Family Reunion 2006

Recall this past post... for background.

Pic- l-to-r: Me, Martha, Patty

What a great day...so exciting to meet new friends and to know that they are relatives!!
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On Friday (my b'day), we had Patty (new found cousin), her family and Martha (the missing linker) come to the house to officially meet.

It's hard to explain the excitement...really it is. It's such an odd thing to truly stumble across distant relatives...but it happened. At about 1 pm, the family arrived...Patty, Tim, John and Sarah. Moments later, Martha was there too. The weather was a bit hot/humid, but there was a nice breeze--so we opted to sit on the patio to enjoy a few beverages and get to know each other. We spent the afternoon laughing, talking about our families, brothers, sisters, parents, *downstate*, bakeries, butchers, home improvements, colleges etc. Turns out Tom is a P.E. like me, and was at the big U the same time C and I were...he sure looks familiar--could have bumped into him at the bars, I mean CE 261 class!

These people are the *salt of the earth* (what does that really mean?-gotta Google it now—yep, admirable people-understatement). Anyway, what an enjoyable time...kept my mind from dwelling on the fact that Christine was not there to celebrate the big 44...I did however, often think of how she would have enjoyed playing with John and Sarah and Lauren.

We had a mexican wrap appetizer (Martha) and cole slaw (Patty) both from the Blaes/Blaies family cookbook and two items that if they are not in there should be...my excellent mother’s cold potato salad and my Grandmother’s homemade ice-cream. I had planned on manually churning the ice-cream before they arrived, but ran out of time prepping the yard--yanking weeds, laying mulch, watering, cleaning the patio...having peeps over--what a motivator to get things done!. Anyway, the churning was left for me and the guests...the kids and Tom were more than happy to help out...kind of a new thing for them…very old hat for me.

For the last three years, I've made homemade ice-cream for the June 22 celebration…knew I would not be able to do that this year. As kids, at my Dad’s parent’s house, all the cousins would take turns cranking the ice-cream…little kids first, then the older ones as the cream became frozen. Half the fun was breaking the frozen milk cartons filed with water/ice for the job…now we just buy the ice.

My sister and finance stopped by just in time for dinner…great timing. I’m glad they snuck out of work early to meet the new family and celebrate with us.

The meal of brat, burgers and dogs was great. Desert, Orange and Blue cake—not necessary—with the cookies and homemade ice-cream was excellent.

The day ended about 8 p.m. with a promise to get together again soon...I know that will happen for a life time. What a blessing. A special thanks to Martha for being the missing linker.

Pics of the afternoon here...