4th.
Every year we would meet at his house. Big Grandaddy has 10 children (my grandfather and his 9 siblings), so this was a rather large family reunion. All of my grandfather's brothers and sisters would come to the reunion and all of their children and their children's children. You get the idea. Below are some pictures from family reunions in the past.
(me and my family, years ago, with my grandy and nana and big grandaddy)
(my grandfather, the tallest man in the picture, and his 9 siblings)
Well my grandfather passed away at the age of 91 I believe. Even though he is no longer with us, we still have our family reunion, but we hold it at the church down the road from the old, wooden house. The number of people in attendance has dwindled over the years. Many have bad health or have passed on. Nonetheless, my entire family was there this year. This is the first year, in a long time, I can remember where both my brother and my sister and their families were there. Even both of my cousins were there.
(my brother PJ, his wife Julie, my sister's husband Johnny, my sister Cynde, me & Jim)
(the cousins, PJ, Staci, me, Cynde, and Jenni)
We all enjoyed an evening at Aunt Rose's on Saturday with pizza and salad. Then the reunion on Sunday. Nothing better than some homecooking...dumplings, fried chicken, fried okra, fried bread, and of course you can't forget the desserts. When I was there on Sunday looking around I remembered how we (me, my sister, brother, and cousins) used to be the children running around. It's different now; we are adults now and there are other kids running around.
(Grandy with his great grandchildren)
(my sweet niece, Sarah Atchley)
(my Uncle Roger, Aunt Paula, Jenni, and Staci)
Of course we did have a little drama. As we finished eating lunch, there was a burning smell in the air. The smell was coming from a light fixture. My brother and my husband climbed into the attic and noticed smoke. My husband, being the electrician, figured out it was a lighting problem, so he saved the day and removed some faulty parts. Of course this recognition happend after the fire department had already been called. It was quite funny.
After the reunion, we drove to Auburn to spend some time with my brother and his family. My sister, mom, and dad also came. We went to the fireworks in Auburn and they were spectacular. Can you believe I had never been to the fireworks in Auburn all those years I lived there?
(hanging out getting ready for fireworks)
(Sarah Atchley with her visor, too sweet!)
Anyhow, it was a great July 4th! We really enjoyed being with our family, eating great southern food, and watching a wonderful fireworks show. We'll see what July
4th brings next year.
