First Leafblad Reunion for Joel and Silas

We just got back from the boys' first Leafblad reunion at Green Lake Conference Center in Green Lake, WI and Joel and Silas both had so much fun. The Leafblads are Jorie's paternal grandmother's family. The original family had 11 siblings and has grown explosively over 4 generations. The family is now over 400 people and continues to rapidly expand. Every five years, we get together for a huge reunion and it's always a great time. Some stats from this reunion: 6 of the original 11 siblings are still living and the youngest is 78. Jorie's grandmother, Linnea, is the eldest remaining from the first generation, at 91. Jorie's dad, Jim, has 51 first cousins. (can you imagine Christmas with that family?) At this reunion, there were 70 kids under age 5. They expect to exceed 500 people at the next reunion in 2012.

This was our first reunion at the Green Lake Conference Center. The facilities were awesome and the food was great - a big step up from previous reunions. We hope to spend many future reunions in Green Lake. Joel especially liked playing at the beach, pushing a plastic truck through the sand and out into the water. He also loved the train passenger car that you could go inside, the kiddie buffet line, the goldfish in the lobby garden, and the "rolly ball game". Silas loved running around in the big open spaces, digging in the sand, and kissing his baby cousin Annikah. Both boys loved spending time with their aunts and uncles, cousins, and Grandpa and Grandma too.

Saturday at the reunions is always group photo day, and each family wears a color to signify which Leafblad sibling they are descended from. This year, our family wore orange. When Joel saw all of us dressed alike in orange shirts, he announced, "We are the goldfish family!" When we first put his orange shirt on him, Jorie told him, "Now you're officially a Leafblad." Joel replied, "Now I can officially be-bad."

Silas and cousin Anni's kissing is incredibly cute. Whenever they see each other, they immediately move in for a kiss. Unfortunately, they are not too coordinated about it, and they usually end up bonking heads a few times before successfully landing a kiss. One of the most memorable events from this reunion was skit night, where we presented a musical rendition of the story of Jorie's grandparents, Bert and Linnea, honoring their recent 70th wedding anniversary, to the tune of "Oklahoma!". (written and choreographed by Jorie's cousin Erica and her new husband Mike Cali - married 1 month ago!) If I ever figure out how to post videos on this thing, I'll post the performance on the blog. It was a huge surprise to Grandma and Grandpa Engstrom and we could tell it was very special to them.