however, responded with ear-splitting screams of terror. It didn't help that I told them if the crabs came too close, that Daddy would eat them. Gotta love it.

Oh, and about the time the girls were screaming, the wind died down and kite in water. We wrapped it up to take back to the house, and took the girls inside to take a nap, or at least have quiet time. Rachel came back out, and we got her kite up in the air - the whole 200 feet of string even. It was pretty cool, and was fun -- until just about everyone else in the house came out and it just got too crowded in the front yard for 6 people flying kites. I was frustrated, so we went inside to chill out. We started packing backs, and getting dinner ready. We were going to eat early, so that would leave the evening for everyone to pack and scramble to clean, etc.

That was the plan, but again, best laid plans. Allison wanted to go into the kiddie pool, since it was still pretty warm out that day. I threw on my suit, and went with her to hang out. It also had the added bonus of occupying the kids, so Rachel could pack easier. Just for fun, I jumped into the pool - it was so cold, there had to be shrinkage of seismic proportions. Well, it got much warmer in half the pool once Thad and Ben rigged the outside shower's hot water to run into the pool. The downside? Nobody could take showers for about an hour and change after we were chased from the pool by lightening and thunder. In any case, a large portion of the family ended up in the pool for about an hour, playing with water pistols, throwing a football, and such. Allison even came over to the big pool with me, and with assistance from a life-jacket and Daddy, she swam the length of the pool more than 10 times. Rachel and I were so proud, as she's been afraid of water for a long, long time.

We divyed up the leftover food to each family, and then retired to bed. Rachel and I had a relaxing day, ironically, because we didn't leave everything to the last minute. It was a sad night, because we knew it was our last in the house.

Part VI

There was a lot of discussion in the months leading up to the reunion about having a family portrait done. There were some of us who wanted to try and find a professional photographer, and some wanted to have Amy pose everyone, set the timer and then run into the shot. Rachel and I were in the first group. We just figured it made more sense to try and hire someone to take the picture and see if we could make sure everyone was looking at the camera, space evenly and snap when the majority of the kids were looking in the right direction. So, Sarah and Rachel started looking for photographers. It eventually turned into Sarah doing most of the phone work, leg work, and arm twister. The first person we decided on, we later changed our minds on because of the amount of money she wanted to charge as a "sitting fee". It was some insane amount of money - she was screwing us over for having a large group. Rachel and I wanted to have a more relaxed setting for our family, and to take as many pictures as the girls would have patience for. We asked Amy if she would be willing to go to the beach with us and snap photos of us on the dunes, and on the beach. We wanted to make sure that we had as many photos as possible. Amy agreed, mostly because she likes us the bestest, and we set it up. Ben and Sarah also asked Amy to do their family's candid shots, also just in case.

The issue of the family portrait was still up in the air at this point. As far as I was concerned, Rachel and I had Amy for our family shots already lined up, so I wasn't too worried. I floated the idea of hiring someone just for the ENTIRE family portrait, and then hiring Amy to do the individual families one at a time. It was just one idea I had. Well, Sarah ended up spending almost a whole day on the phone with multiple photographers asking them all the same questions. It wasn't looking good from a cost perspective for us. Sarah did eventually find Ocean Edge Photography, and spoke with Mr. Allen Hooper the owner/photographer. What a godsend this guy was to us. I didn't get all the particulars, but the basics were: our session would last an hour, he was bringing an assistant, and they both would be taking a ton of pictures. He also was the only photographer that suggested a setting he normally uses for beach portraits for other clients. Sarah went ahead and booked him for our portrait.

Thursday came, and we got dressed into our outfits to go to the beach with Amy for our pictures. Ben and Sarah asked if we minded if they tagged along that morning, to try and make it easier on Amy. They also wanted to make sure that Amy didn't waste an entire day taking people's pictures and missing her vacation time. So, we all piled into our cars and made the trip to Coquina Beach to take our portraits. Thursday was the hottest day of the week, and also the most beautiful for pictures, thank goodness. We spent about 20 mins taking pictures of the family and the girls, and didn't stop until Lindsay started eating the sand. Ben and Sarah also did their thing with Amy, so all in all, it only took about an hour for both families to get done. Rachel looked at the pictures on Amy's camera, and they looked good apparently. Amy is burning a CD with those pictures for us, and I thank her for her time and for her creativity. Allison has always loved Aunt Amy taking her picture, so this was no different.

