with drops of Jupiter in her hair..

Okay, this will be really long since I'm bored and have nothing else to do and I'll want to have remembered this stuff in 20 years.

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On Friday morning we started driving down to Jupiter Beach for the Knowles/Scerra family reunion. (Mary, Julia, and Rachel came down the next day though.) The car ride was about 3.5 hrs...the whole time I was reading my Drivers Handbook or This Present Darkness, listening to the mp3 player (Walk the Line, August Rush, various Sov Grace songs), passing back fruit smilies (?) to the little kids, and talking to my mom. ..went by kinda slowly, but eventually we arrived at Aunt Sarah and Uncle Callum's beauuutiful house.

It turns out they weren't even home (it slipped their minds we were coming in so early) and so we hung out with their babysitter for a little while, haha. Soon after they came back, most of my family went down the street to unpack luggage at Sarah's friend's house (who let us stay there for the weekend bc they were on vaca). Lyd and I played with Lyndsey and Lauren for a while so that Sarah and a couple others could prepare for the "Happy Hour" that night. As the evening approached, more relatives started arriving for the festivities. There were many hugs and "WOW! you've grown!"s. Everyone took advantage of the amazing snacks laid out. Most of the over 21ers drank beers and pina coladas. The night went on...

The next morning we ate breakfast and then went to meet up with relatives at the intracoastal (a waterway which branches off from the ocean, I believe). Mary, Julia, and Rach had just arrived in town, so they came as well. We hung out for a while snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, chicken-fighting, and sitting on beach chairs talking. It was during this time that Melody had the meltdown of the millenium...not funny. Cal took a group of people out on his boat to go tubing. They were gone for about an hour and then Cal came to pick another group up...including Lyd, Andrew, Micah, Naomi, and I. It was such a blast! The wind was whipping our hair back, the water mist was very refreshing [let me tell ya, it was HOT out!], and the country music was blaring. ;) Each of us took a turn on the tube. It was pretty hilarious to watch, especially when Cal would zoom all over the place so the person would lose their grip and fly off the tube. haha. He did that twice to me. [It was awesome.] After a couple hours, we made our way back to the shore. Soon after, we drove back to the house to shower and get dressed for the luau that night at Sarah's.

Around 6pm, we walked down the street to Sarah's. Tropical music was going, leis were being passed out, and a caterer was cooking up two huge pans of paella in the backyard. Everyone flitted around talking and eating. A couple hours into the party, we all gathered in the living room to watch the 15 minute long slideshow Lydia put together for the reunion. There were photos of my grandpa's branch of the family (Bahamian) as well as my grandma's side (Italian). Relatives laughed, cried, joked about the hair styles and clothing throughout the decades, commented on family resemblances, and recalled old memories. After it was done, we went outside and played a game that my dad's cousin Debbie put together. Each person filled out a slip of paper about themselves and then the slips were jumbled up to be read aloud for people to guess who wrote it. haha, that was funny. =) Ben ended up winning the game, getting an inflatable flamingo as a prize. He was a happy little boy! After milling around for a little while longer, my family went back to the house to get some sleep.

At 5am, I woke up to take a shower and get ready for going to see the sunrise at the beach with my Aunt Christi. It took about 10 minutes to get there. Oh my word, the beach was gorgeous and breezy. The sun was partially covered by the clouds as it rose, but it was still really neat. My aunt went to take a walk down the coastline, but I just stayed right where I was, watching the waves and the birds soaring over the ocean. I found some pretty shells and of course took photos. ahhh it was all so serene. We left around 8am and stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get bagels and donuts for the family. Aunt Chris and I had a good conversation on the way back. I love her!

Around 12pm, we all gathered together at the rocky beach. It was BLAZING hot (especially with bare feet) and met me tell ya, it was so weird having slippery, bumpy rocks covering the coastline. The water was beautiful though...very blue and green. I climbed into a little cove in the rocks and got beat to pulp by the crashing waves. A couple of the boys went snorkeling [and looked funny while doing so]. Melody would one second whine "I hate going in the water!!" and the next second act as if the ocean was her best friend. At one point, we all went to the tent we set up to eat lunch under. Cal grilled up a huge amount of ribs and chicken for everyone...they were unbelievable! so good. We all hung around for a while eating and talking. As relatives started to disperse, we left to go back to the house. Once we got there, we started to pack up to leave for the trip back home. (Before we left, I headed down to Sarah's to give prints of my photographs to all of Dad's four sisters as good-bye gifts.) Finally, the luggage was packed up in the van and we left. Every person in my family we exhausted, sunburnt, and a tad irritable. I just lay down in the backseat and read my book, haha. It was a pretty good ride back though.

Anyway, here are some photos of the trip: Fam Reunion 2009 .