why i went to O'Hare in the first place

My dad has one sister, Janet. So on my father's side of the family, there are four immediate cousins, and a (friendly) handful of second cousins and once removed cousins and cousin-cousins, some of whom I'm pretty sure I haven't met (and if I have, I may have forgotten them -- no offense, guys).

Anyway, in my generation there are essentially six of us -- me, Polly (my sister), Bates, Gretchen, Darcia and Marty. (confused yet? here, let's put some faces to the names)

You know me.

This is Polly:

This is Bates & Gretchen (sisters -- first cousins once removed, I think):
This is Darcia (cousin):
and this is Marty (who looks so much like my dad it's scary):
And this is why we were there:
Because these two cuties are getting married, and Polly, Darcia and I were throwing a shower for them! (or as my friend Christina said, I was showering all weekend)

As it turns out, I'll be performing Lear during their wedding, so I won't be going (boo) so I'm really glad I caught the shower.

Here are some other pics from the weekend -- try and guess who's related and who isn't, and how!

(we'll start out easy...)

And then, my aunt Janet (on the left) and my "aunt" Marilyn, her cousin (mom to Bates & Gretchen).

My mom, having a little rest after the Sangria-filled party. (Yeah, we started drinking around 11 a.m.)
This is the view from Janet's back porch (not bad, if I do say so myself)
This is Kitty. (that's his name) He likes to sleep in the cupboard. Which is really funny because he can open the door himself and climb on in there whenever he wants!
and my favorite (and perhaps the most telling about my own personality):