Whitbourn Reunion, Special Family Birthday, 4 Cousins from the North!

Sunday, July 9^th arrived with cloudy skies and about 30 rain drops. I let Clemson out before 7 and put the lawn chair and his stool away. Then no more rain. The clouds sure didn’t look like a good day for a picnic! Back to the unsettled weather with rain possible every day. My goodness.

Happy Birthday, Clemson!

Today is our little guys birthday
Clemson turned 13

Wouldn't it be nice to be this oblivious of birthdays and aging?

So, we had our coffee/tea and I walked out and plugged us in. I had one more dessert to bake in the convection oven. Making arrangements with Donna, as to when she is going to pick me up and trying to decide what to wear today. The reunion is on Mom’s side so we will pick her up around 10:15 and drive to Hanover. Joanne, my sister’s daughter, will join us for the day at Mitchell Lion’s Park.

I gathered the things on my list, plates, cutlery, tablecloth & clips, serving spoons, water, salad, dessert, contact cards and a couple of the books I created. I will be seeing 4 Westbrook cousins whom I haven’t seen for a very very long time with the exception of Carol. I’m excited. Oh yes, must take my camera bag and tripod for that special picture or two.

I wanted to wear shorts or at least capris but I’d rather be warm than chilly and since we’ll be under a pavilion, I’m opting for jeans after all. I can layer my tops so at least my shoulders will be bare if it warms up considerably. They are calling for rain later this afternoon so I’d better take a light hoodie. There, all set, now to move stuff outside and watch for Donna.

 

When Donna and Gerry arrived at The Ridge, we loaded my camera, tripod and cooler into the car and we were off to Durham to get Mom first then Hanover to drop Gerry off and pick up Joanne. Bill was ready with Clemson to go to visit the Saugeen RC flyers club in the hopes of finding someone around to chat with.

Mom and her sister tell stories

Mom was happy for the outing and we left Hanover around 11 and arrived in Mitchell by 12:30 to a mostly full gathering. There were 28 present once the last attendees, my 4 cousins, arrived. Oh, I was so excited to see them! We try to meet at noon and eat at 1, that has been the ruling from as long as I can remember.

My cousin, Rob's Chevrolet Vega
When is the last time you saw one of these?

 It was closer to 1:15 before we asked Patrick to announce that it was time to line up for food and Uncle Jerry said the blessing for us. There was quite the variation of food, 80% was homemade which is always nice. It is easy to pick something up at a store and sometimes that is the only option for someone but nothing like some of the new recipes in my opinion. I’m not keen on everything but I still love the choices.

And the cousins I've been waiting to see, arrive! yay!
Carol, Edie and Margie here
Olive was still getting out of the car

I didn’t over indulge but made sure that I had enough. The desserts were quite tempting, cookies and muffins, and fruit berry pie. Cherries, chocolate pudding and cake oh my! We soon packed up the food and Harvey went around to make sure everyone signed the guest book.

With all these three have been through, we are lucky to have them around today
Mom and Aunt Fern are in their 90's and U. Jerry isn't far behind

The eldest were Mom, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Fern, 3 of the 4 remaining siblings in the Whitbourn family. Aunt Kay was also in attendance today as usual. The oldest sibling, Uncle Harold, is ALWAYS present at this reunion and is usually the first one to arrive. This year, he has encountered some difficulty and was unable to be there. Hopefully, now that he has a new wheelchair for getting around, he can join us in 2018. He was missed by all.

My brother Bruce's daughter and her family
He would have loved to have seen their progress in life in person

I announced that I had my camera and tripod set up and would like to get a whole group picture before people started to leave and we gradually got everyone assembled to make it happen. Then we thought it appropriate to get smaller group pictures of individual families. Sadly, we missed a couple who had left early, Stephen and Alana…..you forgot to say goodbye.

Stephen and Alana chat with Donna
Stephen and I are the same age and hung around a lot as youngsters

The whole day was a success and I’m so glad I didn’t miss it. Memories of old times with the McFadden and Westbrook cousins had us laughing and being reminded of wonderful and simpler times. I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all.

We said our goodbyes by 3:30 and promises to post pictures on Facebook for family to copy. Donna drove to Durham on time to get Mom in for her supper at 5 with 10 minutes to spare. Bill arrived to pick me up at Rockwood right on time before they left to go home to Hanover.

My son, Patrick, Chaela and Nathan

Cousins from the Englehart, On area
Carol, Edie, Olive an Marge

What a beautiful group!
Note, the cheering section in the back right corner? 

Mom and her family in attendance today

Aunt Kay and her family present today

Aunt Fern and her family present today

I don’t know what we’ll do for supper tonight since we both ate late. There is tuna salad leftover and plenty of dessert if we choose. I hope your Sunday has been a fun one too. By the way, the weather turned out perfect with a blue sky over Mitchell.

This fellow has quite the idea
His wife is in the wagon behind him 

Love this array of wild weeds

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