But before we could head over to the festivities, we had to get a couple of shots of our apple tree with Papa. Ben and Drew had been waiting to show it to him, since they know that he grows just about everything at his house. They actually asked Nana if she could make them some jelly from the apples. She just didn't have the heart to tell them no (Great Grandparents are even bigger suckers for the grand babies!), so she told said 'maybe when they get ripe.' and then leaned over to me and said she'd bring some apple jelly she already made next time she came. So sweet.
My Papa and his brother (who lives here in town) are the last two remaining siblings living of the original four. So about 6 or 7 years ago, they decided to get everyone together. Since then we've done it almost every summer, and we always enjoy it so much. Since many of us live here, and it is kind of the middle for the rest of the family, we have the reunion at Gary and Karen's house every year...they are so kind and so hospitable to open their home up to all of us. Gary gave each of the boys a really cool soccer ball that they ran around with the whole time. Michael was pit master on the grill, we churned lots of homemade ice cream and the boys rode their hot wheels all over the tennis courts.....they really loved that. Drew, Ben and Baby Thayer were definitely the center of attention and we basically all just had so much fun catching up and hanging out. The proud Aunts and the three nephews:
Grilling on the other patio:
Drew and the other Brittney...they really bonded over their shared love of Little Bear:
Ben and Cousin Becca:
Aunt Geraldine, Stephen, Nana and Cousin David:
Eating ice cream:
What the end of the day looked like at our house:
