Reuniting.

Every couple of years, my extended family (on my mom's side) meets up in St. Joseph, Minnesota.  

This year we changed venues (same city, different park). 

We had a bit of a hard time finding it.  

Guess I should have printed out those directions.  Or remembered the GPS. 

But once we found out it, can you guess the best part of the new venue?  

Air conditioning. It was a day with temperatures around 95* F (35* C), and believe me, it was nice to have a cool place to spend part of the day in.  

I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked.  You start talking...tending to a tired and crabby two-year old...and well...the day gets away from you. 

But I did get a few...

love from great aunt Sr. Juliana

her smile is infectious

J#4 was the youngest family member in attendance

getting sleepy with cousin Ellen

love this age;
she took a nap in her stroller, easy peasy

Little Miss wasn't the focus of the day, even though it seems that way from her presence is the photos (she is just so darn adorable in photos).  The day was about reminiscing, catching up and making new memories with family that we don't get to see very often.

and here I thought this was a photo that J#4 wasn't in

some of the guys...and no J#4!  :-) 

One of our cousins brought a fabulous dessert that his wife had made.  I knew it involved crescent rolls and cream cheese.  So I pledged to scour the internet for the recipe.  Except, I didn't have to scour.  At least, I think I didn't.  Click here for TwinkieTotMom's post.  She had a disastrous end to her baking experience making the Sopapilla Cheesecake, but the dessert was still fabulous. 

I am thinking about joining up with her on her "What's Cookin' Wednesdays".  Because a disastrous baking experience?  Exactly what would happen to me.  Maybe I could make her feel a little better.  

"Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."

~Gail Lumet Buckley

P.S.  As promised, an update on our luggage.  

Turns out, it never left Amsterdam.  So much for "priority" treatment, right?  

We finally got both items about three or four days after we landed in Minneapolis...and right before we would have HAD to go shopping.  Boo.