We got the kids home, fed, and in bed for naps to make sure they were in their best moods for pictures that evening. I pulled out my book for a read, played some Halo 3, MarioKart and Guitar Hero to end out my afternoon. Dinner was prepared early, and then the whole family changed and piled into cars to meet Allen at the shoot. Ben called earlier in the afternoon to make sure we were still on, and Allen said if people wanted to get there a little early, he would start doing some of the families. We met Allen and Phil and headed off to the dunes to start. Things were very smooth, Allen was the consumate professional throughout. He may not have ever done such a large group in one sitting, but things went well. He stayed long after the hour had expired to get the shots that he wanted, and that we wanted as well. I can't wait to see how they turned out, from Amy and from Allen. If anyone is in the OBX, and wants pictures taken, email me ... I have a photographer for you. I'll also be posting some of the pictures Amy took of our family on the beach later, once I get the CD from her ... until then, you'll just have to imagine me in the Speedo *shudder*

Love to all.

Part V

Wednesday promised to be a gorgeous day, the first sunny day of the week that wasn't accompanied by a cold, brisk gusty wind. On one hand, I kinda liked the wind, due to the fact that it had the potential to blow sun dresses up - but on the other hand, we were on vacation and I was looking forward to a nice day for our trip. I'm a history nut, and love going to visit sites of significance to the building of this country. We were staying 9 miles from where the Wright Brothers made their name in Kill Devil Hills, and gave birth to aviation. We also were only about an hour and a half from Ocracoke Island, where Blackbeard the Pirate had a base while plundering and terrorizing the Eastern Seaboard of the Colonies. I wanted to see Ocracoke while we were so close, and Rachel agreed.

There is a ferry you have to take from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke, it's free and takes about 40 minutes travel time. The ferry runs every half-hour, so it's usually not a long wait. We left the house at about 9 AM, and were going to try and make the 10 AM ferry. Everyone else was going to stop at the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and take pictures from the top of it. I thought if we could fit that in on the way back, we would, but otherwise, I wanted to concentrate on our day together. We did end up making it to the ferry with about seven minutes to spare, but since they were only running one boat - - no dice, we got in line for the second one. Rachel got out, took Allison to the bathroom, and checked out the tourist trap of a t-shirt shop by the landing. So, 10:30 rolls around and they start to load the next boat. We ended up one car short of making it onto the boat ... if we were driving a compact car, they would have let us on. So, we're first in line to make the 11 AM ferry. I now get out, and take a bathroom break. I grabbed a Queensryche t-shirt to wear for the day, not only because the band is still mind blowing, but because I wanted to look like a bad donkey (edited for content). Black sunglasses, metal band t-shirt, and shaved head equals bad mother. Well, I start peeing, and this jackweed starts talking to me, "So, Queensryche, huh? I saw them once in San Francisco about 16 years ago. My brother bought me the tickets, and ......" Trust me, it kept going the whole time I was peeing. I just wanted to start barking at him or something. I just left and went to the t-shirt tourist trap and found the girls these adorable pink and black tie-dyed t-shirts. They have a skull and crossbones on them, but the skull is wearing a pig-tailed wig. Pirates with a twist.

We made it onto the 11 AM ferry, while everyone else was still at Hatteras. I just waited in the car and snacked on some of the stuff we brought, while Rachel took a few pics of our van from outside the passenger lounge.

