Bridget's Ramblings: Back from the family reunion

Kaeli, Paige, Ryan and I all left for NY at 8 AM on Thursday morning. I kept in contact with my dad by phone the first 2 hours, then followed him the rest of the way. Before I go any further, I have to tell how we met up because it was pretty amazing! Keep in mind I only knew what town he was staying in (he stayed in a hotel Wed night). When I was about 15 miles from the town he was in, I called to let him know he could leave and we'd find each other on the highway somewhere. When they got on the highway Jeanne called and asked where I was. I told her we had just passed the Allentown exit. She said "that's the exit we just came off of". We discussed a couple of landmarks we were passing and I suddenly realized I was right behind them!! They obviously merged onto the highway right in front of me and I didn't even realize it. Talk about perfect timing!

After many stops--the kids seem to have to pee every hour--we made it to Delhi, NY around 3:30 or so. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up the tent and preparing ourselves for night fall. The kids headed down to the creek and played there most of the afternoon/evening. The creek was just beautiful and very shallow. An absolutely perfect place for kids to play and explore endlessly. Over the course of 3 days they found crayfish, minnows, small fish, tadpoles, baby frogs, salamanders, and toads. I did hear about the discovery of one snake, but did not see it personally.

The field where we set up camp was in a valley and had no cell phone coverage. I have to admit that was hard! I wasn't expecting it and I felt a little cut off from Steve and AJ back at home. I was able to call and touch base when I went back into town about once a day.

So, I'll do my best to write a quick summary of our 3 days in the mountains.....

This event was a famly reunion/80th birthday party for my gramma. My Gramma has 13 children and each of them now has children and many of those children are having children. So, there were 4 generations at the party and when you start with 13 kids that makes for a lot of people! Also, my grandmother's siblings always attend with their extended family. I was certainly born into the right family because these reunions are the only time I ever feel so content, comfortable, and "right at home" with a LARGE group of people. Everyone is so down-to-earth and fun-loving. I loved watching my kids play with their "cousins". Before I go any further I will explain that in this family "cousin" is used loosely. As you can imagine, when one has 13 kids, there is a huge spacing of ages. I'm the oldest grandchild (36) and the youngest grandchild is 3. So, obviously alot of the "cousins" my kids played with were actually MY cousins. And, they were also playing with my cousin's kids and I have no idea what my cousin's kids would be to me, much less what it would the relation would be between them and my kids. But, regardless, it was so great seeing the kids enjoy nature and exploration with their "cousins" like I did as a child at these events. In fact, I can't help but wonder if, just a little, it helped shape my desire to major in life sciences. At one point Ryan told my gramma (his great-gramma) "look! a frog". She took him by the hand and walked him over to look, then went on to gently and patiently explain that he had actually found a toad. She explained all the differences between and toad and a frog. Soon after they were discussing snails.

So, I was explaining our weekend. The kids seemed to enjoy camping in a tent and so did I. Besides all the fun the kids had, I enjoyed having three kids that were old enough to go off and play while I sat and talked. I missed AJ, but it was nice not having to worry about him every 2 minutes. I belong to a family of beer drinkers, so we spent lots of time talking around a campfire and drinking beer each night before retiring to our tents.

There are at least a million more things I could write about our weekend. But, I'm tired of typing and I'm sure everyone is tired of reading. Here are some pics:

bathing in the creek