Family Reunion
We just returned from a family reunion held in Barstow. Yep, Barstow CA. As it turned out it was the ideal place, an in-between place for the relatives who live in Vegas, southern, central and coastal CA. We did have one grandson who drove all the way from Sacramento.
One of our granddaughters-- a busy one at that--planned it all. She's an amazing young woman with a husband, three kids of their own and two teens they've opened their home two. She helps her husband with their pool-cleaning business, and the youth at our church, and the Wednesday night Awana program, plus does all sorts of things for the school.
The hotel was wonderful. It was a Holiday Inn Express with a free breakfast everyday, cookies, fruit and coffee and tea the rest of the time. We all began to gather after lunch on Friday. When everyone had arrived, there were 42 in all. My sis and my cousin were the matriarchs. What a weird feeling! We had offspring, grandkids, great grands and even a wonderful golden retriever. Yes, that particular hotel accepts dogs.
Melissa (the grandddaughter in charge), planned a western theme. We all had T-shirts with the Wanted, the Mitchell Gang, printed on them. The room where we all gathered was decorated with wanted posters with our baby pictures and others of relatives long gone, wagon wheels and barged wire. We visited and visited, ate wonderful food, the kids swam and had a treasure hunt, there were games for the little kids (youngest 2), and a crazy card game called Estimation that one night had 17 players and 4 decks of cards. (This was a favorite of both my mom and dad.)
We answered questions about the wanted posters, (amazing how few were recognized), had karaoke for awhile, watched a DVD made from old movies and saw our mothers and fathers young and sis, cousin and I when we were kids and including some of our time at Delevan Drive grammar school, took photos and had an all around great time.
We decided we should do the same thing again next year and hopefully the rest of the clan will turn up then. Melissa's great hope was to be reunited with all of her cousins once again--and she certainly was with a lot of them.
Home once again, all I can do is think back over how much fun we all had. The event certainly surpassed everyone's expectations.
Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com
One of our granddaughters-- a busy one at that--planned it all. She's an amazing young woman with a husband, three kids of their own and two teens they've opened their home two. She helps her husband with their pool-cleaning business, and the youth at our church, and the Wednesday night Awana program, plus does all sorts of things for the school.
The hotel was wonderful. It was a Holiday Inn Express with a free breakfast everyday, cookies, fruit and coffee and tea the rest of the time. We all began to gather after lunch on Friday. When everyone had arrived, there were 42 in all. My sis and my cousin were the matriarchs. What a weird feeling! We had offspring, grandkids, great grands and even a wonderful golden retriever. Yes, that particular hotel accepts dogs.
Melissa (the grandddaughter in charge), planned a western theme. We all had T-shirts with the Wanted, the Mitchell Gang, printed on them. The room where we all gathered was decorated with wanted posters with our baby pictures and others of relatives long gone, wagon wheels and barged wire. We visited and visited, ate wonderful food, the kids swam and had a treasure hunt, there were games for the little kids (youngest 2), and a crazy card game called Estimation that one night had 17 players and 4 decks of cards. (This was a favorite of both my mom and dad.)
We answered questions about the wanted posters, (amazing how few were recognized), had karaoke for awhile, watched a DVD made from old movies and saw our mothers and fathers young and sis, cousin and I when we were kids and including some of our time at Delevan Drive grammar school, took photos and had an all around great time.
We decided we should do the same thing again next year and hopefully the rest of the clan will turn up then. Melissa's great hope was to be reunited with all of her cousins once again--and she certainly was with a lot of them.
Home once again, all I can do is think back over how much fun we all had. The event certainly surpassed everyone's expectations.
Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com
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