We landed on Ocracoke, and it was still about 12 miles to the city. For those of you who care, Ocracoke was voted 2007 winner of "Best Beaches" by Dr. Beach - so they have celebrity endorsements, which I require of all my vacation destinations. We snagged a map of the tourist stuff while waiting for the ferry, and found a few of the places we wanted to see. First stop was Teach's Hole, a pirate museum/Pirate souvenir shop. The museum was pretty small, but I love stuff like that. They actually charged us for the kids to go in, which kinda peeved me, but rules are rules. It was more of a general history of Blackbeard, and pirates in general. I loved it, and read every single placard on the wall, watched every video, and scared the girls by talking like a pirate (call our voicemail and listen to our new outgoing message for an example). Once we were done, we were dumped into the souvenir shop. Ryleigh wanted a pirate hat and hook, and Allison wanted a bag of pirate jewels and coins from the big chest. Oh, and a do-rag makes me look even more menacing - I have 3 now, picked them up down the street in the discount pirate shop.

After we left there, we pulled out the map to navigate our way over to the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Well, let's just say the map of the city makes everything look spreadout, but it's not. Things are very compact, and I whizzed right by the parking for the lighthouse. Granted, there was only space for about 4 cars and one handicapped space, so it's not like I missed a huge lot. We made our way around and parked. Ocracoke Lighthouse is still in use by the US Coast Guard, so it's not accessible to the public. It's also one of the plainer lighthouses we saw.

We went to a few more spots, but it was starting to get late and we were going to head back to see the Hatteras Lighthouse and go to a very funny store we had seen billboards for. We were stopped at a general store, when we saw Ben drive by on Main Street. We chased after him, but by the time we were able to turn onto the road, we missed him. I decided to guess that he was going to go to the Lighthouse, but wrong again. We did find Mom, and the rest of the family who had just pulled up. We hung with them for a few minutes, but they were going into town and we were pretty much done. We made it right onto a ferry heading back, and scooted down the road. We stopped at trymynuts and picked up a few items to try. We then stopped at Dirty Dick's Crabhouse so I could get a t-shirt, and headed home. We did stop at the Hatteras Lighthouse, and then went home to get ready for dinner. Wednesday night it was decided that all of us were going to go out to eat, so we met at this restaurant at 6:30 PM. They had seating for our large group, and I took great pleasure in pissing off some of the other patrons by being very loud and having fun. Good food, not stellar, but I'd go back for the Carolina BBQ if noting else. Wednesday night we also did our Gag Gift exchange, but that's a story for another night.

On a final note, Ryleigh didn't take off her pirate hat or hook except at the dinner table from the moment we left Teach's Hole until bedtime. She started affecting this pirate growl, and I heard her muttering as we got into the house. I listened closer, and I hear, "I'm the meanest Pirate" and "Arrrrr, Matey". I start with "Shiver me Timbers" and "Walk the Plank" and sure enough she's copying me. Very Cute! I tried the rest of the week to recreate that, but all I got was "Daddy, I'm not wearing my costume." Shucks, what a doll.

Love to all.

Part IV

Monday night into Tuesday morning, we had a heck of a storm roll into town. The wind was kicking up pretty hard, almost felt like the house was rocking ... either that, or someone was doing some laundry downstairs. *giggles* The sun did end up coming out on Tuesday, but it was still pretty windy. We had our own walkway down to the beach in the backyard, and we could see that the water was a lot closer to the house than it was in the previous days. Amy decided to walk out to get a closer look, and to her surprise ... part of the steps down to the beach were gone. Yup, they were there the night before and now they're in pieces lying on the beach.

One by one, pretty much everyone had to see this and take pictures, and I'm glad to say we were no exception. I took the girls out as far as Rachel would let me, as the walkway felt kinda rickety in addition to being destroyed. We took some pictures of each other, and Amy took one of all 4 of us, since Lindsay was inside drinking heavily.

I took Allison and Ryleigh out front to play in the sand of the volleyball court, while Ben, Andrew, Thad, Rachie Ann and I threw around a baseball. The wind was still blowing pretty hard, and that was playing havoc with the flight-path of the baseball, but it was still fun. I was getting bored chasing the ball into the overgrowth, so we had a pickup game of basketball. Chris came out, and made the teams an even 3 on 3 match. Rachie Ann, Ben and I took on Thad, Andrew, and Chris - it was a pretty evenly matched game, and I was impressed by Rachie's skills on the court. Mom even popped out to tape the game - - she tapes everything these days, and especially the week of the reunion.

