Family, dear and far: Billy's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Ray

Billy's mom (Grandma Donna) has one sister, Barbara, and one brother, Ray, who both live in a little town called Rockland in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Midwest and have no idea where Michigan even is (don't scoff...up until my friend Kaip came out to visit me last year, she had no idea where Utah even was), here is a map:

Outline of Michigan, including the Upper Peninsula.

The Upper Peninsula (or "da UP," as the locals call it) is the part that looks like the jack rabbit right above the hand mitten part.

Grandma Donna, Aunt Barb, and Uncle Ray all come from Ontonagon County, right by where the "eye" of this "jackrabbit" would be.  

I've seen pictures of Rockland and it looks a lot like a place near and dear to my heart, my alma mater, Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio:

Anyhow, Grandma Donna is really close to her sister.  She talks to her almost everyday.  She usually goes up to visit about once a year and has "crabby juice," made out of whiskey and Pepsi, with Barb and Siggie.  Siggie is almost 80 years old and reportedly makes the best omelets and homemade roasts ever.  They can also speak Finnish (Suomi). 

 Aunt Barb, Grandma Donna, and Aunt Siggie.

Uncle Ray

Barb loves cats: she's got tons of cat tattoos and even built a shelter for homeless town cats behind her grandmother's old house.  She's also never been on a plane, which, to me, who's been flying for 28.5 years of my 29 years of life, is really unheard of.  She loves her town, though, and she sees no point in leaving it.  I'm starting to feel that way about my house: it sometimes pains me to get up, get ready, and leave it even if it is to go to the grocery store.

We're so excited for Aunt Barb, Aunt Siggie, and Uncle Ray to meet little Nacho.  Since they probably won't be doing any flying anytime soon, we're going to have to make the trek up to Rockland with Nacho so (s)he could see her/his roots, especially the house that his great grandparents, Raymond and Georgetta, used to live in, which, we're told at one time had no running water and an outhouse!