family reunion

We spent a fantastic weekend in the southern part of the state for a family reunion.  The drive was long and borderline miserable.  I realize that my parents and many other have made these kinds of drives (and much longer) with no dvd or other electronic entertainment.  But this was our first.  We borrowed Grandpa's truck, leaving our dvd player equipped vehicle home.  We survived on books, games and toys...barely.  But next time, it's back to the dvd player.

We arrived late Friday night, set up our travel trailer in front of my grandma's house (she lives at the end of the lane with an ambling horse pasture so there was plenty of space) and wrestled our tired but stubborn children into bed.  The morning kicked off bright and early but with a tone of fun.  There were plenty of cousins to play with and lots of adults to help cuddle the baby.  We made a run to the store for doughnuts, fruit and chocolate milk (much tot he delight of my nieces) and had a little breakfast banquet in the front yard as we played.  Eventually we got cleaned up and ready for the reunion.  This epic reunion was for my grandma and all of her siblings so it was a ton of people, many of whom I have never met.

We started with family pictures, a fantastic lunch in a picturesque setting and introductions.  Then we headed to the city park for a presentation about my great-great-grandfather (who crossed the plains at age 16 and was a carpenter) and tons of games.  I hosted a treasured hunt (a timed search through a massive pile of sawdust for candy and prizes--harder than it sounds) and a ring toss, my sister ran a craft table to make beaded animals, another sister coordinated red rover, Papa and Grammy ran the turtle races and monster twister.  Another relative offered "train rides" (a tractor that acts as engine to custom made cars) around the parking lot, the park had an awesome splash pad, someone brought water toys and the day's finale was Grammy and Papa's water balloon launcher--one of my childhood treasures and traditions.  The men took turns running the 3-man slingshot to launch water balloons out to the rest of the group who worked in teams to catch the balloons in their towels.  It was fantastic and as always, ends in an epic water fight.  What a great day.

After clean up and goodbyes, we made plans to crash my cousin's hotel for a leisurely dip in the pool.  But Ladybug and Lovely were asleep before we arrived so only Butterfly and Daddy got to swim.  Then we spent a wonderful evening back at my grandma's house.  With our large group, varying ages and tastes in food, we made dinner simple--go get what you want and bring it back to the house for a picnic.  But when we went to pick up our pizza, we found four other family members at the same place with the same idea!  So we spent the evening hanging out on the grass with plenty of pizza, playing with cousins, reminiscing and enjoying the perfect weather.  I can't imagine a better way to have spent the evening.

On Sunday we attended church with my grandma.  I've previously (and frequently) commented on the choas of taking three small children to church.  But this particular trip, something brilliant happened.  We knew we would need three rows to accommodate our large group.  Grammy and Papa sat in the first row and like flies to honey, every grandchild raced to sit with them.  The second row was filled with adults (my cousins, grandma, aunt and uncles).  So Daddy and I took a seat on the third row and with only our baby to play with for most of the meeting, actually got to sit together and enjoy the meeting!  We may have even held hands for a few minutes.  (it's the little things that count.)

After church we dutifully packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes and returned to our own home once again.