The Reunion

They came from all over, from far and wide, across mountains, and plains, and sea.  From all over.  Over the years we have held what we have called family reunions but we're too spread out and attendance has never been what we had hoped for.  One of the first that we called a reunion was a gathering we had at Mount Rushmore, it was fun but not everyone was able to make it.  That was in 2016.  Our next effort was a couple of years later when we went to Door County in Wisconsin.  That was in 2018 and was a little better attended.  And it was a very good time.  We wanted to try again a couple of years later in connection with Stachelbeere getting married. After all, what brings families together better than weddings and funerals?  But that blessed event was held in Hawaii and a pandemic interfered; those two things kept attendance down.  In the end we didn't call it a reunion and just went with having it be a wedding, even though we did have several of the families present and we did make a week of it. It was as well attended as the first reunion in 2016, despite how close the pandemic came to preventing anyone from coming.

So anyway, we began talking and planning for this reunion two years before it was actually held.  We picked the specific date first.  I found out later there was a great conspiracy among  my children that resulted in the date of the reunion.  More on that later.  Then we set about picking the place.  There was a lot of discussion around where to have it, the consensus seemed to favor a camping reunion again.  Most of the kids enjoy camping and, in some ways, it seems easier.  But as we were narrowing down a specific place to camp, once again the kids got together and it was suggested that everybody gather at our house and camp in our backyard.  That, it was felt, would go a long way to helping get the most of our tribe together, since many of the family live within an easy drive of us anyway. And we were perfectly okay with anything that would boost attendance.  So it was decided to have it at our house.

Then there was some preparation that was needed. You can't have a camp out without a camp fire and one of the projects we've been wanting to do around the yard for a couple of years was to install a place to use the little portable fire ring we bought a couple of years ago.  We found that if we used it out in the grass the heat kills the grass under it so we wanted to put in some paving stones to have under it. Schwartzbeere to the rescue!  We picked the front corner of the garden space and with Schwartzbeere's help (a lot!) got the stones installed.

This was a project we worked on over several days, with the able help of a couple of the grandkids. 

Then, of course, we had an appropriate celebration. 

Then when it was all done and celebrated we tried it out and decided it was going to work very well.

Another project was something else we had been planning on doing anyway and decided that, with everybody coming and knowing there would be a lot of food passing through the house during the reunion, it was time to replace the freezer that had been failing for the last while anyway.  So we bought one and arranged to have it delivered just before the reunion.

That was an interesting operation. They arrived and did a bunch of measuring but decided it would fit if we took the doors off that it would have to pass through. Soon enough they had that done, the freezer in place, and the doors back on. We were glad we had opted to have it delivered and installed; doing that ourselves would have taken a lot longer and been a whole lot of work.  So the old one went out into the garage, where it still worked well enough to supplement our fridge and freezer space but would also be easy to move  right on out and have hauled off after the reunion.

The last bit of preparation was to put up a tent Brombeere had picked up at a yard sale a few weeks before the reunion. We had been talking to all the kids and making arrangements for sleeping space and, since there were some who were planning on bringing tents to put up in the backyard, Brombeere had picked up an extra tent but wanted to be sure it actually worked.  So, with lots of help from his kids, Schwartzbeere put it up and we decided it was all there and would work quite nicely.

Schwartzbeere and his kids were only too happy to see it up and decided that if it fit them it would certainly work for the Stachelbeeres, who were the ones who would be sleeping in it for the reunion. So, after the test run, the tent came back down to wait until its planned occupants arrived and put it back up.

The first to arrive was Stachelbeere and his wife, they flew in so while I was working my regular shift at the temple, Brombeere went to the airport and picked them up.  Then we hung around until a little later in the afternoon and met Moosbeere and his family at the temple; they had driven across the country to be there. They had arranged for their eldest to do baptism at the temple. So I went with them and did baptisms, Stachelbeere and his wife did sealings, and Brombeere watched Mossbeere's younger kids, who were too young to go in the temple.

They were quite delighted with the tiny frogs they found while waiting.

It wasn't really part of the reunion, but it was a wonderful way to spend some time with family. Temples are, after all, what it is all about. Then Moosebeere left to spend some time camping with the other side of their family and the rest of us headed for our home. It was still a few days before the official start of the reunion.

After picking up Stachelbeere at the airport and going through the temple, it was late when we got home. But the next day Stachelbeere put up the first tent out in the backyard. The tent city was beginning to take shape.

The next day Heidelbeere and her crew arrived. That was also the day Moosbeere and his gang arrived after their camping trip. 

