The Palmer Reunion

The whole reason for this California trip was a reunion with my family.  Unfortunately we don't get the whole crew together very often - too hard with the numbers we have now days.  The first time was 18 years ago when we did the "beach house" for the first time.  It was great fun, especially since my hubby and I had only been married 3 years, we had no kids and we were still skinny :)  There were a lot of little kids running around that time since we were all just starting our families.  It was a lot of fun and we all wanted to do it again.  But time seems to have a way of getting away from us and "life" gets in the way.  Then my sister got sick and passed away a year later.  I think that made us all realize that we can't miss those chances to be together.  So everyone, minus the ones on missions, got together to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary.  That was a single party day at my parents house and it was great, but we longed for more fun times.  Then came the cruise, only that was just my siblings, their spouses and my parents.  It was tons of fun but the cousins didn't have time together.  So when the opportunity arose to spend a week on the beach with everyone, we all jumped at the chance.  We were still missing some....my sister of course and her two children and also my brother's two oldest.  They couldn't make it and we sure missed seeing them.

OK, so that was sort of a long and drawn out introduction, but it tells the story of why it was important that this reunion was such a big deal for me.  I love being with my family---the best family in the world by the way.  And I am glad that we all took the time out of "life" to be together cuz there is nothing better.

We planned an actual day and time for the reunion so that everyone would make plans to be there for pictures and things.  We had a nice meal together and then headed out to the beach for family pictures.  I was in charge of those and I was quite nervous as I am just starting out with my new camera and I feel like I don't know what I am doing with all the settings.  I was all geared for a sunny day and was worried about shadows and squinty eyes.  But of course, it was the greyest day of the whole week.  Not even shades of grey and outlines of the clouds, just one solid sheet of grey color.  Now what?  I wasn't sure about the settings and so I went with what I thought best.  I wish they would have turned out better, but with the help of Photoshop, I was able to add a bit more color.  I need to tweak them some more, but this is what I have so far.  I wanted the blue sky and fluffy white clouds with the blue ocean and white surf for a background.  I guess these will have to do.

First off, my parents. . . . .I love them so much

Here is me and my family. . . . .

Next is my own family. . . .

Oh how I love these guys . . . .

Me and my man. . . .

My sister and her family. . . .

Then you add the spouses and their kids . . . . (Yea, my sis is a grandma. HeeHee)

My brother and his family. . . . minus two daughters

Then you have the cousins. . . . they sure have fun together

Grandma and Grandpa with their grand kids and great-grand kids . . . they have 17 total and 5 great grand kids with one more on the way

And finally, the whole group . . . .

Just for kicks. . . .this is the group picture from the last beach reunion

A bit has changed since 1992.  There are some in this picture that are not a part of the family anymore and then there are some that just weren't at the beach with us.  What a blast we had and I sure hope it doesn't take us this long to all get together again for some true PALMER fun!