Visit Up North

 I just got back from a wonderful trip up north to visit family.  

My aunt (my mom's sister) was like my second mom when I was growing up.  I was very close to my cousin so I spent a lot of summers at their house in Waukesha.  

After losing my parents, I felt that I had to make an effort to see her again.  I booked my flight a few months ago, but I guess I didn't tell my sister because when she found out I was going (only 5 days before) she was upset and wanted to go too.  Fortunately, we were able to find her a seat on the exact same flights as me.  

We left on February 6 and went Orlando to Milwaukee. Things got off to stressful start as we had trouble checking in and then we ended up sitting on the plane while they tried to fix the navigation system.  They tried for an hour before deciding that we needed to get off the plane, switch gates, and get on another available plane.  So instead of leaving at 4:30, we left about 6:05. Very uncharacteristically, I slept through most of the flight. I only woke up when I heard the pilot say we were landing in 1/2 hour. 

My cousin drove in from North Dakota and was there to pick us up.  And it was COLD!  Over the next three days we had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. My best friend Carey drove down on Saturday and spent the day, we had a couple of my aunts over pizza, and met my cousin's partner, Wade.  We had a wonderful time - even though it was COLD! Somehow, this is the only picture I got. 

Every Christmas our parents would make us line up like this on the steps for a picture. 

We flew back late on the night of February 9 and both decided we need to make an effort to go back very soon - this time in the summer.