Family Reunion and Family Traditions!

Last weekend we packed up the car (I did much better this time with Clare's shoe packing and the packing for myself!) and headed to our annual family reunion!  The reunion has been something my family has been attending since I can rememeber and has always been the last event before gearing up for back to school.  This time however and last pregnancy it acted as a mark to the final countdown until our son is born (7 weeks and counting).
The reunion has always been about traditions and the fun part is that not everyones traditions are the exact same and they do continue to change from year to year.  But there are somethings that do remain the same:
Friday night - head to Ellisnore, MO to stay at my dads cousins house (always a house full!)
Saturday - lunch at the Campbell, MO recreation center - always good food, entertainment for the kids, and good family time
Sunday - head home

Now that I have my own family we have tried making it a point to start our own traditions as well.  To start, we ALWAYS stop at McDonalds on our way from Ellisnore to Campbell.  WHY?  I believe the first year we did it because the food was a little questionable from the year prior but since then we stop even if its for a drink!
After the event on Saturday we go the the Glendale Picnic with the family who likes to let loose and have a few beers.  The beers are drank under the same tree every year.  After that we have been heading to Poplar Bluff to stay at a hotel then head home on Saturday.  Which by the way my husband has managed to leave 2 pairs of sunglasses at that hotel over the years - which add up to about $400 in lost sunglasses - hopefully this will not become a tradition : )
We always talk all the way home about what we did the previous years and what changes we want to make for next year and I think we already have some good ideas!

I didn't take a ton of pictures but what I do have is just a small glimpse into what our traditions are all about.  The rest are memories that only our family has : )

Getting a Pedi before heading to the Reunion








Clare is so funny becasue she is starting to realize how to be funny....like putting this turtle on her head and saying "daddy look!!"

Clare's favorite thing to do at any hotel we go to is play on the phone.  She picks it up and says "hello" then pauses and says "oh hiiiiiiii"  Its so cute! She has quite the imagination! (another one of her favorite imagination things right now is acting like a dog - and she goes all out - on all fours and starts panting like a dog - she showed off her skills Sunday morning when we were leaving the hotel resturant!)