US map showing how far-flung we are!
Cameron, Daisy, and a new friend
This baby boy was born 12 hours before this picture was taken
Plymouth Dairy Farm milks 2700 cows 3 times a day!
Well, it's all over except for the picture sorting, address/contact list creation, family website update, and telling all those who missed it how great it was!
On July 16-17, 2010, over 60 members (direct and extended) of the Edith and Lowell Burkett family gathered in Le Mars, Iowa, for our second official family reunion. (The first was held 4 years ago in Abilene, TX.) The weekend capped over a year of planning by many family members, including our oldest attendees (thank you, Bert and Paul, for renting the facility and so much more!), the Senior Chief, and the grandmother of our youngest attendee (I think Blake had a good time meeting his relatives, even if he is only 4months old!).
Official events started with tours of family gravesites in several locales as well as many drives through town to find former family homes. For those of you not familiar with Le Mars (and I am among that large group), the streets are a confusion of numbered avenues and streets made further bewildering by directionals such as Third Avenue NW or Fourth Street SE. I believe there may have been some disagreements about how/where to find certain houses or gravesites, but fortunately, I wasn't along to witness them!
On Friday afternoon many of us gathered for a tour of Plymouth Dairy Farms, one of the suppliers to Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream. Le Mars is the Ice Cream Capital of the World, because Wells make more ice cream in Le Mars per day than anyone, anywhere else in the world. The kids loved the cows--especially the baby boy--and we all learned a great deal from our excellent tour guide and herdmaster, Scott Thomas. From there we went to Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream itself; Colleen Nelson provided a tour of the museum where we learned the history of this family-owned company, then spent time in the store and ice cream parlor (yummy!).
Friday night dinner was a pizza, pasta, and salad buffet at Mr Ps, where some cousins met each other for the first time in their lives. Edith and Lowell had 8 children (two of whom attended, as well as the widows of two more), and there are 27 kids in my generation. The next generation has 51 members currently, and the fourth generation is 22 and growing fast! After dinner, many of the younger ones swam in the pool at one of our hotels (Baymont) and most of the rest of us enjoyed adult beverages on the patio outside the pool. Someone brought a "bar in a box" causing much hilarity. Two of us entertained our cuzzins with a slightly-behind-the-beat rendition of the Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues (by Tom Paxton). Some song about Iowa and beer was sung repeatedly, and we were all reminded how much music is a part of our family tradition.
The main event was held at the old bathhouse in Municipal Park. We had both lunch and dinner catered, and a great time was had by all--including some extended family members whom we were glad to see. Swimming, stories, T-shirt contest, and pictures, lots of pictures. The day was hot but we hardly recall that now with the good memories of family and fellowship crowding out all other thoughts. We posted a US map and asked everyone to note their home town. I had heard some kids talking earlier...
"Where are you from? "
"Hometown A [state not mentiond]"
"Where's that?" (I would have then given a state name....)
"Near Little Town X."
"I don't know where that is. I'm from Hometown B."
"Where's that?"
"Near Big City Y." (Note, no state yet given...)
And so it went. I hoped a map might give the younger ones an idea of where they live in relation to others... But then again, even we adults were struggling with relationship constructs..."Am I your first cousin once-reoved or second cousin?" "Uh, I think we're third cousins twice removed, or something like that." Whatever! We are family! (Some of this was clarified by my cuzzin's fabulous family tree, which she created through painstaking research and repeated e mails that eventually went like this "Don't make me act like a Burkett girl. Tell me your wedding date and youngest child's birthdate or else!")
Informal get-togethers were also held in the lobby and the lawn of the Baymont Inn on Thursday and Sunday. Daisy (The World's Most Spoiled Dog) and her buddy Cameron got to join in those events and loved playing with the kids (they are family too). (They were in a kennel Thursday nite-Sunday morning.)
I am trying to remember all the stories that were told, and all I learned about my family. My cuzzins of all generations are wonderful people with interesting jobs and hobbies and a great sense of family. I am so glad I got to spend some time with them and can't wait for the next reunion in Colorado in 2014!
PS: Thanks to all the folks in Le Mars who helped make our reunion a success, including Stacey at the Baymont , Scott at Plymouth Dairy Farms, Colleen at Wells Blue Bunny, the caterers and the folks at Mr Ps!