And the next tent went up in the backyard.  This was our tent, that we've had had for several years.  Schwartzbeere and his kids were going to be staying in this tent.

A little later in the day Heidelbeere's tent also went up. The place was beginning to fill up up.

Yet a little later, Erdbeere and her family arrived and their tent went up, bringing the total to four tents in the backyard.  Everyone else was finding space in the house except Himbeere, they were staying in a nearby motel.  Too much craziness, I guess.

The kids, many of whom had never met before, all got along very well.

This was not the official first day of the reunion, this was the "arrival day". And it was so nice to have everyone there. Lots of gabbing, visiting, playing, and relaxing went on that day. Lots of helping each other get settled and situated, and everyone found their place and made their arrangements that would carry us all through the next three day of celebrating our wonderful family. Everybody had done a lot of planning and work to be ready for this time and it was off to a great start.

It wouldn't be a proper campout for our family if there wasn't a little bit of rain.  The weather decided to get it over with right up front so that night we got rain.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just a sprinkle; it rained hard for a while. Everybody except Schwartzbeere retreated to the house and found space on floors, couches, and wherever else they could for this first night. We made room and it worked, everyone hoped that the next few days would be drier.  And they were. Schwartzbeere reported the next morning that the only time they got water in the tent was when he opened the door to make a quick dash into the house at one point during the night. If it hadn't been for that he would have stayed dry all night. That gave the rest of the campers hope. It worked out well.

The  next day, the official first day of the reunion, the plan was to head for a park.  It was close enough so that those that brought their bikes could ride to the park, everybody else would drive. We also took our kayaks.  The plan was to be there a few hours.

After the park and lunch, several families had brought stuff for crafts. So stuff was set up both inside and outside the house and everyone that wanted to could rotate between crafts as they wanted.

It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of creativity.  Everyone had a good time.

After the crafts we got a fire going.

The crafting had actually been paused for dinner so by the time the fire was going everyone had eaten.  Those that wanted to, which included most of the kids and many of the adults, roasted marshmallows and made 'smores.  Many of the kids actually thought burning the marshmallows was the best way.  Those with  more discriminating palates did the slow roast thing and there were many very well done, marshmallows done to perfection.  It was good. It was relaxing. It was the perfect end to a very fun day.

The next morning brought a totally unexpected surprise, and herein was the conspiracy.  My children had all gotten together and found someone to help them announce to the neighborhood that I was having a "milestone" birthday.  And, since I have a birthday buddy, they surprised us both.

The last day of the reunion  began, after the birthday surprise, with a visit to a planetarium where we had scheduled a private showing for just our family, of a show about the ongoing effort to get back to the moon. Those that wanted to went, and that was nearly everyone, and we had an interesting, restful time learning about all that's going into getting back to the moon.  There's far more going on in that effort than I had realized, and I have been watching and following it pretty close; I have managed to tune into several of the rocket launches as they have moved forward with the Artemis program.

After that the plan was to head to a local park for a photography session and dinner. We had rented a lodge at the park. We had known going in that we were not going to everyone in the whole family for the photographs but we went with as many as we could and it turned out very well, as good as it could have under the circumstances.  I think everyone was a little surprised by how long it took but it went well, the kids pretty much all made it through and we should end up with some nice photos.

Then it was time for the dinner and birthday party. 

There were presents and cake; we both worked on getting the candles blown out: it was successful. It was a very good time.  If I have to get older it was an excellent way to enter the next decade.  I think my birthday buddy had been looking forward to this more than I was and she was delighted with it.

One of the more popular crafts that was done was painting rocks.  Edrbeere is an excellent artist and has been painting rocks for quite some time. She lead that craft and kids kept coming back to it, even after the reunion had officially ended. Part of the plan of the reunion had been to paint a bunch of rocks and then go add them to a "snake" that has been growing here in the community; the person that started it painted a rock to look like a snake's head and then other bring their painted rocks and line them up behind it, forming a snake. We had hoped to go out as a group and add to the snake but time just ran out.  Erdbeere went and added a rock to it before she left town. A few days later we went with Schwartzbeere and his kids and took a few more rocks out and added them.  There ended up being five rocks between the rock Erdbeere left and the ones Schwartzbeere left. It was fun.

Technically, the day of the photos and birthday party was the last official day of the reunion.  But Erdbeere and her family stayed a couple of days beyond that.  Heidelbeere and her husband let us watch their kids while they took a little time off and went camping and kayaking in the Apostle Islands National Lakeahore. And Stachelbeere and his wife borrowed our car and went down to Nauvoo and then stopped to see Erdbeere on their way back. Gradually, over the next few days and week, everyone trickled away back to real life and the house got quiet again.  

