Grandma and Papa
4 Aunts, 4 Uncles
21 Grandkids
All Under One Roof
Albritton Family Reunion
It was many, many months of organization, lots of monkeysurveys, hours of research and coordination, looong emails, numerous phone calls, detailed planning and planning for every event from rain to shine, and it all resulted in a family of 21 gathering for fun!
The Lake House in New Braunfels
The rental house had the best backyard in Texas. Huge trees for shade, escape from the brutal sun. A pier to fish or secure the boats. Lake water to swim. Lots of room to run, a grill, and bugs and lizards for the catching.
Uncle Erik is in the canoe.
During the days, we swam, did crafts, napped, or prepped for the evening's events. Some mornings we had field trips and each evening we had some activity planned.
First Evening: Scavenger Hunt
Since our theme was Sweet Dreams of Rhythm and Dancin'--it was a musical scavenger hunt, drumming, name that tune, groovy dancing, sing a song, and Musical Hugs were some of the stations in the hunt.
Water Fun During the Day
canoe, kayak, fishing, and swimming
Dude, water and sticks. What more could you want.
Papa the Fisherman
The First Ones in the Water.
This is what Uncle Erik and Merritt did for most afternoons.
(yes, that is a LIZARD going for a ride. Our kids are great sailors!)
The people responsible for all of us.
homemade see-saw with grandparental supervision
the kids loved this thing
On Tuesday morning, before we had a chance to get sunburned or sick of each other, we had family pictures taken and we were all pleased with how well the photo session went.
After the photographer left us on Tuesday Morning, we went to work on tie-dye t-shirts.
There is a LONG tradition of matching outfits in our family. I think it came from the fact that we were all girls and Mom could sew.
This year we had "personalized" matching shirts.
Some of the finished shirts. We wore the shirts to our wildlife ranch fieldtrip.
(Aunt Mandy is making sure we had all the necessary info for our trip to the wildlife ranch.)
Girls' Night & Guys' Night
We took time to have Girls' Night (during kid movie night with the Dads)
and Guys' Night (after the Talent Show).
There is no reason to take funny picture poses if I can't show them to someone. You'll see lots of those from me.
(Taken On Guys' Night: Bedtime Stories with Aunt Mandy and then glowsticks from Grandma)
One morning, we ventured to Landa Park.
Hitched a ride on the train, watched a bunch of ducks & a waterrat swim around, and swam in some cold water (not pictured).
Bug Catching in the Backyard
The kids found plenty of bugs and lizards running around the place.
There are two, ah-hem, older kids with this bunch looking at lizards.
Merritt and the lizard he (aka his dad) caught. He was so proud of this thing.
Another morning we visited the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch.
That's us in the "brown car" with Merritt on my lap.
The Erbstoessers got an "inhouse" visitor. You could hear the screams several cars behind them. (heheeheee)
the petting zoo.
true to nature, these guys will eat anything.
we tried to only feed them feeding pellets but they went for much more than that.
Merritt loves animals, especially farm animals. He hugged every goat a couple of times and smelled like he did afterwards.
The Attacking Zebra and Uncle Phillip
An awesome shot considering it was after the event. Our shirts look smashing!
Yeah, he is checking out the goat's "other" end.
My Favorite Evening Entertainment: Albrittons' Got Talent Night
Lipsyncs, hula skill demonstrations, marshmallow shooter instructions, magic tricks, and balloons.
It was awesomely fun!
(Erik is in the wig)
Our performance: You Are The One That I Want (originally from Grease)
Magic Trick from the Moores: Preston disappears and reappears
(Baby Lily had no problem sitting in that box while Preston did his thing . . . which was amazing. And then Preston disappeared and reappeared behind us. And, you should see those Moores move . . . they've got groovy dance skills.)
Marshmallow Shooter 101
Aunt Debbie had hula skills.
Uncle Arthur, not so much. But, he can drum; so he's always invited to the party.
The Erbstoessers performed Grease Lightning (from Grease, of course).
Don't they look SMASHING!
And then we made hats and animal balloons to the tune of "99 Red Balloons"
All of our kids can DANCE!
One evening we had Camp Fire Night (sans campfire due to the burn ban)
Uncle Arther told stories.
Uncle Pace recounted tales.
Grandma opened the Time Capsule.
Smores!
iPinata!
(when the gifted kid gets bored, he ties himself to the pinata rope)
We really tried to make the activities flexible so that you could participate if you wanted to take a break if you needed. Merritt took a break most evenings. He ran his dad around the property for a couple of hours.
Papa and Grandma with Geodes
Crafts
We decorated bags, nametags, made caterpillars with Aunt Debbie. And then under the cover of darkness, Aunt Debbie made snowglobes for the kids. (we had many more crafts planned in case it rained, but it didn't and we were able to swim and boat for hours and hours)
I would remiss if I didn't mention the amazing food. The Albritton Women exchanged recipes and we planned meals during the reunion. From deluxe breakfasts to fajitas to grilled sausages to chicken satay to smores and Popsicles and ice cream sandwiches---we did not go without good grub.
When we needed a break from cooking, we had a lunch at Jason's Deli where the kids were the BEST BEHAVED children on the PLANET.
Jenn making sopapillas.
This is what I did when Jenn was cooking. Such cute little sweeties!
At Jason's Deli
Evy waiting his turn at Jason's Deli
(we, meaning the kids and Sheila, played games while we were waiting for our food)
Our last evening meal was grilled outside and we dined on the picnic tables.
So Fun!
All of us pitched in to make this a success! I loved the fact that Uncle Phillip was able to burn a CD of all of our pictures right on site so that I could add 4,000,000,000,000 pictures to this blog post. I know you are glad about that, too!
