Reuniting

Our family reunion has been held every other year for pretty much the last decade.  Somehow, there is almost always some rain, which is always drowned out by a good time — and eventually by the sun.  Yesterday’s reunion was no exception – off and on rain did not stop our clan of 50+ family members from swimming, tubing, kayaking and paddle-boarding.

I still can’t believe I actually bought this Gladiator blow-up set at Michaels (maybe its the Greco-Roman Olympics thing), but it’s fair to say we got our $8 worth.

Oh, yeah, and eating. There was a lot of eating. Led by this fiery grill. You know its 2012, because I overheard one guest (it might have been me if she didn’t ask first) grill the griller on where the meat came from. It was grass-fed, locally sourced and freshly ground. And delicious.

Adorned with lots of healthy, hearty salads (arugula with feta, tomato, watermelon – YUM, and baby spinach, quinoa, cucumber, feta, EVOO, lemon juice – double YUM), all topped with this funny cake, which came out a bit differently than how my mother-in-law imagined when she called in the order to the bakeshop.

Especially since our name is Sadowsky.

We managed to deal with the cake just fine.

My little one and I had a chat early in the weekend about going on the boat.  He told me he didn’t like boats because he doesn’t like “putting the little coats on.”  He did don the “little coat” eventually for a kayak ride, while remarking “I’ll wear it, but I’m not gonna like it.”  And you know what?  He didn’t. I turned that kayak around and unloaded my passenger very quickly. Just shy of 3, he’s suddenly fiercely independent and assertive. Last week, my babysitter texted me at work to let me know that if the neighbors called me about the screams, she was just trying to put sunscreen on Noah.

Creative credit to my husband for the awesome t-shirts.

Colossal administrative, catering and hosting undertaking by my in-laws.

It’s a tremendous gift to have family willing to invest in this wonderful tradition, both in hosting and attending. Loved to watch the cousins wrestle and hear the stories, old and new.

Thanks to my new blog posting schedule, I was glad to say this wasn’t me – caught on a laptop during the reunion.

To be fair, she was skype-ing with her brother in Europe.

I was however caught doing a mini-photoshoot for my Olympics project which I’ll be sharing here tomorrow.  See you then!