Leavin' on a jet plane...

Today I will board an aircraft that will propel me to the faraway land of Arizona, to reside in the small village of Green Valley for three days.  Green Valley is a small community filled with 90% gray-haired, plaid shorts wearing, golf cart driving, retired senior individuals;  thus why my extended family calls this village ‘home’ for 6 months out of the year.

Really, I’m so excited I could almost pee my pants. Green Valley is a quaint little town that my Grandparents started calling home during the winter months about, ohh, 15 or so years ago.  Then about 5 years ago, my Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Charlie bought an amazing home there also; complete with a pool!!! And if that wasn’t enough of the Sheik family down there, my Aunt Linda and Uncle Larry bought a home, on a golf course no less, a few years ago.  There’s rumor that another set of aunts and uncles is moving down there too, but who knows.  Slowly but surely the Sheik’s are taking over Arizona. Or at least Green Valley.

‘Sheik’ is my mom’s side of the family. And it is one LARGE son of a gun. Grandma Margie is a proud Catholic and to honor that religion she produced 6 bundles of joy for my Grandpa Jim. There are 5 girls and 1 boy….poor Uncle Bill.  Nearly every one of those bundles made their parents proud by producing an ass-load of grandkids.  Which means, I have somewhere around 14 cousins; all but a handful of them are married, and even some of them have produced some offspring.  All in all, our family get-togethers are a trip. 

Booze is a never ending flow down our parched throats, delicious nourishment is provided for our glutinous devouring, and the laughter…oh the laughter. Man do we have a good time.  And this is the same for ANY get-together, whether it’s a wedding (oh, there was a food fight at my wedding, just to give you an idea of the craziness), a funeral, a football tailgate, etc.

That side of the family is extremely close. I still talk to most of my cousins on a monthly basis, and during KSU football season, I get to see most of the family at the tailgates on every home game. My grandpa has been going to KSU football games for something like 50 years or more. He got ‘honored’ a few years ago as KSU’s #1 fan. It was so cute.

Some of my cousin’s and I are so close in fact, that one of them named Ryan and I godparents for his son that was born last Oct.  That cousin is Corey, and he has been a staple in my life forever. He’s more like a brother than a cousin. And his son, Akahi, is the cutest little wonderment that I’ve ever seen. (Maybe I’m a little biased.)  Akahi was named for extremely meaningful reasons, his full name is Akahi Na-Se-Ka Rosengarten.  Akahi mean’s ‘at first sight, or first love’ in Hawaian (that’s where Corey and his wife Jessica met) and Na-Se-Ka was my stepdad Mike’s Indian name, which means ‘rolling thunder’.  Corey found out that Jessica was having a boy right around the time that Mike found out his cancer came back.  It was a no-brainer to Corey to honor Mike by giving his name to Akahi.

Anyway, it worked out that Corey, Jessica, and Akahi will all be there this weekend, along with my Mom and her boyfriend Hardy. I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to be left out of the fun!’, so I’m heading down there to get my ‘family fix’.  I can’t wait. I haven’t seen my grandparents since I married in Sept. 2010 and I haven’t seen Corey and family for 6 months. It should be some rockin’ good times!

As far as weigh-in, I’m up to 150.2. I think because I had a few beers last weekend and this week. Plus, I haven’t been that strict on the Atkin’s this week either.  Oh, and because of the sickness from Hell that I acquired last weekend, I haven’t done a lick of physical activity this week. Well, besides going from couch to bed, that’s about it.

Well, I’m leavin’ on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…..

Just kidding, pictures and a tell-all to come when I get back this Tuesday.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!