reunion time

family reunion 2010

reunion time is a happy time, a family time, a heartfelt and forever time.
it is a time to cherish special thoughts of loved ones near and far.italians really know how to party! this was their 64th year holding this reunion. there was a *smaller* crowd this year at *only* 82 guests. there is a serious spread of food. a real challenge for this gluten-free gal!! no pictures as i tried not to look directly at the deliciousness.

i am thankful that we were able to share this with our children. it is such a rare sight these days to see family gathering like this. i love how important family is to them and that they work so hard to bring everyone together.

spanning the generations.
the youngest cousin, baby charlie, is just 6 months old. sienna spent as much time with him as possible. she is a serious baby lover.

of the original eleven, these are the six that remain. the eldest is 100!! matt's grandfather passed away years ago. these are his brothers and sisters, my children's great-great aunts and uncles. jasper had a particular fondness for uncle clem (bottom left). he would run for him and uncle clem would scoop him up and they would cuddle and pose for pics (no, i don't have any of them....yet).eight cousins with sienna being the only girl. she never seemed to mind.

one definite highlight of this trip was jasper's pottying success. he sports a bare bottom when we are home and he has not had a single accident that way. however, when you cover his bum with anything, he goes in it. (any suggestions there would be great!) with visiting grandparents who are apparently uncomfortable around sweet little three year old bottoms and traveling long distances in the car, we reverted back to diapers temporarily. sweet little guy didn't want to go in his diaper in the car and kept asking to go potty. several times matt whipped the car over and got him out and tried to teach him to pee outside (i thought this would be one of the first things little boys learned). problem was, he would get his little bottom exposed and be terribly distracted by all the wildflowers on the side of the road. he came back to the car with fistfuls of flowers for his sister and me but without having completed his mission. then, finally, mere miles from our destination, he did it, flowers and all! he was so darn proud, as was his sister who was impressed that he innately knew to *shake it* when he was done. ;)yay for jasper!