Family Reunion Hillbilly Style

June 28-July 5
Two weeks ago we went to Michigan for my family reunion.  Many people think that my family is crazy because we spend an entire week together every year; but I think it's awesome and completely normal! My family has done it since before I was born.  My grandfather is the oldest of six kids and all of his brothers and sisters get together for one week every summer and all of their families, families come.  We all cram into one or two houses and we spend the week doing all types of fun things while enjoying each others company.  This year we had 25 people come to the reunion and we stayed at my Great Uncle Paul's house in Michigan.  Saturday morning we piled all of the baby stuff into the car and we were off.  It was an 11 hour car ride and Elisha did a great job!  I was very worried because the longest car ride he has had before this was two and a half hours.  

Sunday we got up and vacation was in full swing.  We had a nice relaxing day! Around 8:00 that night my Uncle Paul came home with the Dumbuggie which had been at the mechanics.  In Michigan it does not get dark til 10:00 so all the cousins were taking turns driving or riding in the buggie.  Well around 10:15 I got a call from my brother, Kyle; he said "Erin, get Uncle Paul we rolled the Dumbuggie and we are behind the barn." I went running to find Uncle Paul and I called Andrew to see if Uncle Paul was near him.  When I found Uncle Paul he and Andrew went running out to find Kyle and my cousin Sarah.  About 15 minutes later they were both loaded into the car and they were on their way to the Hospital.  Thankfully the worst injury was 3 broken fingers; which was Kyle.  Sarah was had a sprained arm; but we were really worried about her at first.  Due to this accident I spent Monday taking Kyle to specialist doctors.  

The rolled dumbuggie and the partners in crime.

The dumbuggie is going back to the mechanic.

Monday night we had a huge thunderstorm and around 12:30 a.m. we lost power.  When we all woke up Tuesday we learned that the power line which was damaged was right on my Uncle's drive way so we knew this was going to be a long power outage.  We also found out from the radio that over 75,000 people were without power; which meant we would be out for a long time.  We ended up spending 48 hours without power; and let me tell you having 25 people in one house which is on well water without power is a very interesting experience.  Thankfully we had two grills and we learned how to cook a lot of things on the grill!-- including biscuits and gravy!

Some of the family also went horse back riding, even my Grandma! Andrew wanted Elisha "to ride" so Andrew rode and then after he finished we put Elisha in his lap for pictures. Elisha slept through the entire experience.  

Elisha did not sleep through the skeet shooting.  In fact he screamed through it because it was so loud.  The second time they shot, Elisha, Heather, and I went for a walk in a local park so he would not get upset. Andrew was a little disappointed that Elisha did not like the shooting because Andrew loves going to the range.  Hopefully as Elisha gets older he won't dislike it.  

Elisha also began learning how to play Rook and Settlers of Catan. The Barrett Family is very serious about playing games so he did a lot of lap sitting while watching a game.  You can't start them to young in the Barrett family.  

He started learning by holding the cards. 

The last day we were there we went to St. Joseph a local town that sits right on Lake Michigan.  We went there on 4th of July which was a crazy because it was wall to wall people but it was nice to see the lake and put our feet in.  Although if you ask me that is no lake it looks like an ocean!

 Pictures of Elisha with every member of the family (that was there) is coming next!   

The Barrett Family Reunion 2014