All the tents are gone ...

... and the lawn has recovered from where the tents were.  Two of them left good burns in the grass but they have both pretty much recovered.  Nothing left but happy memories.  I would have to call this reunion the most successful one we have ever had.  

One thing I noticed pretty quick as the kids and their families began arriving was everyone's interested in a digital picture frame we keep in our living room. Moosbeere's family gave us one several years ago and I decided I liked it.  I eventually replaced it with one with a better display and I keep pictures of all our kids and their spouses, and the grandkids on it. 

There's over 400 photos on it right now, it would take 10 or 15 minutes to watch it all the way through.  I keep photos from the last two years on it, lots of happy memories. It has always fascinated Schwartzbeere's kids and has provided us the opportunity to talk to them about family and the family they have on their Dad's side of their family, most of whom they don't see very often.  In the weeks leading up to the reunion we talked to the kids about the fact that they would soon get to meet all the people they saw on display there. Several times I saw kids and grandkids stop and watch the photos display, some staying longer than others. I liked that.

Not only was it nice to have all the kids and grandkids here and enjoying themselves, but I also found myself several times thinking back to the several reunions we had when I was a kid. There were ten kids in my Dad's family, I was one of the older grandkids.  They would have a big reunion every few years in the summer where everyone would try to come; those were big crowds.  The thing they had in common with this reunion was they were always held at my grandparents' home. They had a lot of the same elements, camping out in the yard, lots of people, lots of food, lots of talking among the grown ups and playing among the kids.  One year there was a talent show that each family contributed to. They were a lot of fun.  I got to know several of my cousins that were about my age pretty well. I kept thinking now I was on the other side; then I was a grandkid, now I was the grandpa.  I had wanted that for my own kids as they were growing  up but since we moved so far away that didn't really happen.  I remember those reunions as good times, I hope my kids and grandkids will look back on our get-togethers as happily as I do.  Family is a good thing.

Reunion 2018

Way back in July of 2016 we had our first official family reunion at Mt Rushmore, South Dakota.  At that time, those that were able to make it decided we should have another.  And thus the plan to have a family reunion in 2018 was born.  And we did it!  We created an event on Facebook, picked the date, and began all the planning.  A place was picked, we decided to camp again and were able to find the right combination of lodgings.  Reservations were made, meals were planned, vacation time was reserved, and travel plans were made and booked.

At long last the day arrived and it was time to pack up and hit the road.  Actually, for some the travel began sooner than others because they had farther to go.  So a day or two before the day to check in at the campground, families began arriving at our house and final preparations were underway.  The prize for traveling the farthest went to Stachellbeere who came from Hawaii.

Pretty soon all the cars were packed and loaded.

People were ready to jump in and get on the road!

At Mt Rushmore we had a cabin but those were harder to come by this time.  But we found a place with some yurts which proved to be almost as good!  The only thing they didn't have that the cabins had was bathrooms and air conditioning.  But camping is roughing it, right?  Besides, the ceiling fans turned out to do a pretty good job so it worked out just fine.

All the comforts of home.  Well, enough, if not all.

Besides, you don't go camping to spend all your time in doors anyway.

So some of us were in yurts and the rest were in tents.  We ended up in two tent sites and two yurts, which met our needs quite nicely.

I really liked that this campground was so heavily wooded.  It gave a nice feel f privacy, that and the fact that most of the days we were there were weekdays so there weren't that many people around anyway.

Right up to the edge of the camp site the trees were thick and tall.  Even the day it got windy it wasn't all that noticeable because the trees kept it out.

We tended to congregate at Moosebeere's camp site.  That's where all the food was done, the games were played, the stories were read, the talk was done, and the campfire was enjoyed.  It worked out very well.

If fact, we brought the big, nice chairs from the two yurts over to Moosebeere's site and set them around the campfire.  Those, in addition to all the camp chairs that everyone brought proved to be  more than enough seating.

Moosebeere proved to be quite good at getting the campfire going.

The first night we had "walking tacos" (a term that has always seemed odd to me, but what the heck.).  Everyone fixed whatever they wanted in their "taco" and everyone was quite happy with dinner.

After dinner it was seating and visiting around the campfire until bed time.  A very nice first day.  The talk lasted a while until everyone drifted off to their tents or yurts and off to bed.

Breakfast was bright and early, the kids saw to that.

After breakfast the days activities called for some sight-seeing.

