A Gathering of Family

A Gathering of Family

By Allan Olson

Another whirlwind weekend! Last weekend we traveled to a little town between Roseau and Warroad and hosted a family reunion – it was a blast.

Of course, it wasn’t all roses getting there.

The reunion was set for Friday through Sunday, and we wanted to be there a day early to get things “organized” and ready for the big weekend. After all, it was my idea to hold this crazy event in the first place.

The first setback came on Wednesday early morning when Marcus came upstairs and told us he wasn’t feeling well. That morning, after I left for work, he really proved to those at home that he wasn’t feeling well, and continued to do so most of the day.

Great! We have a big family reunion planned, and we have a sick child. And of course, usually if one gets sick, eventually so does the rest of the family. This was not a good start to a long weekend.

Our plan was to push to to get ready so we could take off Thursday morning, but with Marcus sick on Wednesday we altered our plans, opting to take it easy and make sure no one else got sick. Thankfully, we were ready to go and on the road by about noon on Thursday. There was still plenty of time to get things done once we got to our destination.

On the road, I was relegated to the back seat since my niece is now 15 and armed with a learners permit (look out world!) and really wanted to drive. I consented, with the fiat that I would take over if she scared me.

A couple hours later, with my niece still at the wheel, we arrived at her home and dropped her off, then headed for my parents’ place. All was good in the world of travel.

We visited my parents for a few hours, and then departed toward my youngest brother’s house – the designated party headquarters for the weekend.

We had only gone about six miles when we heard a horrible noise. All the kids and my wife and I were startled by the loud sound and then thumping. My wife looked in the mirror at the trailer and noticed that pieces of one of the trailer’s tires had come off. There we were on the side of the road with a bald tire with absolutely no tread left and no spare (although the tire still had air). I called my dad, and we decided that since it was closer to his place, we had better come back there.

My parents told us that whatever we didn’t need that night they would bring along with them in the morning; we just had to sort things and put all that stuff into our van.

“We’ve packed it all in the van before with no trailer; we can do it again,” I told my wife. So we packed the van, cramming three kids into the backseat, folded down a bucket seat, and voila! it was stuffed and packed. I had really only three roles in the process – bring her the things to pack in the van; get and stay out of the way; and third, hoist the bikes on top of the van.

Finally, a little over 40 minutes later, we were back on the road again, with the van fully loaded with four kids, two parents and Bob, the dog.

We finally made it to our destination about an hour later. My wife set up the tent while I gauged what we had to do the next day (honestly, I just stayed out of the way).

Family started to arrive on Friday afternoon; the first van load brought two of my cousins from the Twin Cities, an aunt and uncle (also from the Cities) and another aunt – my Dad’s youngest sister, who traveled all the way from Alaska for this event.

My other two brothers showed up on Friday evening, as did two cousins and their families – and the fun really began.

It wasn’t all fun and games for another traveling cousin who was apparently in too much of a hurry to get here. Thankfully, she was given just a friendly warning and sent on her way. Alas, she also managed to hit a fawn and get sick all, in the span of a few hours.

That evening and all weekend we cruised around the woods and fields with the Rangers (side-by-side ATVs), with kids piling on from every direction, all wanting a ride. We built a small fire near the campsites and enjoyed a beverage (or two) before finally retiring at about 1 a.m.

The day started at about 7 a.m. on Saturday – the sun was shining way too brightly and warm for that early in the morning, so the majority of campers were awake by 8 and ready to have some fun.

Saturday afternoon another aunt and uncle showed up, as did another cousin with her family. There were group pictures, family pictures, family trivia and stories, ice cream, fresh fish and much more. The heat, of course, also led to water balloon fights, water gun fights and at least a couple people grabbed water buckets to add to the mix. We had gunnysack races, and in the night-time played Capture the Flag. It was all so much fun! We enjoyed looking at my grandma’s photo albums and hearing the stories that went with some of those pictures.

That evening we enjoyed another fire – a little larger than Friday’s – and then the majority of us retired around midnight.

We had a great time reuniting with family we haven’t seen much of in several years, and hearing about family members who weren’t able to make it. It was a grand affair, with many laughs and stories being shared. The kids played with cousins they had either never met before, or only on a very rare occasion.

Of course, if this all would have been left for just me to plan, it would’ve never happened. Earlier this year, I suggested that we should get together with the whole family, since the last time many of us were together was at a funeral, and our families aren’t getting any younger. My wife replied, “If that’s what you want, then let’s do it!” and from then on she organized most of it, including getting the trivia questions ready and accessing genealogy records.

Hopefully, the next family reunion we hold (in two-three years) will be even bigger, with more family members able to attend. That should mean twice as much fun!

Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, have a happy July 4^th, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.