Visitors, brah.

Our house is quiet now.

Clarence occasionally screams, and the hum of the constantly running air conditioner blends with whatever's on VH1.

But last week, oh, last week was quite different. We had visitors: My parents, both sisters, Sarah's parents, Kurt and Jessica and two chihuahuas, to be exact. Ten folks, two dogs, a cat and a uromastyx = one big, happy family.

First a disclaimer: This post will in no way do justice to the fantastic time I had with everyone. I waited too long to post anything about it, and now I'm simply too removed from the pleasant feelings of familiar faces to give them their due.

But I'll try.

The first night, my mom kept asking me if I realized I lived in Florida.

My parents were well-equipped for the trip: They rented a Lincoln Towncar, the biggest boat-of-a-sedan perhaps ever created. Nobody would suspect they were from out of town in such a land yacht.

The Don spent his 50th here. He brought me an autographed Steve Sax baseball ('82 ROTY of the year, bitches!) and I gave him another bat (Garvey, Lopes, Cey, Russell) to add to his collection. We enjoyed a spring training game at the Indians facility, and welcomed Jack and Missy the following day with a another game at the Braves' home field.

Drinking beers in the bleachers with my sisters at a baseball game = tough to beat.

Sarah's parents arrived, and we all had a great day at the beach and at Disney World with the Cutsforths, traveling the world within the friendly confines of EPCOT. Where else can you find a British pub, a French pastry shop and a Mexican pyramid amid 1,000 souvenir shops?



Some random Disney observations: Space Mountain is faster than I remembered. There are not enough frozen banana stands. "It's a Small World" still sucks, as does "Peter Pan's Flying Adventure." Monorails are not utilized enough outside of theme parks. German food is delicious.



I love my family. You don't realize how much you miss them until they're around. I can't wait for May and Marisa's graduation.