If you look closely, at the picture of the house, you can see Mom up there playing Alan Funt, and Rachel was able to zoom in on our camera for the shot on the right. Rachel and Amy went down to the public beach landing, and found that the water was right up to the landing, so the beach was pretty much closed. They also found a condemned house on the beach, so if any of you are looking for a cheap place to stay - I can hook you up, if you don't mind the possibility of a house collapsing on you at some point of your stay that is. Since the beach was closed, the kids were playing in the sand of the volleyball court. All was well, until the battle over the shovels started and we had to take kids inside.


On a side note, the house next to ours is a duplex. One side is a rental property (that's also for sale), but the other side is a private residence. We were tossing the baseball around, and I noticed that they older couple were taking their dog for a walk. I didn't pay too much attention, until Ben kinda motioned for me to look to my right, and there's the old guy coming up to me in his attractive dark socks, shorts and tennis shoe ensemble. He basically told me to be careful when I went into the brush to look for the baseball, as the ticks are a problem. He walked off with his wife, I rolled my eyes and made a partially obscene hand gesture and went back to playing. Later, I was picking up the ball to throw back to Ben - and I noticed that sure enough, there's a tick crawling on the seams. I killed the sucker, and got the kids inside. We all checked for ticks, and Rachie Ann found one on her. So, Sorry Old dude for the Hand Gesture .... My Bad, Yo.

Love to all.

Part III

I'm usually a load to wake up in the morning, due mostly to the fact that I am a border-line insomniac. I usually fix my lunch, lay out my clothes, and take my shower the night before so I can sleep as long as possible before getting up and throwing myself together and scoot to work. It's a sickness, really. Well, for some reason I kept going to bed early and then waking up between 6 and 6:30. It's amazing how that happens, I was even able to eat breakfast at a leisurely pace. I might have to try and go to sleep early more often, if my body will accept a new schedule of sleep instead of sleep deprivation.

Monday morning we decided to visit the N. Carolina aquarium with Andrew and Amy, as the weather was supposed to be bad that day. Due to the fact that we have a Philly Zoo pass, we found that the aquarium would let us in for free. We tried to shmooze the ticket lady into letting Andrew and Amy in as well, but no dice. I guess it's not true what they say about people in the South being stupid. It's a nice aquarium, right on Manteo Island. It's smaller than I'm used to, but the girls had a blast.

They started out with some of the local wildlife in the swamps and marshes, then moved to local fish and other reptiles. They had an exhibit on hurricanes, specifically Hurricane Irene which tore up the Outer Banks back in 2003. It's always amazing how violent nature can be.


Allison and Ryleigh loved watching me touch the rays in the see and feel part of the trip. We couldn't get the girls to participate, except for when Ryleigh frustrated the mentally challenged guy who was in charge of the starfish part. Ryleigh kept splashing the water, and that guy kept telling her to stop, but Ryleigh wasn't listening.

We brought lunch for everyone, and so we ate on the way to the Outlet Mall that was near our house. There was a storm coming in, and the wind was kicking up. It was mostly looking at a few stores, and killing time before we went back to the house. Ben and Sarah had scheduled the photographer for Monday night's family portrait, but that was cancelled due to the store and wind. So, Monday night we spent playing the Palmer family favorite game "Loaded Questions". We've long since ditched the official instructions, and made up our own set. Officially, you have a board, playing pieces and there's a deck of cards. We've eliminated everything except the cards, and turned the game into a part Roast of the family, and part see who can be the funniest. Having the whole family there just made the game a ton of fun, except when people try to hard. Sometimes, only the truth is funny.

Love to all.

