family reunions aren't as bad as you think

We just got back from mine and it was actually a good time! Of course the drive to Hannibal MO was a beating and a half, but the one whole day we got to spend there was worth it :) We left on Thursday evening when we both got off work and picked my cousin Brieta up at her house in Sherman and proceeded to drive until 2 AM in the morning to Springfield MO (which is an 8 hour drive) to stay with Brieta's parents...my Uncle George and Aunt Dona. The drive was pretty uneventful except for we got to catch up with Brieta and Eric was doing homework on his laptop and lost power so for like an hour we had to stop at every restaurant to find a plug for him to finish up. But, we finally got there and went straight to bed of course!

The next morning we got up around 10 and headed to Hannibal around 11...which was another 4 1/2 to 5 hour drive. We stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch and did NOT have a good experience! The girl never even brought Eric his drink and then tried to charge us for it! We just shared one glass of water the whole time and the pizza wasn't that good. Remember when Pizza Hut was so cool and good? Did you guys ever do those "Book It" things where you read books in school and get free pizza? That was awesome!! Anyways...not as cool anymore. So...we finally got to Hannibal around 4 PM. We saw my nephew first and he told us where my Dad and Mom were parked with their RV...so we found my Dad, my brother and my brother in law sitting outside smoking and making fun of their wives for being "the welcome committee" so we definately joined in on that! They were running around trying to greet and help every single family member carry their luggage and stuff in...but I think they were mostly scaring people by being too excited!

We stayed on the river (I think it was the Mississippi) so there were cabins and campers and tent spaces. We stayed in a tent thing that rolls out from my parents RV...it's supposed to be like for an extra hang out room to keep chairs and stuff, but it worked perfectly for a bed too and we had air conditioning! It was freezing though, so we didn't really need it, but my Dad and Eric had to have it anyway!

The first night we just got to relax and hang out. We got to see everyone, but we had dinner with my immediate family (Mom and Dad, Sis and her family and my brother and his family) and then we went over to Uncle George's families cabin for smores!

The next day we just sort of sat around and talked and ate...which is what we do as a family usually. Eric and I got bored to we took my niece Les and headed to town to just eat and check out the Mark Twain crap. Then we got to see my friend Tessa and met her sweet little baby boy! He's almost 9 months old and I had never gotten to meet him. For those of you who were at our wedding Tessa was the 2nd bridesmaid. So that was super fun to meet little Cooper and hang out with Tessa and Tyler for bit. Then we went back to the river for a big family dinner and family church.

Now...I was really sceptical about family church, but it actually turned out to be fun! My Uncle (who is a baptist preacher) spoke and my cousin led us in some hymns, but we started out sharing about my Memaw and Papaw. They are the way we are all connected and how we were even born! So we shared memories and traits we had gotten from them and stuff. It was really funny and sometimes kind of emotional (by the way, they both passed away while I was in college). Then another cousin played "Amazing Grace" which was of course Memaw's favorite on the violin. So it was real fun!

Sunday we left pretty early and took the whole 12 hour drive back and made it home about 9 PM. But it was good to see my family and laugh and share memories and eat A LOT of good food!