Many are still on a high from our amazing 2018 Family Reunion trip to Rockville, Maryland. We were so pleased to see many of our family members from Canada and Missouri attend this year’s reunion especially since we planned it in less than two months.
When you first approached the shed, you met Teresa to sign you in and take dues, if you had not paid yet. Many paid their dues in advance online and it was a SUCCESS!! Mia could not let the moment pass without taking candid pics before she had to leave for another event. We appreciated that she caught us with our mouths gaped open, making silly faces, greeting and hugging each other! Much time was spent chatting and catching up until it was time to eat. There was a massive spread for everyone to enjoy from ribs and chicken to delicious macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, corn and kale salad. And of course we topped it off with pound cake, Kristel’s yummy brownies and more. After dinner, we didn’t play games as planned but we did raffle off great prizes while the kids played on the playground. This year we raffled off backpacks with $50 gift cards and Henson-Nevels merchandise. A few people must have put a hex on the tickets as some won multiple times: Josiah, Connie, Kristel, and Seerah. Ron did a great job with screen printing the t-shirts which were raffled off and the others were available for purchase. Some family got their shirts ahead of time and rocked them at the reunion, check out this year’s pictures and videos. Mia brought her Josiah Henson book arsenal for the family to peruse. Gary made sure he kept up with the books while Mia was away so they would not get misplaced.
Teresa was in charge of bringing the water balloons, though we did not play the water balloon toss game; balloons were tossed! Teresa refused to take the balloons back home so Michelle recruited two guys who could take the 100 balloons out for anyone to enjoy. Teresa got a few balloons and recruited the kids; that did not take much persuading. Teresa threw the first balloon that drenched Ron. One hundred balloons seemed to disappear in mere minutes (minus the ones that deflated during transport). Gary was yelling while the kids threw the balloons to move further away so others would not mistakenly get hit or wet. Delia was hit with water while she was taking something to her trunk but luckily she did not get drenched. Michelle was in the balloon zone but decided to move, just in case something came her way. At the end, the adults Ron and Karim was drenched along with a few kids. Little Artis inquired about the balloons but at that point they were all gone. As a consolation, he received his own pack of 100 balloons that needed to be filled with water. His grandmother Kristel gave him a few pointers on who to hit first when they are at home. Let’s see how that works out.
Dan volunteered himself to be involved with the reunion planning committee since he moved to Michigan and wants to get more acquainted with his family. Welcome Dan, now Ron will have some more testosterone in the room. He was drowning.
Dawn and Terrance talked about getting a brick paver for Learlie at the Josiah Henson Museum & Education Center and asked for donations. Kristal talked about getting brick pavers for our family who is deceased. Michelle will coordinate the information to pass to the family.
Looking forward to our 2020 Family Reunion!!