Part II

There was discussion about holding a family devotional/testimony meeting on Sunday morning at the house, but it was really wishy-washy as to whether or not to have one. Rachel and I decided to see if there was a meetinghouse close to where we were staying, as I thought it was important to attend church even though it was vacation. We searched and found the building was about 9 miles from the house, so luck was on our side. As we were getting ready for church, I pulled out my slacks to iron. Well, I must have crawled on my knees in something at work - because they were filthy. It wasn't a big deal, but I was forced to wear jeans with my shirt and tie. I felt like a complete idiot, but I figured attending church was more important. Besides, it wasn't like I was wearing a swimsuit, no shirt, and goggles (no matter how sexy that may sound). We stayed for the first hour, and then went home. I know that Thad, Ben, and Rachie Ann and some of the kids pulled out the boogie boards in the afternoon and went body surfing in the frigid weather. Well, not frigid exactly - - but I saw some of the adult's nipples through their shirts on some of those people after they were done. Wha-HOOOO ... nipples !! Although when it's family, and it's mostly guys - the sexiness of it all is lost. It did look like fun, I'll admit. Dinner was hamburgers/hot dogs on the grill, just something easy.



Last November, Rachel and I were talking about the reunion and how it coincided with Mother's Day. We wanted to do a digital scrapbook for Mom, and we started playing with different programs online to accomplish that. I kinda forgot about it, but to Rachel's credit, she brought it up a few weeks later. We decided to see if we could get all the siblings together to submit photos and stories of Mom. After some phone calls, and emails - everyone was on board. We waited until after the winter holidays to start taking submissions, and I still had to decide on a program to use. Well, after some poking around, I decided on a website called Picaboo. I LOVE IT ! Coming from a guy, and considering it's scrap booking - - that should speak volumes. I played around with it for a week or so, just trying things out and seeing what I could make. I ended up making a 2007 Palmer yearbook for our family, and getting it printed to see the quality of the finished product. After that, we started asking for submissions from the siblings to get started. I tried to encourage people to download the software on their own computers and do their own pages, and a few took me up on that. The book was finished by mid-March and we had it printed in April after combing over it for mistakes. I had friends and family proof-read it with me, just in case. After leafing through the finished pages, I knew I had a guaranteed crying, blubbering Mother after she finished looking through it.

Ben decided to kick it up a notch by suggesting we put together the pages from the book in a slide show on his computer, use his big screen projector and show it to her along with music, while everyone read their pages on the wall. Then, after that was done, present the book to her as a "Gotcha!" moment. I loved it, and Ben started work on it. He was able to get that done in a short time, once we realized you could save the pages as .jpg images, then import those into PowerPoint. So, stage was set - - and mission accomplished: Mom started crying as soon as she saw Thad's image on the screen and didn't stop until the last two collage pages. It wasn't always easy to keep everyone to my timeline, and I know I probably pissed some family off in the process at one time or another. I just knew how Mom would love to have this, and how important it was that I get it done. Thank you, Sarah, for your support and encouragement. Rachel the Wife and you both deserve a mention in here, as I quit several times when things got rough. Both of you picked me up, and I started again. I was very proud of the work that I put into that book, and very proud that a LUNKHEAD like me could do something so creative with the use of such a wonderful program.


As you can see, I've added Picaboo's web link to my blog to help advertise such a blessing of a program (Money, please ... HINT HINT).

Love to all.

We're Gonna Break This Up

::BEEP:: Download complete ::BWONK, WONK::

I've downloaded the pictures from our camera tonight, and instead of trying to do one post and fit the whole past week into it, I think it better to make a few posts and spread things out. Anticipation makes the whole thing worth more, at least that's what Rachel tells me. So, in that vein, I'll begin:

I took Friday, May 9th off of work to help with getting the luggage/car packed up for the trip and to help make lasagnas for our dinner on Saturday night down in North Carolina. Rachel and I thought that we needed to make things simple for dinner that night, so that everyone could unpack and unwind from the drive down from Virginia. With 28 people in the house, we figured to make 4 or 5 pans to make sure there was enough for dinner and have left over's for lunches and such. Well, I made the decision to go ahead and make 6 pans, just to be sure. We were able to freeze 4 of them, and they all made it down. We left on Saturday morning about 6:00 AM, and started the trek down. We used Google Maps to see what the fastest way was going to be, and we also got the address of the house in North Carolina to plug into our GPS. Both points of reference agreed that going down the DelMarVa peninsula, then across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel into Norfolk and then continue south to Nags Head. The total trip was only about 6 to 7 hours that way, so I was stoked. With some gas in the tank, food in the belly, we started.

