Dickson Family Reunion 2011

This is my family in July 2011. Well, most of my family. . . Tera and her kids were stuck in Germany trying their hardest to get to the reunion, her husband is in Afghanistan, Bump started a new job and we are missing 3 nieces for various reasons, but this is the most that we have been able to get together for a long time. What a great group of people!

See, a long time ago (August 14, 1940) these two people, John Dickson and Helen Baird fell in love and got married.

Then they had these five kids (left to right): Viv, Roy, Lynn, Jack and Doris

Those 5 kids married these 5 kids (left to right): Karen & Roy, Viv & Dave, Sharon & Lynn, Delores & Jack, Doris & Knude.

And created this massive bunch of people. . .

More specifically, Lynn and his family.

Jack and his family

Doris and her family

Viv (my mom) and her family.

And Roy and his family.

Because there are so many of us we don't get together very often, but this year we made it happen. Amazingly there weren't too many of us missing either. I got there with my kids a few days before the official arrival date and got to spend some time with my parents and a few other families that had already arrived. My mom was a hit with the kids when she got out the wagon and started pulling them around the yard.
Soon she figured out that that wasn't quite fun enough for the kids so she hooked the wagon to the lawn mower and they really had some fun!
Most of my family camped around my grandparents house, but some stayed in hotels around the area (the campers had the most fun by the way).
There were a few rules for the kids about not going too far down the driveway by the busy highway, but other than that they played and played and explored and roamed all around my grandparents large property.
The chickens were well looked after *cough* and hardly had any time to themselves.
And this was the most common sight of the whole reunion. I secretly think that when my mom would feel stressed or need a break from things that she would start the mower and just drive around. The mower is so loud you can't hear anything else going on and you can kind of veg out while the kids chill in the wagon. :)
A family reunion can't be about just sitting around doing nothing. We had some really fun things to keep us occupied. The first day my cousin's Gina and Suzanne were in charge of a family Olympics. Families were divided into separate teams (ours made up 2 teams). Each team was given an animal name and some different crepe paper colors to decorate ourselves with.
We were the "Awesome Rebel Roosters" and we had the best chant ever thanks to Kim and her southern upbringing. :) Let's just say I was feeling a little "chocolate" as we sang! :)
The other half of the family were the "Rockin' Wrightsssssss." They were snakes and we totally beat them!
There were so many fun things that I can't even begin to go over the whole Olympics. There was Oreo eating, trivia, leap frog, some game where we got to throw all of our shoes at my cousin (he he) and here is a picture of the relay race.

There was a hula hoop contest.

Keep the balloon in the air without using your hands.

And the parents got to participate in their own part of the Olympics. First they had a whistle blowing contest with saltine crackers in their mouths. Then they tried to wrap each other up with weak toilet paper that kept breaking. It was fun to watch. Everyone had a great time and my cousins did a fantastic job.
Back when I was little and we would have reunions with my mom's family my grandma had a tradition where she would let the cousins sleep with her out in their barn. Now with a new generation of grandma's we had to keep the tradition alive. Each grandma got one night out in the barn with her grandkids. Here is my mom with my kids waiting for the other cousins.

And it wasn't just for the little guys - the teenagers were there also and my mom had a very full hay loft. She told story after story until all the kids fell asleep. It was a definite highlight for my kids.
The next day we had a Family Fun Run/Walk. My cousin, Shayla, was in charge. You could choose from a 10K, 5K or 1 mile race. I ran the 1 mile with all 3 kids and they did great!

Here are the 10K and 5K runners taking off. My brother, Lee, won the 10K and my nephew, Conner, won the 5K.

Here are the kids starting the 1 mile run. I was so proud of my kids - Corban took 3rd place!
Thad and Kim got there a little late and Thad immediately took off to catch up to the 10K runners. Lee says it's good that he was late or he would have taken first place for sure!
Kim had the best excuse for not running - little 5 week old Grayson. He made the trip with their family across the country from Boston.
This is a fuzzy picture of my girls: Tracy, me, Julie and Jamie.
That evening we went to my cousin, Dode's house for a BBQ and loads of fun. They have a swimming pool, zip line, bounce house, trampoline and giant slip and slide. It was paradise for the kids.

Quincy loved the giant slip and slide and even though she could go on it herself she loved making her older cousins go with her.

Here she is on Conner's back going down.

And here she is with McKenna holding her.

Half way through the night Gabby had the zip line seat flip up and hit her in the lip. She had a nice fat lip, but stopped crying pretty quick and was off having more fun.
I wasn't able to enjoy myself as much as I would have liked. Both Corban and Quincy were so worn out from all of the excitement of the last few days that they both lost it. First was Corban who had a pretty crazy tantrum and I had to practically lock him in the car to get him to calm down. It took awhile and I missed out on a lot of fun game playing and socializing. Then after he was under control Quincy came up to me crying. She said, "Mom, I ate 5 pieces of candy and now I am sick." She says things like that when she gets tired. So, I held her and she immediately fell asleep in my arms.
Did you know that my mom is like one of the kids? She had more fun than everyone I think.

Yes, that's her going down the slip and slide fully clothed. I am pretty sure that she made everyone's day.

After the main reunion officially ended most of my family stuck around for another day. So, we took off and rode on a ferry boat to Friday Harbor. Everyone stopped at McDonald's along the way and had lunch on board. Here is the older kids table on the Ferry.
Thad's family left to right: Conlan, Madison, Talmage, Thad, Kim and baby Grayson.

My cousin Janice and her husband Matt (aka the incredible shrinking duo) came along as honorary Wrights.

Lee, Trish, Julie and Dave.

Jamie and Marty with my rug rats.

While the kids were occupied with their fun cousins we had some girl time and played games.
I wish that the pictures could capture how beautiful the sound is. The ferry ride was heavenly and we all had a really nice time.
Friday Harbor was a fun and very picturesque place as well. The kids played at a small park next to the marina.

Then we explored town and found a nice little toy shop. Each of them picked out something to play with.
After the ferry ride we went to visit my cousin Randy and his family that live on Whidbey Island. We had pizza for dinner and chilled out at their fabulous new house with the incredible view of the sound. Then as the sun set we stopped by a small beach to let the kids play in the water and sand. Here's me with my cuties.

Lacey, Jamie and Tricia watching the sun set.

Me and my beautiful Mom.

Sadly the next day was time to say good-bye to cousins that we don't get to see often enough. Here is Gabby with two of her cousins, Parlee and Mia.
Overall the reunion was a huge success! Mostly thanks to my mom and my cousins Janice and Sherilyn. They worked hard for so long to make everything wonderful. It was fun to see my cousins again and meet their kids. We have a wonderful extended family and it is always a fun time when everyone gets together.