And that was from the family reunion, not the “Derecho” storm!
About the derecho – we suffered no damage from the storm at the Cabins or our home. Our neighbors and friends were not so lucky. We were without power for 8 days, but everything is back to “normal”.
The family reunion was a huge success! Really, it was “Ossum”.
I had every intention of giving regular updates during the week of my Familial-ish reunion; what we were up to, how it was going , who liked what best and why.
But then reality set in: TOO MUCH FUN! We were too busy ‘reunioning’ for me to talk about it. So a month later, here goes.
All week people were movin’ and groovin’, making themselves happy doing any number of activities (we will talk about ALL the great activities in a future post). Hanging out with each other, getting away from each other, and even fixing stuff. Fixing is always more fun when you have help!
The single best part of the week (although I was not excited about it at first) was the daily group meal idea. It turned out great. We kept it simple. No one got over stressed (that I saw) about putting on the dog for 40 + people. And because we did not try to outdo each other with fancy dishes, serving standard fare, that made it all the better.
The first night we ordered pizza from Pies & Pints. WARNING: This is important!There are two phone numbers for two locations on the website; one is in Fayetteville (304-574-2200) only 10 minutes from the cabins. The other is in downtown Charleston, WV, over an hour away. Do not call the Charleston location and order 20 pizzas! Like we did.
Now, this could have been really bad. But fortunately, we are a lucky bunch. When the group standing at the bar in Fayetteville got blank stares when asking for 20 pizzas plus all the other good stuff, some brilliant detective work quickly revealed the order had been called into Charleston.
This is the lucky part: The Brits arrived at Yeager Airport in Charleston a few minutes before the pizza was coming out of the oven at the Charleston Pies & Pints, so we just swung by and loaded up. This makes me laugh and started the week off with a great “TOP THIS MESS UP” story.
For the rest of the week, family groups took turns satiating the masses from The Meadows Kitchen. Nothing fancy: frozen lasagna, chili, hamburgers and hot dogs, mexican grub, and leftovers made up the menu for the week.
Maybe the simplicity helped take some of the stress out of cooking for 40 people down a notch or two. The emphasis was on sharing a meal and some conversation with loved ones, and this was going on in abundance all week. It was magical.
It is a monumental task to organize a family reunion. Let us help you make yours as wonderful as ours was.
See you at the Cabins!
Geoff, if anyone needs any advise about spreadsheets, just let me know!!
The food was great all week! I loved all the wonderful desserts we had…the homemade ice cream was the best! And the pancakes….mmmmm. And Dirty Ernie’s pulled pork…mmm. And the sopapilla thing Pam made…mmmmm. And we had some healthy stuff that was yummy too.
We DID have a magical week. Thanks!!
To be honest, I thought all the planning was a little crazy. But you know what? It made the week run so smoothly! The kids are still asking when we’re going back. It really was a special, super-fun week. Thank you. 🙂
Beautiful job with the writings and photos on this first (second?) installment of the reunion blog!!!
I agree that the planning was DEFINITELY crazy!!! I will also agree though that it smoothed the way during the actual reunion GREATLY! NO worries about mealtimes AND it was a FABULOUS way for everyone to get a chance to visit and have down time most nights of the week.
All of the wonderful activities available throughout the area meet the needs of all age groups, abilities and interests. FANTASTIC!!! And what BEAUTIFUL scenery!!!
The set up of the cabins is perfect too. There’s a lot of privacy, yet a wonderful feeling of togetherness. It was SO easy to have large and small gatherings of people all over the place! And LOTS of play room for the kids of all ages to do their thing.
Couldn’t have asked for anything more!!!
The break planned for Wednesday night do your own thing was also a plus. We went out to eat or not as we chose. It was a great way to chill out after a busy day. My grandgirls met most of the family for the first time, and they have wonderful memories. Now they can identify pictures of relatives who were just faces on a photo before the reunion. We couldn’t have had a better reunion anywhere! OCR Rocks!
BTW I am in the midst of reading Michelle Renee Heeter’s new novel, Riggs Crossing. I’ll review it for you later!!! Teehee!
Not many things would entice me to clock a total of 24 hours’ flight time from Australia to get there. Had such a good time at Opossum Creek. Really liked being in the Meadows, close to all the action, children and pets.
P.S. to Marcy–Hope you enjoy it. The first shipment of advance copies is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. And the publisher tells me that a small book club has ordered 200 copies!