Family Reunion

I spent this last week in Oklahoma in a small resort with most of my immediate family. Over a year ago, my mom decided that she wanted to vacation there because it was near one of my brothers, who lives in Kansas and it was "half way" to me. That initial thought ended up expanding to include all 4 of my siblings and their 2-3 kids each. 3 condos and 21 people later, we had a full load!

We all met in Kansas, then drove 6 cars down, one hauling a boat, as we were staying next to a lake. Before we even left, one of the adults got sick, throwing up. That should have been a clue, but what could we have done? Throughout the week, the sickness passed from person to person, lasting 12-24 hours, symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, achy, and tired.

That said, the sickness was the worst part of the trip, and it wasn't that bad, considering how quickly each person got over it. The rest of the time was spent hanging out, chasing kids around, going to the pool, going to the lake, and fixing meals. Someone had the great idea of each family making one of the dinners for the week, which means that for one day, you made 5 times more than usual for dinner, but for the other days, you just sat back and enjoyed!

There were a couple of nights that some of the adults were able to get together after the kids went to bed and play a card game called spoons. That was probably the most laughing that was had in the whole trip! Then, on the second to last day, we decided to have a picnic lunch in a state park that was about 10-15 minutes away. That got us out of our rooms and let the kids roam around a bit. We had squirt guns, but looking back now, the only thing that would have made that better is if we had water balloons (and some way to fill them).

On the last day, everyone left at different times, but they all made the "good bye" rounds before they left. I don't think there were any parting tears, which means that it was the perfect amount of time spent.

I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to spend that time with my family, especially considering there was one nephew that I hadn't met yet, and one brother's family is likely to be moving out of the country within a few months.

I think the next time we do this, it should be in Colorado. Oklahoma was WAY boring, hot and humid (didn't know till we got there), plus it was a really long ride for two of my siblings, that have three little kids each. Colorado will be more of a middle ground for those driving, and I'll be flying anyway. However, if we wait till the next time that we all can get together, it may be on the scale of 3-6 years. Sigh. Guess it's a good thing we did it now!