Family Reunion

Last Friday morning we embarked on a loooooong road trip up to Pittsburgh for my family reunion. It's always the on the last Saturday or July. I try to go as often as I can. Last summer we couldn't go because Lauren and Luke got married in Savannah. I was excited to go this year. Without two kids the drive should be 10 hours. With two kids the drive was just over 12 hours. When we were less than 30 miles from the hotel, The Bear got car sick. It was quite miserable cleaning it up on the side of the road. Curly spent the time picking wild flowers while Daddy and I did the dirty work. We were VERY happy to finally get the hotel and see our family.

My dad is the youngest of 16 children. 10 boys and 6 girls. This past Memorial Day my Uncle Paul (#13) passed away. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died about 8 days later. It was very sudden and very sad. This was going to be the first reunion without him. A little over a week prior to the reunion my Uncle Donnie (#7) went into the hospital. He never made it out. He died the morning of our reunion. We were all understandably sad at the loss of two great men so close together. However, we were all able to take comfort in being together and knowing that neither of them suffered long. They died quickly surrounded by their loving families. There was really no better way to celebrate the lives of Uncle Paul and Uncle Donnie then the family being together at the reunion having fun, sharing past memories and making new memories. God blessed us all with an absolutely beautiful day. Bright sunny skies, temperatures in the low 80's, and a nice breeze all day.

This is the day the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Lunch is the big meal at our reunion. And let me tell you my Aunts can cook. Every single thing served was amazing. If you leave the reunion hungary it's your own silly fault. We all ate way too much, but it was all so tasty.

The Bear enjoying one of my cousin Luann's gobs. They are so yummy!

The girls enjoyed the playground, face painting, a little corn hole, and kids games and crafts my sweet cousin Amy organized. The peanut pick up and the egg toss are games that have been played since I was a kid. It's fun watching my kids participate in these traditions while remembering the times I played them.

Playing a little Corn Hole

Julie painting a rainbow on Curly. She smeared it with her hand about 10 seconds after Julie finished.

Who can pick up the most peanuts?!?

Egg toss with cousin Amber

Curly and Pap Pap

Uncle Chuck trying to get the Bear to be his friend.

My Aunt Alice broke her foot a few weeks ago. Curly tried to make her foot feel better by picking wild flowers and rubbing them on her foot. When she finally finished she declared Aunt Alice's foot healed and asked her to get up and walk, which Aunt Alice did after she put her boot back on and using her walker.

The Bear finally took a nap. Unfortunately it was in my arms. She got heavy after a while.

The Bear was NOT in the mood for family pictures. Notice the lovely scowl on her face. Curly on the other hand not only smiled for our family picture but remained on the bench for several other families as well. She just figured everyone wanted her in their pictures.

On Sunday the family always gets together for lunch at my grandmother's old house, which my cousin Luann now owns. She and her husband, Bobby, have done a great job renovating the house and making it their own. I love that the house is still in the family so we can all enjoy it when we visit. Monday morning we headed out for our looooong car ride home. While driving through the Kiss Your Sister State, I mean West Virginia, on the way up, Daddy got pulled over in the small town of Oak Hill. The town is right by the New River Gorge. He was not pulled over for speeding. He got a ticket for staying in the left hand lane too long. It was a ridiculous ticket. We think the cop just saw out of state plates and needed to meet her month end quota for tickets and pulled us over. So Daddy was determined to not give that state any more of his money on the way back. We made sure we had a full tank and ate breakfast prior to leaving Pennsylvania we didn't to do anything in West Virginia. However, we did stop at the New River Gorge overlook on the way back. It was beautiful and it gave us a nice break from sitting in the car. We thankfully made it home Monday night safe and sound and very tired.

The Bear had a bear of an attitude and didn't care about taking a picture

Nice scowl Bear!

Maybe she just wanted to admire the view.