FAMILY REUNION-2ND DAY

Coffee proved to be the most important element of the morning on Sunday for most. No formal, fancy, magazine breakfast for this reunion. People wandered in at various times, and chose their eats. Leftovers, as in chili dogs for some; cookies and or blackberry apple pie for others;  Boston cream pie or jalapeno kettle chips with dip.  Someone had macaroni salad. More conventional choices, mostly the kids, chose cereal, apricots and bananas, cherries, toast and peanut butter.  But who cares?

Dainty Abbie got dressed in her Sunday best-for awhile.

And Chrissy, who wants to grow up to be a princess, got her nails lacquered with color and glitter.

Tom spent the night fully clothed on the trampoline and claimed it made a comfortable bed. But, he was glad to have his electric “fly swatter”. The mosquitoes drove him in for an early breakfast. The kids thought the swatter was really cool and borrowed it for hunting expeditions at various times of the day.

Someone thought we should have the “facial hair” photo, missing  Jose who left early.

Why not a group picture of the kids?

Of course they thought it was the best time to be their silliest.

Well, it is their fun memory photo. And, we know what they really look like.

At the flume, yet another partial group photo. Left to right, Daniel, Bev, Abbie,Mary, Virginia, Chrissy,Kristanne, Richard, Cathy, Austin and Marty.

Susie and Sutter.

Marty and Theo.

Marty entrusted his cigarettes to Virginia wearing a top. She got dunked.

Ted and Tyler.

After awhile, floating isn’t exciting enough. Time to try jumping off the bridge on an over-hanging tree limb.

The next challenge is to see how long you can remain standing on the stationary tube in the swift current.

Grandma Eunice came up for the day from Stockton and enjoyed watching everyone play in the flume while visiting  with daughter Cathy.
More tomorrow.

HOLIDAY REUNION IN MURPHYS

Summertime and the livin’ is easy. Come Independence Day in Murphys, we celebrate with a family and friends reunion. Doug spends a couple days mowing and weed eating; raking the horseshoe pit, blowing up inner tubes and a multitude of other tasks to make ready.

Sister Karen set up his chair with a humorous note and identified garbage from recycling.

Preparation counts.

By 11:00 on Saturday, people began putting up their tents.

The adults enjoyed snacking…

while the kids jumped on the trampoline until they were temporarily exhausted and needed a rest.

Squirt guns were  popular items for keeping cool.

Sisters, Bev and Cathy.

By 2:00 everyone was ready for a cooling flume ride.

That is, everyone except our youngest, 4-year-old, Abbie, who fell asleep on Dad’s lap.

Doug challenged Anthony to swim to him in the swirling current.

The chicken and tri-tip are Doug’s strong forte.

The two best cooks. Norma brought her famous home-made Chili Verde with Peruvian yellow beans and rice.  (To die for.)

To by-pass mosquitoes, we hid inside and played Black Magic for a couple of hours.

The kids got to stay up really late and played on the trampoline with light sticks until everyone was ready to call it a night.  More tomorrow.

BEFORE THE BIG DAY

The family continues to arrive:

  Daughter Kristanne. We call her the Princess of Bling!!!

 Her boys, Austin The Red, and  Alec Two Fork, the turbo eater, who is 17 going on 25. (He has two hollow legs.)

Daughter Virginia,  busily cooking dinner-

Daughter-in-law Laurie, also busily cooking dinner. I'm so lucky to have four gourmet cooks in the family. Virginia, Laurie, Doug and Cedric. Kristanne does open and pour cooking. Ken can do pancakes and eggs.

 The results, ratatoule, ricotta stuffed shells, and jambalaya and a salad. Cookies and ice cream for desert.
The day was spent playing on the trampoline, fluming, card games, dominoes, practicing guitar and uke, squirt gun wars, and in general, "hanging out".
The line of the day came from 10 year old grandson Owen, "I think you shouldn't be required to like zuchinni until you are 15 years old" 
Eight year old Theo wanted to show his domino magic:

For more family photos click the link below
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/7210ReadyForTheBigDay#

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END.

Family gatherings are amazing dramas of interplay between friends, siblings, relatives, near relatives, neighbors, the dogs, along with various others who happen to get in the play or in the way. Independence Day, while remembered for its significance, seems to take second up against the barbeque, the beer, the card games, the pool and sun and fun.
Makes me bet the kids and their cousins have forged lasting memories just as we did at family gatherings of old.
As adults we still talk about those silly things when we get together. Remember when Gary fell out of the tamarack tree? Or, when Sean's dog, Patches, chased Chubby up a tree? When Ken swore he would name his first son Flashlight Gordon? Doug thought he could fly with his superman cape on? A baby chick pooped on Virginia's head? We chuckle at each other's expense.


Besides appreciating the founding fathers, we thank the legislators who set this day aside for us to celebrate freedom and family, and memories. And, for us, it was also a family birthday celebration. Laurie hit the Big 50!

Jim and I returned to the motor home parked in Monroe, Washington, yesterday, none the worse for the wear. Jim's first time with the whole fang-damily put his ears to throbbing at the constant hubbub. (We've been called the LOUD family a time or two.)

For more photos click on: http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/IndependenceDay#

EAT, DRINK, & PLAY

Before a family reunion, at least at the Matzek's, the whole week before is a party. Everyone gathers, wall to wall kids, tables laden with food, tales to be told, horseshoes, tubing, marathon card games, water pistol fights, loud laughter, non-stop talking, catching up with everyone. A regular ballet of cooking, eating, loading the dishwasher. Towels drying over the mailbox, or available chairs. Bedlam, chaos, fun! Yeah! Eat, drink, ignore the calories and have fun. Nothing like it. And the big event is yet to happen.