Family Reunion

In late June, we met up with all of J's family at a state park in western NY for a reunion. We had all 41 of us there, and pretty good weather throughout. We all arrived sometime on Saturday. After a casual family church service Sunday morning, we had fun activities for the afternoon and evening - a trivia/Charades/name that tune combined game, crazy hat making for the kids (which turned into making grappling hooks and flinging them into nearby trees) and a family talent show. G showed off her hat at the family talent show. She designed it herself, but had J help with the execution.
Monday morning I think there was a scavenger hunt (our family was on west coast time, and missed anything before 10am eastern!) and then a family hike. We couldn't figure out where everyone else had gone, so we went on our own little hike. Monday afternoon was the wild family olympics. There were great games with water balloons, dizzy relay races, and a watermelon eating contest. We all visited the local (20 miles away) YMCA for open swim time too. The Y was a little overwhelmed with our arrival, but graciously opened the waterslide and mushroom sprayer for us. Monday night was the campfire night. We ate lots of smores, and played the traditional Family Feud game - sound effects and lightning round included!

Tuesday was church history day - most of us met in Palmyra to see the sites, including the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove. We were lucky to get some family pictures that have almost everyone who came to the reunion. Our family then headed off to Niagara Falls to spend the night. We learned our lesson about not planning ahead - we ended up at a much more fabulous hotel than we would have otherwise! We were on the 39th floor with an incredible view of Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian falls.) After a very long dinner, we headed back to our hotel room to check out psychedelic lit up nightime Falls.

Wednesday we walked around the Canadian side of the falls, and after feeling all the mist, decided that The Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds were not for us. So we just enjoyed the views, and eventually met up with some of the family on the American side for our last goodbyes before we headed to the airport.


These pictures are the falls from our hotel room, day and night, the falls from the Canadian side, and the family picture taken by a fellow tourist. Do you think he noticed that G wasn't actually in the shot?

The reunion and the sightseeing parts of the trip were the clear highlights. The actual travel experience? Not so much. On the way out, we had an extra 3 hrs added to our layover. The trip home made that seem awesome. Our flight out was 3 hrs late because our plane had a flat tire and we had to wait for a new aircraft. We got to spend the night in Minneapolis since we arrived at 1am. And as we learned, for your convenience, the airline keeps your checked baggage secure for you overnight at the airport! So you get whatever you carried on the airplane, plus a comfort kit (XL T shirt, toothbrush and a few other basic toiletries.) Fortunately, we had brought some clean clothes and pajamas in a carryon, so most of us were somewhat clean for the trip home the next day. Lesson learned: make sure you have extra clean clothes, and all your toiletries, even on the way home.

The kids were troopers though, and besides G insisting on wearing the same dirty clothes the next day (she had a full set of clean clothes!) we all survived. And despite the lousy flights, we were happy to have made the trip. The kids had one other memory from the trip. While in NY, we rented an SUV, which the kids loved. They created an Easter egg game, where they pretended that different sections of the back were different colors of dye. This kept them and J amused while I grocery shopped or ran other errands on the trip.

S and G talk about their cousins much more now, and S keeps suggesting Oregon and California as family vacation destinations, in hopes of seeing some favorite cousins again. They loved (and so did we) all the time their grandparents and extended family. Thanks to everyone who helped plan the reunion or the fun activities. We'll see everyone again in 3 years!