David organized a family event at Jessica & Kevin’s house where we could meet most of the Virginia folks. We had a great turnout. Everyone but two of Jonathan daughters made it. One of the girls had a baby 5 days earlier. What a great reason to stay home and take care of themselves and the new family member.

Jessica and David’s house had a very large kitchen, living room and dining area that works well for large gatherings. Originally, Dave was going to to grill out. Unfortunately, the weather did not agree, so Kasey, Jessica and Sylvia whipped up a taco bar. Jonathan has taken up smoking (meat, not cigars) and brought smoked pulled pork. Sandy brought a gargantuan veggie tray and dip. I forget who brought deserts which was Jello wigglers and blueberry pies. Ricky brought the drinks. Another person brought cup cakes. I brought a variety of cheeses from Cashton Creamery and summer sausage from Foss’s Locker. I probably missed something from the list and should have taken a picture of the food. Needless to say, we had leftovers. 🙂

Nascar was playing on the TV. I learned that there was also Oscar Meyer Wienermobile races that were really fun to watch. (They called them Wiener Dog Races.)

I spent most of my time connecting with the family. I took a couple pictures that I thought were great family shots with the kids.

Before people started to leave we took family photos.

The first group shot is the typically “smile everyone”. The second shot was the make a fun pose shot. I cheated a little with only adding 1 parent to reduce the amount of typing.

Before leaving the cousins went outside for a group shot.

We had an absolutely spectacular day. John and I plan to come back and visit in 2 years.

I truly appreciate everything the family did to make us feel welcome and squeezing us into their busy schedules. Thank you!