Labor Day Family Reunion!!

Each Labor Day weekend we gather in WV for the Benson family reunion. Aunts, uncles, and cousins travel many miles from as far as Florida and Boston to celebrate family. This group spans four generations from my 89 year old "GG" (this is how all the great grand kids refer to my Grandma Benson) the center of it all to my niece Molly at a fresh 2 years old.

This is a picture of most of the gang.

(Only two the whole family were unable to be there.)This year Grandma wanted everyone to have a family shirt. They turned out really neat and it was a handy cheat sheet to keep all 20 of the youngest generation straight.

As far as family reunions go, I think ours is somewhat unique. I'm not sure that many such events involve the lighting of the "Family Olympic Torch" to the music of the WVU band (just a CD not the live band, of coarse.)

After a filling lunch (for those that get there on time:) there is time to visit catch up on the happenings of the previous year. Once the food has had time to settle all are gathered and lined up for the Torch relay which signifies the beginning of "The Games." One of my cousins spends a lot of time and energy planning creative games that take some skill, some brains, and a lot of foolishness. It always turns out to be a lot of fun as each family within the larger family competes to "bring home the cow."

Let the games begin...Sophie began to celebrate at the possibility that we may get the trophy for the first time.We got it!! We won the trophy, but more importantly (I think) we had lots of fun and laughs!!

That's not where the fun stopped though. There were snow cones to be enjoyed by all,

a bounce house.. time to "hang" around chatting,

homemade ice cream,

and last but not even close to least...

a HUGE homemade slip-n-slide! This seemed to be a blast - so says those with the courage to tackle it! (As you can hear from the video it was also a little painful, especially with a child on your back :)



It was a blast with lots of fun, food, laughing, and love!!