Family Reunion

Erica Gates......Michael's wife...baby boy due in October.

 I have two older brothers, Buddy (Herb) Gates and Wayne Gates.  I named my son Wayne after ...guess who.  (My older brother already had a son and now a grandson named after him and he is named after our father.)

Brother Wayne is a bit eccentric and elusive so I have not seen his family ofter throughout the years.  Six years ago his wife, Carmen died and Buddy, Curtis and my son Wayne all went up to Pa for the memorial service.  There I got to see my niece and nephews again and meet their spouses.

We have kept in touch a little through email and Facebook since then.  And my brother remarried and I did see him and one of his children at his stepdaughter's wedding.

We saw on Facebook that all his children were vacationing at Topsail Beach in NC this week and my son said, "Let's go visit them!"  Today we did just that.  I am so proud of them for spending time together......with no mom or dad to organize them just be cause they are family.

 Just for the record....the two on the second row left side are Michael and Erica and in front of them in red shirt is their son Aiden.  To the extreme right, second row is my niece, Stacey Nelson her husband Mike is in the middle of the third row to his right is their son Brian and behind them is Drew their other son.

Second row left is my nephew Paul his girlfriend, Chrissy....beside me is Aislan his daughter and son Jarret  is behind me.  Chrissy's two children are in front of me.  I assume you can identify me, Curtis, my son Wayne, and Gates.

My  parents would be so proud that at least part of our family got together.