Some of the Family Had a Reunion

My mother-in-law planned a family reunion for this summer and gave everyone plenty of notice.  She wanted all of her kids and their spouses to be there, and that’s it – an adult reunion.  I’m not sure if it’s really a family reunion if you don’t invite most of the family, but it sure turned out nice.

Terry’s brothers traveled up from Salt Lake on Friday and we all had a casual, relaxing dinner at our house.  We sent Stacey, Mike and the kids packing, so they wouldn’t crash the party.  The 12 of us fit nicely in our small house, and everyone had a great visit.  Terry’s family are all talkers.

It was brought to our attention that some of the grandkids felt a little slighted, so plans were changed so that everyone in the family was invited to the Saturday picnic.  We walked through the Ann Frank Memorial and then found a spot in Julia Davis Park where we could spread out.  We had to share the park with the Goddess Festival.  I’d never heard of it, but it drew a pretty big crowd.  We stayed on the other side of the park by the playground so the great-grandkids would have something to do.  There was another four hours of visiting.  Everyone was fed, and the fun family members went paddle boating.  One young family was moving to Arkansas at the end of the week, so it was good to all be together.

 

An all inclusive family reunion is probably the way to go, but just an afternoon of food and activities seems to be enough.  The adults spent another day and half together.  I think the grandkids and great grandkids are glad that they weren’t invited to the rest of it.  Our cozy reunion of siblings and spouses was just right.

We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner on Saturday night and then over to Grandma and Grandpa Swain’s for more visiting and dessert.  Most went to church together on Sunday, and then we ate some more.  There was a Sunday dinner, more visiting, some genealogy info, the introduction to a new Swain Gang web site, and singing around the piano.  Terry’s family are all singers.  It was a perfect way to end – on a happy note.