PhotoHunt Theme: Family

"FAMILY" is the theme this week.
My first thoughts regarding FAMILY were about the food that we always have together as a FAMILY. I have pictures of almost every birthday cake when we all gathered around as FAMILY to celebrate whoever was currently having their birthday. I even have a picture of Willow's 1st birthday with the carrot cake that she couldn't eat but my husband and I sure enjoyed it! Of course, most holidays always consist of food and FAMILY.
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When thinking about FAMILY I remembered all of the fun FAMILY vacations we went on when my sister and I were kids. Mom and Dad would pack up the car and off we would go. Once we went to Florida and saw the alligators. Some summers we would drive to my grandparent's house in Michigan. When we lived in California we drove up north to Bass Lake and Yosemite. Here is my dad's 1966 Mustang in Yosemite driving through that huge redwood tree. I think my dad told me that the tree is no longer standing but here you can see, we drove through it...
a long time ago!
I also couldn't think about FAMILY without thinking of FAMILY pets. My parents had always had dogs and my sister and I were thrilled when they brought home our first dog, Nikki. Then my mother found Charlie, a kitten, and she thought that Nikki and Charlie might get along. They loved each other from the very beginning. I always loved cats and Charlie pretty much became my cat! And I still love ginger tabbies, like my China Cat!
Nikki and Charlie were great friends and FAMILY. We think that Charlie thought that he was a dog, like Nikki. Even people who didn't like cats or were afraid of them, didn't mind Charlie.
Nikki had one litter of four puppies. She was a very good mother to them.
See, how the food and FAMILY theme continues...
Charlie didn't mind the puppies at all, not even when they climbed all over him and bit his tail. He even helped them finish their food.
My mother brought home Suzie so that Nikki wouldn't be alone, after Charlie was gone. Someone was giving away puppies in front of the grocery store and my mom couldn't resist her. Nikki and Suzie were great friends and Suzie ended up being a wonderful friend for my daughter when she was little. Suzie adored my daughter and vice versa!
Thanksgiving is next month and that always makes me think of FAMILY and, of course, food! This was our FAMILY's spread from last year.
Our daughter invited us over to her house to celebrate Father's Day. She had the special red plate ready for her dad. The plate has writing on it that says: "You are special today!" My mother had one of these red plates and when my sister and I both got married and moved out, my mom gave one of them to each of us. Of course, after my daughter got married, she also received a red plate from my mom. By the way, our daughter and son-in-law made a wonderful dinner!
My daughter's cats, Kara and Alice eat with each other as a FAMILY.
China Cat and Willow always eat together as a FAMILY too.
As always, you can find more of Tnchick's Photohunters here!
And here photohunt
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