...you're having a family reunion because your uncle just got out of prison.
...you can count on one hand the number of people there with all of their teeth.
...there's no beer at the picnic because we don't need anyone back in prison.
...one of the cousins didn't really feel the need to bring shoes.
...your 19-year-old cousin brought her boyfriend. Her dad's 37-year-old boss.
...the cousin who drove up from Tampa had to make a stop in Kentucky to retrieve his mother's belongings from a relationship that went sour a few years ago.
So yeah, we went to a family reunion this weekend in SD, and sadly, all of those things and more are true.
It was the kids's first real road trip at 5 hours one way. We thought we were being really smart by feeding them dinner at home Friday, wearing them down a little, packing up, and leaving at bedtime with them in jammies. Meimei dropped off right away and slept for about 90 minutes, but Kitten didn't. She kept thinking this was the adventure and we better get on with it, because it was getting late and she was getting tired and she had to get home to bed. After 2 screaming fits, they both finally dropped off about an hour from the hotel. So did I.
The hotel was another adventure. The kids don't sleep with us and Meimei doesn't sleep in a bed, plus they had just had an hour nap and were a bit restless. Kitten slept with Pants, but was apparently plastered to him all night. He had to get up and go around to the other side of the bed and start over. Meimei wanted to sleep on a pillow, but couldn't figure it out. She ended up sprawled on her stomach at the end of the bed. I moved at some point in the middle of the night and must have startled her because she flipped out and flew off the bed, cracking her head on the wall on the way down.
The drive home Saturday night was more of the same. We all slept through SD and woke up when we hit MN, after which we were all awake for the remainder of the journey. We stopped at the McDs in Morris and I drove thereafter, being more familiar with the roads. You will be happy to know the McDs is fine, the guy who raises bison and emu is still there, and the stretch between Glenwood and Sauk Center is still just as desolate. We got home about 11:30 and the kids went to bed. They got up this morning at 10.
So the first road trip was a little bumpy, but not bad. I wouldn't have missed the reunion for anything. One of the cousins on my grandma's side brought all of the old photo albums from grandma's sisters and I actually got to see my grandparents's wedding photos. Never saw them before. And seeing the relations I haven't seen in 20 years is fairly priceless.
5 comments:
I think you might be the first of us to make it back there after all these years....
LOL! You know, I can laugh because I can relate completely! I'd say most of those statements could be true about my family as well, except the cousin not wearing shoes. Well I guess most of them still have their teeth too, or at least false ones to take the place of real teeth....
I guess we just had one from my grandma's side of the family when we were over there even. Weird. I didn't get invited though so I didn't go. I only found out because my aunt had went to the cemetary just a couple of days after my road trip and Laura Ingalls post and asked who had put all of the stuff there. Maybe I've been kicked out of the family?
At reunions on one side of one of our families, it's easier to count the people who DON'T have visible tattoos than those who do, and one of the 60+ year old family members showed up with his younger-than-me girlfriend and their toddler child.
We've done the 6+ hr drives & they're not fun, but at least we stayed with family at the end, which is easier than a hotel, I think. When we did do hotels with Pumpkin two years ago, we had along the inflatable crib, so she was contained in a familiarized sleeping-place.
Wishing you good rest now that you're home! And Yay for Morris! I suppose McD's was more family-friendly than Don's. Ah, Don's grilled cheese and french fries with ranch dressing... :)
Heh- I LOL at the "no beer" one, it's funny because it is so true. I haven't been to a family reunion in a very long time (like since I was in high school). I think there was one for the canadian cousins not too long ago, but my parents didn't go, so we didn't either. Wrong branch of the family tree. You are right though, the photos make it worth the trip.
...if my family threw a reunion without beer, nobody would come.
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