Category Archives: Family and Friends

Pictures and stories of our dear family and friends

But there was more

Reunion Ingredients –
Great people – Check
Pond Fun –          Check
Lumber Jack adventure – Check

…but what else was there to do??

Well, here are just a couple of the other activities that filled our days! There were three ATVs that pretty much were on the go most of the time! If kids weren’t in the pond, there was a good chance they were exploring the property on wheels.
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And then there was a little field trip – tubing down the Waits River.


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The Waits River wasn’t the most challenging river and  there were some pretty shallow areas –

but at the end of the adventure, I think a good time was had by all!

And the folks that didn’t go tubing? Well, we’ll get to that another day!

 

 

Family Day

Today was our last Saturday in the Columbus, so we didn’t want to miss a chance to spend some time with family! To that end, we met Toby and family (well, except the ones in college or at a school function) at Blacklick Woods Nature Center.
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The Canopy Walk is a new addition to the park, and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the treetops.
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Along with the walk there were also a couple activities to engage the kids – like the fireman’s pole
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and a hammock style cargo net.
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After the canopy walk, we enjoyed the nature center and then took another short hike through the forest.
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It also gave me a chance to squeeze that adorable little Tucker, too!
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Oh, those cheeks!!
After a lovely picnic in the park we headed back to their house and enjoyed a quiet afternoon that involved some Candyland and Uno and lots of conversation. Ah – what a sweet, sweet day!
We hope to see our loved ones here in Ohio at least once more before we leave the area for our next SOWER project, but still today was a delight through and through!
Hope your Saturday was lovely too!
Steph

Another Pond Activity

Do you see the birch tree in the header picture above? We’ve been watching that tree get closer and closer to the pond each year we come. And the concern was that it would eventually fall into the pond and then be impossible to get out of the pond.  Gary had worked on trimming off some of the easier to reach branches earlier in the summer


but knew that getting the main part of the tree down would have to wait. Since we had a good supply of 40-something men and a couple of willing teenagers around during the reunion, Gary came up with a plan that involved a couple guys in the boat,
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and a brave soul willing to shimmy himself (and the saw) out over the pond.


Sometimes it takes two on the tree to get it low enough to fully cut through!
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While it didn’t go exactly as it had been envisioned, our gang is great at improvisation and at the end of the day, the tree had been dispatched, no adults or teenagers or turtles were harmed in the excursion, and The Pond activities resumed.
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Actually, I’m not at all sure they were ever interrupted to begin with!

Mission accomplished!

The Pond

Let’s face it. We could plan all the activities we want at the reunion, but The Pond will still come out the winner. Generally speaking, if there wasn’t food being offered and an adult was available, there were kids at The Pond.
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This year we had quite the flotilla – three small green kayaks, two paddle boards, a blow-up kayak, the trusty row boat and an assortment of inner tubes.
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Just the right size for a couple of four-year-old girls! (With mom and dad nearby!)
The new floating dock was also a big hit – though at times it seemed like the object was to see if it would sink if enough folks could get on it!
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It was also used from some pond baseball
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but I’m pretty sure it will be a while before it makes it to the Olympics.

Whether they were swimming or boating or fishing
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or frogging

or just watching the action –
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The Pond was the place to be!!

The People

OK – let’s get going on some reunion talk!! Of course, the most important part of any reunion is the people who come! This year we had quite an exceptional turnout – of the 13 cousins (our kids’ generation) all but one family was able to make it. Of the next generation (42), only three (and a spouse) were missing!  And we welcomed our first entry into the newest generation!  Our oldest attendee was Aunt Vesta – my dad’s cousin – who turned 99 this spring and joined us on Saturday.
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(Sitting here with Fitz, our second oldest attendee at 80!)
Here are our youngest three – all born within 3 weeks of each other!
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(The cutie on the right is the newest generation baby!)
I wish I could say I was organized enough to get photos of all the individual families, but while I got some – I did not get all. My apologies to those I missed, and here are the ones that I was able to get-

Elna w/umbrellaWe missed all those who couldn’t make it – and they sadly missed some wonderful family time.  This was also our first Big Family Reunion without my dear sister Elna – who would’ve been over-the-moon happy to see all of these beautiful smiling faces. But knowing she is well and happy in her new heavenly neighborhood helps my heart get past the “missing” and into the blessing of having  her as a sister-friend for these many years.

So PEOPLE! The Very Best part of our 2024 Dwinell Family Reunion!

Stay tuned for just what all those people did for four days!

Steph