Twiner shirts, quite unplanned but pretty cool nonetheless!

First stop was the Cana Lighthouse.  First time I was there the causeway was high and dray and we rode our bikes out to the "island."  Next time we were there the walkway was awash.  We figured it was because there had been a lot of rain just before our visit.

This time the walkway was under a foot of water and there was a wagon ride across.  It really is an island now.

A very bumpy wagon ride because all the nice crushed granite on the trail has washed away and now it was just big rocks.  Apparently they no longer try to keep the causeway serviceable and just provide the wagon ride.  That was funner anyway.

This lighthouse is a real nice place to visit.  The group that maintains it does a real nice job. 

While the lighthouse is a working lighthouse, it is fully automated and maintained by the coastguard.  It no longer needs anyone there to keep it operational.  So a local group of volunteers keep the grounds up and maintain the exhibits that are there.

This time I made it to the top.  The other two times I didn't but this time I did - all 97 steps!  Because they don't allow kids under five years old up, and because they limit the number of people that can go up at a time, it took us three groups to all get up there.  That worked out pretty good because that way there was someone to watch the kids that couldn't go up. 

So after everyone had been up that wanted to go we just walked around the grounds and took pictures for a while.

It was a pretty nice morning.

We got some pretty nice pictures.

And the kids had fun when we walked out the path to the lake.

They got to look around, some played in the water, wadding a little bit.

Soaking up the sun.

And, yes, throwing rocks into the water.

After a while at the lighthouse we headed over to Sister Bay to have lunch at Al Johnson's restaurant.  This is the place that has goats on the roof mowing the grass.  Unfortunately it was too hot for the goats to be out that day.

We had seen them up there on our other visits but not this time.

Stachelbeere made some comments about how we ought to try the pickled herring so we got some and those that wanted to tried it.  I have had it before, when I was in Germany.  But it was new to everyone else.  I like it.

They didn't have a Ruben on the menu but they had a corn beef sandwich that was pretty close to the same thing.

I think my lunch might actually have been more healthy than Brombeere's.  That's a role reversal!

It was a good lunch!

After lunch we went to the beach park across the street and played in the water for a while.  Heidlebeere had brought her paddle board so everyone had to have a turn.  For the kids, that meant Heidlebeere took them all out.  A number of the others also gave it a try.

And, ahem, some were still getting the hang of it.  But at least Blaubeere was in there trying!  She actually made it quite a ways standing up before taking this spill.

Then it was back to camp for dinner.

Two little cousins catching up on all the happenings since they last saw each other.

The second evening's menu was tin foil dinners.  What camp out is complete without tin foil dinners, right?!

For this crowd that means a lot of tin foil dinners. 

That is not a tin foil dinner that Erdbeere is holding over the campfire.  Its popcorn.  She was trying to do pop corn.  Unfortunately, it didn't go too well.  But the tin foil dinners turned out really well.  Yummy stuff!

And Himbeere took one of the beef patties and put it between two waffles to make a slightly unorthodox hamburger.  But it was good anyway.  Anything cooked over a campfire is good, right?  Well, not always but this was.

Dessert was peach cobber cooked in dutch ovens.  I think this was the first time I had ever seen dutch oven cooking where the ovens weren't buried in the coals but it turned out very nice.

The cobbler cooked faster than the ice cream churned so it had to stay warm next to the coals while the ice cream finished.

But in the end it turned out very well.  An excellent dessert!

The next day was spent pretty much chillin' in camp.  We talked about a few things we might want to do but in the end we all opted to just stay in camp and enjoy the scenery and quiet.

That was a good thing.  It brought some very nice relaxation to the whole affair.  Some people were more in need than others for some relaxation.

This was a very nice part of the whole reunion, just relaxing in camp, enjoying one another's company.

Someone had the foresight to bring some books.

Dinner that night was brats and dogs over the campfire, followed by marshmallows and s'mores.  This was a camp out, we had to have campfire dawgs and s'mores!

All too soon it was time to pack up and head back for home.

When Heidlebeere took down her tent she found out she'd had company the whole time.  Interesting.

Then it was time to pack it all back into the cars and head for home.  This time it took a little less space because of the food that had been eaten. 

So now the reunion is history, a memory, memorialized by a refrigerator magnet.  It was a very good time.  Nearly everyone was there, though some were only able to be there part time.  Still, it was so good to see everyone again and spend some time together.  And guess what?!  There's already talk of doing it again.  We talked of the next reunion being in three years because we have a graduation in two years that will involve significant effort to attend - it will be in Hawaii!  So stay tuned for more details to come!