I've returned from an awesome family reunion. It was great.
Dad & I headed out around 9:30 am and hit bumper to bumper traffic as soon as we got on the highway in my hometown. Urgggh. That sucked up 45 minutes, but after we got through that and one more less serious traffic later on, the ride was uneventful. We stopped for lunch shortly after crossing into Pennyslvania and arrived at the guest house around 3 pm.
The guest house was very nice and actually cheaper than if I'd booked 2 rooms for me and dad in a low end motel.
The owner's home is on the right and the guest house is on the left. Both homes were built in the 1700s, before the Revolutionary war. Inside are the kitchen and living room downstairs and 2 bedrooms plus the bath upstairs.
There are many original details, including the plank flooring, this massive, walk-in fireplace and built-in dressers in one of the bedrooms.
It was perfectly suited to our needs.
This Texas Longhorn was pretty friendly, aka hungry.
Look at this gorgeous Scottish Highland cow
So we had about an hour before cousin Joey was to arrive. Dad promptly fell asleep on his bed but came down when Joey came. They were so busy talking that we were running late, so I called Ray, married to cousin Kathy, to let them know we were running a tad behind and he told me they were already at the restaurant.
We got to the mall but couldn't find the restaurant driving around it, so we parked and walked into the food court but discovered it was a rather lengthy walk to get to it, and I'm with 2 old guys, both with canes. I called Ray again to let him know we were (slowly) headed toward them.
There were lots of hugs and smiles when we met, and I know Kathy was especially excited to meet her half-brother for the first time, and her cousins (me and dad). We had a great meal and the two of them announced they were treating us all.
Joe had mentioned his night vision was not good (that was why I invited him to spend the night at the guest house with us..he lives about an hour away) and so I offered to drive his massive Queen Mary truck back to the guest house so he wouldn't have to, and to my surprise, he agreed.
Ray drove me to the truck and then we circled back to pick up our passengers waiting at the restaurant.
Everyone had brought a bottle of wine to drink that evening, and I made some chocolate desserts, but no one touched anything becus we were all too excited and busy talking to take notice! So I wound up coming home with 3 bottles of wine.
Everyone had brought old family photos to share and Ray kindly copied a bunch of Joe's photos for me using a hand-held scanner he brought. He also spent a of tine showing me how helpful Roots Magic is for organizing all the info I'm collecting/discovering via Ancestry.
Joe's mother Kathleen, who I had never met or even seen before, looks very much like my grandmother did. In fact, they could pass as twins, IMO. I now have some beautiful wedding day photos of her and her husband, Joe's father.
We said our goodbyes to Ray and Kathy around 11:30 pm and I gave them some of my homemade confections plus a fruit and nut tower. They were staying the night at a nearby B&B so they wouldn't have to drive home so late (2 hours).
Joe slept on the couch and next morning, I discovered a stocked refrigerator so I made Joe and I some eggs and sausage for breakfast, and then did the same when dad came down.
It was just a really great trip and very gratifying to see how happy everyone was meeting each other. Only my dad and Joe had known each other before, when they were growing up, but it had been 12 years, at the funeral of one of my father's uncles, that he had last seen Joe.
Everyone was talking about their coming to CT next year.
Everything went very smoothly and according to plan. The only thing I would have changed is if we could have spent 2 nights at the guest house instead of one, because it was a lot of driving (about 4 hours one way). An extra day and night would have broken up all the driving and even allowed us to explore the immediate area. I do regret passing my one sign that said "Crafts & Quilts."
Quick update: Here's a photo of the pair of key fobs I purchased on Etsy; I will use one and the other is for my other cousin (not one of the above). It will be special to her, not only becus we both are happy to have connected with each other, but also because the silverware used actually is from an old set of my grandmother's, and she was very close to my grandparents. She'll be surprised.
Awesome family reunion
December 8th, 2016 at 09:37 pm
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Glad the reunion went well.
December 12th, 2016 at 10:35 am 1481538905