Adventures in Family Reunions..

Flew home 'early Saturday' for a very quick trip to attend a family reunion.. And the organizer of this event did not go small.. Timed it to coincide with a local Civil War reenactment in which one of our ancestors participated in the actual battle.. Then proceeded to get the whole family honored as 'one of the primary founding families' of the county.. Like I said, he did not go small..
Anyway, this story is more about DD than the reunion..
You see, she misses having a daddy.. She thinks it's just me, my mom, my brother and her.. And in her mind, that's it for the family.. This year, I've made the decision to drag her to every family reunion (of which I'm a direct descendant) that we have.. One down, four to go..
She had a freaking ball.. First off, they had a PARADE for the family.. Actually, they have the parade every year. They just dedicated it to the descendants of this particular ancestor (her great-great-great-great-grandfather, as I mentioned to her several times).. Secondly, we all got CERTIFICATES (nice looking ones, at that) saying we were descendants of said relative and thusly honored by the yadayadayada.. She was over the moon!!!
There is a street festival that goes along with this yearly event.. So, some rides, tons of vendors.. Local charities with booths raising money, local civic organizations with other info booths, radio stations, every crafter you can imagine and, of course, your local religious loonies - this year, with signs saying the world is coming to an end on 5/21/11.. I ticked off a woman trying to give me a pamphlet by asking, "Now, what book, chapter and verse of the Bible did you find this date? I must have skipped that day in Sunday School." She was not amused. :)
Oh, and a chick wearing a furry tail and a collar with a leash being led around by some guy.. Don't mind you indulging in whatever you do to get through, but this was a family event (FYI-these two weren't in our family) and perhaps you should tone it down a notch when strolling the streets of a small Southern city during a Civil War re-enactment festival in broad-open daylight... You think?! Probably just some bf/gf making some statement or wanting to shock people.. The only ones who commented were some of the 'rougher' kids.. One early-teen yelled, "Can't keep 'er straight less you gotta 'er on a leash, huh? You ain't much of a man!" The crowd, as politely as possible, cracked up! Then, the man and his 'pet' left..
DD loved every bit of the day except a little bit towards the end of the parade.. It was very sunny and 85 degrees.. And we were sitting on a reviewing stand with no shade.. It was hot and she was sweating!! :):):)
Next day, there was the actual reunion.. About 400 people showed up.. Imagine.. They held it at a community center that had very nice facilities.. Large building where you could sit down to eat, large kitchen to prep and store items, huge CLEAN bathrooms.. A large grassy area with seating for plenty, about 20 picnic tables under a shelter and a great playground.. Something for all age kids, 0-Teens.. People from a mile away and people from Switzerland attended this event.. (I was a little miffed.. I thought I might be in the running for the 'longest distance traveled to attend' prize! LOL) Either way, DD was amazed that this was only part of her family!! I explained it was the part for her grandmother's father's family.. Then explained that we still had reunions to attend for her grandmother's mother's family, her grandfather's father's family, her grandfather's mother's family and her grandfather's grandmother's family!!! She looked at me with her mouth dropped open and said "I have an ENORMOUS family!!"

Which is what I wanted her to know all along.... :)