Nothing really fun to report, we made a few bathroom breaks for Allison (okay, us too ...) and found that the "5 Dollar Footlong" Subway marketing campaign has worked on Allie. We stopped at one to use the bathroom, and I look in the mirror and see Allie miming the TV commercial. (I hate this commercial, and all like it for some reason.) Rachel usually is pretty nervous going over bridges, but she only got edgy a few times going over the span of bridges and tunnels that make up the span of 17 miles. We even stopped at a rest stop to take in the view, change diapers, and snap a few pictures.

There were a total of 5 cars making the trip on Saturday (Andrew and Amy came on Sunday), and we all kep in good contact over the trip making sure everyone knew where everyone else was. Since we left from the furthest away, we ended up in the lead. Well, since we left earliest and my family's penchant for dragging ass gave Rachel and I the lead. Once we got about 30 miles from the Outer Banks, we decided to stop and give Ben and Sarah a call to see where they were. They were the ones picking up the house key, so no reason to haul buns to get there to sit in the driveway of the house. We needed to pick up a few things from the store anyway, so we stopped and gave them a call. We were just ahead of them, so our stopping gave them the lead. They called us to let us know they were able to get the keys early and the race was on. Ever notice that traffic just seems to know you are in a hurry? We ended up behind every pokey person on HWY 158 ..... I used some fancy driving to get around them, but from what Ben said, they were in the lead to stay. I followed the GPS turns, and wouldn't you know it ... We WON !!! Apparently, Ben had directions that took him the long way around and gave the contest to us.

We got into the house, and unloaded our cars. Rachel and I started the lasagna, and finished unpacking our stuff. Vicky, Zac, Mom, Nancy and Rachel all arrived at about the same time, so we got them unloaded as well. Rachel and I paid for an extra room for the girls, so we got two rooms on the middle floor of the house. Now, this is a twelve bedroom house we were staying in ( I'll be posting pics of that later), and the middle floor had 6 bedrooms. Both our room, and the girls' room looked out on the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, just like I wanted. So, with dinner started and our van unpacked, we helped get the kitchen setup and finished dinner once Beth, Chris, Thad and Brooke showed up. Vicky had made some spaghetti for the kids, which most of the adults ended up eating as well. I was annoyed that more people didn't eat my food, but it was all good in any case. Saturday ended with most everyone turning in early, which was just fine with us. More to follow.

Love to all.

Hello from OBX !

Ahhh ... relaxing ...

Just have a few minutes and wanted to post a short something to those people who read this blog at all. Most of the people that do read are with me at this time, so I'm not counting on a lot of response to this post. Currently, I'm sitting on my laptop in Nags Head, North Carolina in a 12 bedroom house right on the beach. My family got together this week for our first "official" Palmer family reunion, and thanks to my brother Ben, it all happened this week. I have to give him some huge credit, as getting all my family together wasn't an easy task to complete. I have three brothers and four sisters, plus our mom and all our kids (16 in total) together in close quarters for one week.

It seems like only yesterday that Ben started planning for this, beginning with a conference call during the Winter of 2006. It also didn't help matters much that I was the head complainer, and thought this was a terrible idea to try and pull off. I guess it just pissed me off that Ben was putting this whole show together, without consulting my opinion about location, times, etc. Well, in the end, Rachel and I came up with some alternative locations, Ben listened and we talked it through with him. It finally came down to Florida or North Carolina, and since North Carolina was going to be closer and cheaper for most people, that decision was made. I got fully on board, once I saw that Ben liked the fact that someone else was getting involved and trying to come up with alternatives. So, Rachel and I pitched in and made this thing happen. Time certainly flew in between then and now, and I can't believe this week is coming to an end. I'll be blogging more in the next weeks, including pictures, once we get home and get back into our routine.

Love to all.

Pepsi Stuff and Coke Rewards

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am collecting both Pepsi and Coke points, so if you have any you want to get rid of - I'll take the codes off your hands. Just email them to me.

Breaking news: Aaron is officially a moron - Rachel tells me that April has 30 days, and I kept insisting that it had 31. This is officially my penance:

Thirty days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, except February which has 28 ... 29 in a leap year.

Now back to life.