Quillin Reunion

Because some of my Brazilian cousins were coming to the states for a visit, we moved our annual reunion to Memorial Day. Duff and the kids ended up going to Wyoming without me and had a great time horseback riding and playing Rook. I drove to California with my mom. Legal! A festa vai bombar! Here are all of us Americanas doing our best to make pasteis--an absolute "must" at these festas. We had feijoada with all the trimmings, brigadeiros, bombocados, pudim de leite, mousse de maracuja, etc. I was disappointed that we didn't have manjar branco, but the relative who brings that was sick this year :(

By the time I pulled out my camera, much of the family was gone. Here is Debbie, Roberta and Danny enjoying Richard's impromptu performance.

Richard has been playing the bagpipes for a couple of years now and impressed us all with his abilities. He performed with a group of bagpipers at the Scottish Festival this year and will be doing quite a bit of performing with them.

Cheryl, Beth and Mom

Cheryl deserves a lot of credit for hosting us each year. It's a ton of work for her. I have dear memories of Beth and her husband, Jan, who just lost his fight with esophageal cancer.

These family gatherings are quite an experience and Mom and I had a great time. When Mom got tired of visiting we said "Ciao" and went to see "Angels and Demons" at the theater. I had just finished the book that morning, and even though the movie was very different we both enjoyed it a lot. Hurra para a família!