A few weeks ago, Jeff & I had the great honor & pleasure of hosting my dad's family for our 2nd Annual Family Reunion! The tradition was wonderfully started last year by my Uncle Emil & Aunt Jodye at their lovely place on Lake Keowee. What great fun for us to keep the new tradition going this year at our lake place!
My dad is the youngest of three boys born to Swiss immigrant dairy farmers. The farm serves at the backdrop for some of my most treasured childhood memories...playing freeze-tag or hide & seek in the big yard, climbing trees, rolling down the hills, wading across the creek, swimming in the pond, exploring in the hay-filled barns...memories of wonderful meals, the best mashed potatoes you've ever tasted, story telling & laughter around the long dining room table with grandparents, uncles, aunts & best of all, cousins!
It has been many years since my grandparents passed away & in that time all of us cousins have moved numerous times for college or jobs. We've gotten married, had babies & moved some more. We have kept in touch electronically & try to get together when we can, for weddings, baby dedications, holidays, etc. It has been ten years since my Uncle Max, the middle brother, passed away unexpectedly. I fondly remember Max's easy smile & sense of humor. His presence is greatly missed whenever we are together, but it is wonderful to see his joyful & mischievous legacy live on in his kids & grand kids!
Of the seven cousins, four of us (myself & all of Max's girls) were in attendance this year with our families & 11 kids between us!
All the kids!
Wouldn't you know that just as we rounded all the kids up for this photo, got them all sitting on the stairs and somewhat looking at the camera, my {only} battery DIED!!! Thanks to Mike for snapping a few shots on his cell phone!
Due to distance, conflicts or both, all of the boy cousins were unable to make it this year, including my brother, Pete, in Chicago; my cousin Bob, an awesome doctor in Vermont; and my cousin Bill, a wonderful pastor in SC. But all told, kits, cats, sacks & wives, we had 24 people there, not too shabby indeed!
The game plan was for everyone to arrive Saturday morning for plenty of time on the water boating, tubing, knee-boarding, jet-skiing, and general frolicking! Then, we would enjoy a big lunch together & with more water fun afterwards. Since I knew we would want to spend lots of time outside on the water and not so much time in the kitchen, I decided to serve a Low Country Shrimp Boil or Frogmore Stew. This dish comes together quickly, the prep work is easy, and it truly feeds a crowd! There are many different variations of the recipe, but it is basically shrimp, smoked sausage, new potatoes & corn on the cob all steamed together with Old Bay seasoning & a bag of crab boil seasonings. I followed this recipe from Coastal Living. (You can find a neat history of the dish there, too.)
Lowcountry Boil
4 pounds small red potatoes
5 quarts water
1 (3-ounce) bag of crab boil seasoning
4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
2 pounds kielbasa or hot smoked link sausage, cut into 1½-inch pieces
6 ears of corn, halved
4 pounds large fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined optional
Cocktail sauce
Add potatoes to large pot, then add 5 quarts water and seasonings. Cover pot and heat to a rolling boil; cook 5 minutes. Add sausage and corn, and return to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Add shrimp to stockpot; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Drain. Serve with cocktail sauce. Serves 12.
(Adapted from Southern Living, August 2002 and Real Simple, August 2001)
Mmmmmmm, here is the final product! Serve it up with cocktail sauce & a few pats of butter for the potatoes. I actually split the recipe up between two large pots because, like I said before, this dish feeds an army! If you want to be really authentic, you can just drain & dump it out on a newspaper covered table for everyone to dig in! Can you imagine 11 sets of little hands all reaching into piles of food on the table?!! I decided to forgo the newspapers this time & just served in off the pot on the stove. ;-)
Now food is always a central part of our family gatherings, and we have LOTS of great cooks in the family, so everyone also brought a side dish or dessert to share...can I just say, we had a feast of ham biscuits, corn & lima bean succotash, salad, fruit, chicken nuggets, veggies & dips....YUM! And then there were the desserts, pies, cookies, cakes, Oh MY!
As a fun little treat for the kids, I also made "Wiggly Watermelon" Jello. I came across this neat recipe at Gourmet Mom on the Go. It was so easy to make! I was so worried that the Jello wouldn't stick to the watermelon rind, but it works perfectly & you can actually cut it up into wedges just like a real watermelon!
Wiggly Watermelon
Ingredients:
Watermelon rind
4 large boxes red Jello (6 oz size)
5 cups water
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
**This recipe is for one half of a large watermelon. to fill both halves you will need to double the Jello & water.
Directions:
1. Cut watermelon in half & scoop out all of the fruit. Get as close to the rind as possible. Rinse the rind "shell" out & pat dry. You may need to shave a bit of the bottom of the rind so that it will stand up straight, or you can just place it inside a bowl so that it remains upright during chilling.
2. Boil water, add Jello, mix well. Pour into prepared rind.
3. Chill in the refrigerator until slightly firm (several hours.) When the mixture is firm, but not completely set push the mini chocolate chips into the Jello with a long skewer. *Note: I added the chocolate chips a bit too soon, so most of them sank to the bottom...the Jello seemed firm on top, but the inside was still liquidy.
