Nicholas, my brother who is in the Marines and stationed near Seattle, went back home for ten days. Molly and I went out there last weekend to see him.

This was the first time I’d seen him in over a year.

Of course, we had to take a family picture.

Nicholas and I went out to breakfast with our grandfather at the Iron Skillet in Milton on Saturday. His hair is cut a lot shorter than it was the last time I saw him. When I commented about it, he said that my mom keeps complaining about it. He warned that each time she mentions it, he’s going to cut it shorter. I asked what he was going to do when he was bald and she made a comment. He replied that the next step would be to get his scalp tattooed. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out with family. My dad and I beat my mom and Daniel in two out of three games of Sequence. We all watched some Christian stand-up comedian who had great material, but was an annoying character. Daniel and I wrestled; nothing was broken and I pinned him down.

On Sunday, the weather was wonderful and we had a barbecue with a bunch of family friends.

It was a pretty relaxing weekend and I’m glad we got to spend it with Nicholas. I’m sure the vacation was nice for him, too. By now, he is back in Washington at work once more.

Hopefully it isn’t another year before we see each other again.