My Family

This year my Family squished together in my little cabin for Thanksgiving which I really love. I always love when they come up and there seems to be space even in my less than 700 square ft. houslette. I thought the pics from that would be a good way to intro my Fam to this nutty blog. Vanessa, Isaiah and my monkeys did not make it down, so you will meet the rest of them. My family is as dysfunctional as any family around only I spell it dysFUNKtional. We laugh and make due in spite of each other! We are a heinz 57 bunch with my children having Chinese & Japanese added in the mix. From Mom's side we get 1/2 Basque and the rest English, Irish & Scotch as much as anyone figures. For more on my Maternal Grandmother (Grandma Lucy) check out this site! It will explain why I love a good fiddle and banjo song! http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hindorff/fallbrook%20lambs.htm Grandma & Grandpa Eris met in Yosemite. Grandma came up on the railroad through El Portal and Grandpa drove by car through Wawona. My Uncle has a picture somewhere of him standing on his hands out on Glacier Point! Dads side is 1/2 French and 1/2 Swedish. Mom & Bro got the great Basque olive skin & dark hair. I got the English, Irish Scotch pasty skin & pale eyes. Dad is somewhere in between, but I always looked different and Bro (Steve) used to tell me I was adopted or found under a rock. I believed him! Steve's son Julian is back East in College and didn't make it this time.

Thanksgiving Day Steve, Brenna & I went to Mirror Lake and sat around people watching, eating hummus at the Ahwahnnee We had our TG meal on Friday.

My cat Dandy (Micah is wanting to change his name to Rock) fell in love with Brenna and hasn't been the same since.

Thursday night Brenna decided that in addition to the pumpkin and apple pies we should have lemon meringue pie. Since I had no lemons, she decided at 11:30 pm to make gluten free Mandarin orange meringue pie. "It only takes me 35 minutes" she said. At around 1:45 am the pie was done and Brenna said "Well, that took me longer than 35 minutes!". Maybe the bottle of wine that got very low had something to do with us thinking it was a good idea...

Steven tried out the couch while the pie was being made.

The pie was enjoyed! Dad (Richard Andre) is on the far left getting pie at the counter. At the table from left around to right is my daughter -in-law Ashley Arii. Ashely got her Doctorates degree in Physical Therapy last summer. My son Aaron Arii who is Teaching students with disabilities in Fresno  and working on his Masters degree. Far back is Brenna & Bro Steve who you now know, then last, but not least My Mother Ramona Andre who later, as usual, whooped us all in Hearts even though she never pays attention.   

I try to get stuff done when Bro & Aaron are up cuz the muscle is handy. Between dinner & pie, we leveled a spot to put this old wood burning stove for a fire pit. They didn't let me just over see! 

This monster was actually in the little cabin at one time!

Bye for now!