We had a great time hanging out with Uncle Denny and Donna, and Uncle Jay and Aunt Sherry! I especially loved re-connecting with my 'long-lost' cousins Stacy and Brian, and having their kids, Jaxson & Peyton, play with my kids. It really brought it full circle for me...as the circle of life goes and all that. It was really a lovely time and one with memories I will treasure forever. I also love that my daughters have met a part of their family that they have never really known before. When Chad and I embarked on this journey, admittedly, it was more/less for selfish reasons. Early on in our trip we had the opportunity to visit Chad's family in Wisconsin, and we both left feeling like we really had a bigger FAMILY (not just extended relatives that you run in to every 5 or 10 years at family reunions)...but a family that really loves us, and that we love back. Family is a precious thing. So that was a real eye-opener for us as to the possibilities of what this trip can mean to us. That is why I was really hoping to push Chad towards the NW where some of my family lies...well, resides...I don't think they are much for lying...though a couple of Uncle Buzz's stories sounded pretty close to tall tales to me...but they entertained us all the same! :)
Brian, Annie and I
Brian, Stacy, and I...
SO glad I have these photos and memories!
I find myself leaving the Washington/Oregon area very much like how we left Wisconsin: feeling oh, so very grateful and blessed. As a youth, I imagine, not much time is spent contemplating roots and connections, but I find as I age and have children of my own, my heritage has become much, much more precious to me. I come from a wonderful pair of grandparents, and my grandma has always been especially dear to me. I have many, many precious memories of my childhood and adolescence spent by her side. I can't wait to meet up with her again in Heaven...we're going to have a GREAT time! :)
Anyway, while at this 'mini-reunion' a few of us happened to be looking at a BIG photo of our last family reunion 12 years ago. My uncle Buzz said, "Can you believe ALL of these people came from just two people?". Huh. It's funny how sometimes something so obvious suddenly seems so profound. Six kids and countless grandchildren and great-grandchildren later, and here we are. My kids are here, because once upon a time, not so very long ago, there were two other people just struggling along trying to be parents and trying to find their place in the world, just like us. And a great job they did. For that, I am truly thankful.
Chad and I have discovered, since becoming parents, that we're a little old-school in almost every category you can think of (with a few twists thrown in here and there), but we have developed fairly strong convictions on the importance of families uniting and re-uniting. It seems, in many families, that family reunions are becoming more and more a thing of the past. As if, to many, family connections are simply less important than their own everyday lives. We really hope, for both ourselves and our children, that we can do our best to keep our family intact and together and to bridge the gaps that distance and time has filled. It was a wonderful thing to be at our little reunion and have my mom and dad joining us via Skpe on Chad's cell phone. Seriously...technology is incredibly amazing. I don't feel that old...we'll just say I'm not that old...but I remember not so very long ago about talking about how much long-distance calls were from my mother to my grandmother...and now we complain if there is a bad Skype connection...and it's free...and we can SEE them! Guilty. Sigh.
So, here is the best ever (and easiest) recipe for Mac and Cheese. It's terribly un-healthy, but if you want to feel slightly better about making it you can sub in whole wheat macaroni...but at that point I don't really know that it matters much.
MACARONI &
CHEESE BAKE
2 cups
cottage cheese (I use small curd)
2 cups
uncooked macaroni
3/4 pound
Velveeta cheese (you can add a little more if you like it cheesier)
1 stick
butter, melted (I use real butter)
2 1/4 cups
boiling water
1/2 to 3/4
cup milk, half & half, or cream (I use whatever I have)
Optional:
1/2 pound bacon, diced, fried and drained.
Put all
ingredients into a greased 9/13 pan & bake 45 min at 375, or until it
begins to brown.
Moving on...there are many wonderful things I can say about the area we were in. We saw the 'World's Longest Beach'. I haven't actually Googled that fact, so I don't know it to be true, but we got our picture taken with it(and I bought a post-card that proclaimed the same), so it must be true, right? (The picture has since come up missing...Emmy took the picture and there is a VERY good chance that Chad has stolen it off the camera.) We were there...allegedly. I promise. Check Chad's blog. He tries to make me look bad.
I realize I'm all over the place with the pictures....they are totally out of sequence. It's 1:30 a.m. and all of the kids are finally asleep
(including Chad).
I'm lucky I got this accomplished.
It's really hard to look cool wearing a helmet of any kind.
I don't do it well.
The good news is my brain is still in tact.
Mostly.
Maggie LOVES "sowers" (flowers).
Playing in the sand.
Our backyard sandbox.
My princesses.
My dancing princesses!
My kids are seriously funny...and I'm much more over-ly protective about the kids that they 'hang out' with than I probably should be, but being a stay-at-home mom (can I call myself that when we live in a home with wheels under us?) I'm pretty particular about my kids playmates. They have enough bad habits they have developed all on their own...they don't need inspiration, and I was SO happy when they got together with their (second) cousins, and they were all such GREAT play-mates together! Jaxson was adorably cute! He's got those big brown eyes that just suck you in and and make you want to do anything for him, and Peyton was SO sweet with the little kids. He really liked the spicy cheese dip we brought (thank you Tostitos), and felt really bad when he thought he might have played a part in Emmy cracking her shin on the steps (she's got some really great bruises to show for it!)...but seriously, and all kidding aside, I'm certain he is THE BEST couch zombie that has ever lived. He totally owned that sofa-bed couch, and he was a sofa monster like no other. Had it not been so funny I would have feared him...deeply.
Peyton and Emmy...
chilling on the couch, texting on the Cinderella phone.
It was a big deal.
Trust me.
Jaxson and Emmy throwing rocks!
Mags and Papa boating.
Mags is not so crazy about the water,
but, then, Maggie isn't so crazy about a lot of things.
That's Maggie for you.
She does like her mama though...
so I know she's an excellent judge of character!
Big Boys going on a Snooze Cruise
Oh, but wait...there's more...
No napping for those boys with 2 four-year-olds on the boat!
Bert, Rosemary, Donna, and Belle.
Peyton.
Spittin' image.
Cute stuff!
Jaxson!
...and then there's Jaxson WITH the much-coveted
Cinderella cell-phone.
(look for it at garage sales near you)
It's easy for boys to look cool when they have Transformers by their side
...or knees, as the case may be.
Maggie swiped a Transformer
...still hoping to look cool in the process.
Rocks + Dirt + 4 year olds =
Total smiles!
Uncle Jay...the first of few brave men of the day...
I'm not sure what Uncle Jay and Emmy were doing here...
gang signs?
Or perhaps he was showing her how to swim to shore
when the paddleboat capsized?
Whew...all is well.
This is Chad's happy face and Annie's gassy face...
or vice versa...
you be the judge.
Rumor is out...there is a much anticipated Thornberry family reunion to be held in Indiana!!!
Date: TBD (summer 2013?)
Email mom or I with your date requests. Should we be settled back in at home by then (and I imagine we will be) we should have plenty of room for campers/sleeping bags/tents/freeloaders, etc... :)
Plan to come early and stay late!
We'll be like this the whole time:
...but pretend Ken has his pants on.
We run a tight ship.
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