Playing around with the title bar a little bit. I found this cute 'Summer' theme - so I thought I'd change the look for the next month or two. Can't always be 'Spring' right?
The Reunion Banquet went very well last night. We arrived at Ghirardelli Square around 3:45pm, and for the next hour and a half it was just hectic. Can you imagine trying to gather 11 sets of family groups, then 1st generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, 4th generation, and finally a huge 100 member group for pictures? Not easy.
Lots of yelling, directional pointing, running up and down stairs, maneuvering between the billions of tourists, calling around to find out that those single people who are missing, who are preventing specific group shots, have been driving around the Square area for the last 20 minutes looking for non-existent parking. Yeah, my feel were hurting pretty badly by the time I could sit down and have something to drink. Something funny, when we were all gathering for the big group shot, and the photographer was checking out the group - making sure all faces were visible - a pair of tourists who were standing by, whipped out their camera and took some shots too. It was hilarious. I guess they're going to go home and tell their friends, "Look what they do in America!"
In the end, we got all our pictures done - in record time! We were all able to enjoy a lovely cocktail hour before dinner. Each 5 year reunion is headed by a set of cousins, currently from my generation (the 2nd). We go down by the order of uncle or aunt children. I figure, by the number of cousins left in the my generation, me being the youngest, I'll probably head up the reunion in 2015. Quite an intimidating thought to know there will be this big, three night party every five years - and that we'll most definitely be over 100 people by then. Delegation is the key. And I plan to do a lot of it. After me, the torch will be passed down to the 3rd generation to continue. I hope it never ends.
Tonight, we have one more big meal for those who are still in the city. It's the Farewell Dinner sponsored by the Bay Area family for the out-of-town folk. It's been a LONG weekend, and while I'm relieved that the big feasts will be over, I will miss my family. We're just so big that most of us really don't see each other except during these events. It's funny how spread out everyone is, but it's cool to think that I have family EVERYWHERE! Hong Kong, NY, California, Chicago, Michigan, New Orleans, Atlanta, Colorado, Florida, Vancouver, just to name a few places. We did a contest for the kids last night to see how many states are represented. I think we were at 15 or 17. WOW! And as the 3rd generation kids are growing up - most will be in college or working by the time the next reunion comes up, I'm sure more states will be represented.
I wonder if Grandpa and Grandma were smiling down on us last night? To think that they started it all with having my first uncle over 90 years ago.
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