We are family, all my cousins and me

We're back from the big family extravaganza in Canada. In terms of clan gatherings 12 is probably small fry, but for us Sydneysiders it was by far the biggest ever family holiday and I'm sure it has set a benchmark for quite some time - not only in terms of numbers. Zoe hit it off instantly with her cousins Eric, Megan and Abby and she is still somewhat wistfully asking why they aren't around anymore. I'm hoping the grandparents on the other hand have recovered from all the noise and exuberance... We met in Vancouver, where Vivien and I were playing yet another ultimate tournament (the last World's, we are pretty sure...), and then headed off together to the Okanagan Valley, supposedly Canada's hottest and driest place (it was dry and got hot) four hours east of Vancouver, where we spent nearly a week in Kelowna, mainly just relaxing, hanging out and doing a lot of swimming and eating. Good times (check out the pics: http://picasaweb.google.de/Myjens/FamilyFiesta). "We are family", by the way, has been Zoe's favourite song for a couple of weeks now and she loves - sap alert! - rounding Vivien and me up, hugging us and then singing it, loudly adding "Papa, Mama and me...". So in Okanagan we had many variations on that tune from her.