4. Place back in refrigerator until fully set (several more hours or overnight.)
5. When ready, cut into wedges with a sharp knife & ENJOY!
Okay, now that I've told you all about the food, there is only one thing left...pictures! Now you all know how I like love pictures, so I saved them for last...I promise this is not every picture that I took, actually probably not even half...but it is a lot of photos none-the-less! Enjoy taking a look at our family reunion!
Drew is ready to get the party started!
Mike, Emil & Patsy undoubtedly watching a kid do something silly!
Aunt Jodye & Drew
Sunscreen central!
Made in the shade!
Lots of kids on the water trampoline
Darcy, Ava, Sophie, & Camryn taking a break; Collin wants the goggles!
More sunscreen, have to protect that cute head!
The newest member of the family, adorable little Tucker!
Ben & Sebastian enjoying the water
Suzy & Tucker cooling off in the water, too!
Headin' out!
And comin' back in!
(I didn't get to go out on the first ride so I don't have any action pics of the kids tubing & knee-boarding.)
Getting ready to eat lunch...does it surprise you that Darcy is one of the first at the table?
Jeanne, Anna, Gary, Ava & Darcy
Jack being Jack
Tucker being his usual sweet & happy self!
Lunch is served!
Jeanne with her sweet nephew Tucker
Emil & Jodye
Jessie & Camryn (hiding!)
Sebastian & Drew comparing lunches!
Drew decided he liked Ben's lunch best!
Jack, Jessie & Anna enjoying a game of NFL Scrabble
Drew has found yet another person to give him food & drink!
After lunch, second boat outing!
2nd cousins! Sweet, sweet girls!
Camryn & Ava tubing with their dad!
Jodye, Suzy & a worn-out Sebastian
Sophie gets to tube with Daddy alone!
Sophie had a great ride!
Jack & Drew
Julie with a sleepy Collin
Jack & Sophie tubing with Daddy
Bass woke up & has his second wind now!
Sweet Ava & Camryn
Camryn & Sophie (yes, Sophie is wearing a Reindeer sweatshirt!)
Darcy is sad that Collin has to go home!
Sophie hopes we won't notice that she is trying to sneak home with Ava & Camryn.
Jack & Tucker...I reminded Jack that he was once a chunk like that, so cute!
After dinner, PJs on, ready for bed, but one last boat ride to watch the sunset.
Darcy taking good care of her baby
Pretty sunset that no one is looking at!
Drew & Grandpa
Drew, Darcy & Yaya enjoying the sunset
Next morning boys are up & looking out at the water!
It was wonderful to have Suzy, Ben & their boys stay the night so we got to have extra visiting time with them. They had the farthest drive & we don't get to visit much, so it was so much fun to hang-out & let our kids enjoy getting to know each other.
Jack & Bass saying goodbye, see you next year (or hopefully much sooner than that!)
It was a great weekend and a true blessing to spend time with such wonderful people that I am ever grateful to call my family! I'm already looking forward to our 3rd Annual Reunion next summer, but I hope to see you all again waaaaaay before then! To Emil, Jodye, Patsy, Jeanne, Gary, Jessie, Anna, Julie, Mike, Ava, Camryn, Collin, Suzy, Ben, Sebastian, Tucker, Dad & Mom thank you for coming! To Bill, Trish, Will, Ford, Riley, Bob & Pete, we missed you all & hope to see you next time! I love you all!
And be forewarned...with hosting the reunion, it was a little harder this year for me get photos of everything...I did my best, BUT, I'm already planning for next year...I'm making my list...I want a photo of all the cousins, a photo of all the kids (2nd cousins), and photos of each family attending...just to name a few!
After everyone left we put the kids in here so we could clean up...just kidding! ;-)
Drew says see ya next year!
7 comments:
What a wonderful day you all had Melanie! The food looked delicious and I LOVED your idea for the "wiggly watermelon"! Maybe while we at the beach I'll give it a try!
As always, I enjoyed looking at all your pics of your sweet family!
Happy Monday!
Looks like so much fun! So glad you got to enjoy your family and the lake! I have very fond memories of BIG family reunions on both my family sides. I know my Mom's side still gets together but as you know we live too far away. Maybe one of these days-
thanks for sharing the recipe - CANNOT wait to try it sometime when all our family gets together! looks and sounds wonderful. so happy you have family close by to spend time with - great pics and great memories!
Looks like a wonderful time. How blessed your family is to be able to get so many of you all together. It's a great tradition!!! And I agree, the picture list is a must. Great idea! Blessings!!!
I loved seeing pictures of your family. It has been so long since I have seen so many of them. Suzy looks so much like I remember Mrs. Patsy looking when we were younger.
You are a wonderful hostess Melanie.
How fun!! Can I be a cousin? :-) Makes me miss all our family back home! Glad you had such a good time. And yummy watermelon! No seeds! :-)
How fun!
I LOVE the watermelon wigglies!! We have 4 acres of watermelons planted - I am soooo going to have to make these! My kids will love them.
Post a Comment