Never long enough...

I had a wonderful week with my sister, but it wasn't long enough. I'm thankful for the week, but the greedy part of me wants more!

It was a relaxing week of hanging out, fitting into their life, and laughing over nothing and everything. We find it amusing that although we look nothing alike...

...we are alike in soooo many ways. Seeing us in action and how we do things, by that alone you'd know we were related.

And because we have this shared history, we can make a face or say a phrase -- even just one word -- and dissolve into laughter.

My baby sister hit a milestone birthday this year and my gift to her was a 12"x12" photo book of that shared history. It worked out well to do it this year, since we're scanning all our photos anyway. Without giving away the reason, I had her send me her collection of childhood photos too, so I could scan them for my own use as well as put them in the book.

It was disappointing that the book didn't arrive while I was there (its scheduled delivery is today, actually) but I did show it to her on the computer. I'm especially anxious to find out how the photo on the cover turns out, since it's pretty large. I'm hoping it isn't overly pixellated or fuzzy. It's a formal portrait our mom had done when we were 5 and 10, and we were totally rockin' the 60s 'dos:

A lot of our childhood photos are small, many are black and white, and most are not the best quality. But it doesn't really matter, does it? Because despite the poor quality, those images bring back memories of people and places, special events and everyday life while growing up. 

I also passed along the family Bible since I can't take it to Argentina and there's no sense keeping it stored in a box where no one has access to it.

Our maternal grandfather gave it to our mom in February 1958, and over the next few years mom and someone else recorded births, deaths, and military service records on the pages allocated for them. We easily recognize mom's handwriting but are not sure about the other person, and now I think it's probably too late to ask anyone who might know.

One evening my nieces had softball practice -- in two different towns, which is typical, so we split up and I went with my sister to Emily's practice. The coach had them playing different positions throughout the two-hour practice, and I snapped this photo when she was pitching:

I started a craft project with the girls that we sadly didn't have time to finish (they have a very busy schedule!) and I helped my sister put up a few freezer meals for those nights they have ball practice and get home late, tired and hungry. We played games, watched Candice Olsen (even our TV tastes are similar!), and talked and talked and talked.

Wednesday Jon and Natalie drove up and we headed back to San Francisco on Thursday morning. We drove off the mountain, me crying the whole way down, knowing it will be several years before I see her again. There's just nothing like that special relationship you have with a sister!

As much as I miss her, we are thoroughly enjoying our time with Jon and Natalie. We took our time getting back to the San Francisco, sight-seeing along the way. Today we'll be going into the city,  getting a tour of where Jon works, and doing more sight-seeing. But more about that in the next post. Right now I need to get my walking shoes on.