The gang's all here

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A very nice weekend with family, centering on the baby-naming for Z's new daughter. On our end, we had gobs of people over -- Ben's father and stepmother, brother and sister-in-law, nephew plus wife and kids, and for Sunday brunch, also his niece, her hubby and four kids. Lots of grilling and recreational beverages. I really like hanging out with these warm-hearted, humorous and opinionated people, letting the talk (prominently featuring family gossip, of course) ricochet noisily, abetted by small children running around. As a kid, I saw one set of cousins two or three times a year and the other set almost never, so I get a kick out of watching Sarah and Becky play with their own cousins, sitting with babies on their lap and pretending to lose races with two-year-olds. They used to be the babies, of course (*sniff*), but now there's something even more poignant in seeing them interact so sweetly with younger kids.

Some random web trollings:

These animals are big. Really big.

Mimi Smartypants has an especially good post today. See the first item as well as"Surprise #3."

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