3 months ago, the patriarch of the family, my Great Uncle Earl fell and broke his neck. He has beaten the odds at 94 years old and is recovering but was unable to attend. This was disappointing, and often the topic of discussion.
In Missoula, at Camas Park there is an old carousel that has been restored. On Friday, we took Nathan, Lacy, Christian and my nephew John to ride. For the first time Nathan was hesitant to go on, I did get him on one ride by going with him, but after that he was content to play at "Dragon Hollow" a park set up next to the Carousel.
My Aunt Joanie, Aunt Janet, my mother and Aunt Judy....this branch of the family was in charge of this year's reunion. Judy lives in Missoula so she pretty much coordinated the location (the Nordic Pines..Son's of Norway building) This is an incredible place for our festivities.
This was an incredible get together. 2 of my cousins were able to come to one for the first time. I had not seen them since childhood. Another cousin I have not seen in about 10 years. It was as if we had never been apart, the closeness we had as children was instantly there. We were only missing 4 cousins from my generation, but this was as many as we have ever had together at one place.
On Sunday morning we took our three, and my neices Katie and Sara to Fort Missoula. I love this picture of them all together. ..They had a group of outdoor exhibits that we explored, but the actual museum did not open until much later...and we wanted to get back to the festivities at the reunion.
The reunion started on Friday (officially). About a 1/4 of a mile away a fire was going...many, many pictures of the helicopter flying over to the river and dumping water on the fire. These men are so courageous as they put their lives on the line to put out these fires, saving lives and property.
To help with the money for the reunions, we hold a silent auction. The big money maker of this year was a quilt my sister in law, Amy had made. It was incredible (leave it to me not to get a picture) It had our family brand from my Great-grandfather, Johan Hansen, as he was the first of our line in the country. I put in a book of family history I have been working on that shows our family (one line) back to 1801 in Norway. I want to continue working on this, not only for this line but all for a complete family tree. I made extra books for my Aunts and of course Uncle Earl! We took out some items from the silent auction, along with cards signed by all who attended and "mementos" like the coffee mugs we had made, pens that were made, and the agenda.
Here, Nathan, Lacy and Christian are at the Rose Garden in Missoula. It is actually a war memorial with area's set up for each of the wars that cost some Missoula sons. I would like to go back here one day as a visual way to show the wars that we as a country have been involved in.
We left Missoula on Monday the 20th. We had to leave as Linn started a new job on the 21st at 6 a.m. Being the emotional sap that I am, the tears started falling as we were saying our goodbyes...so I started a lot of them crying.....5 days seemed far to short!
Because of Uncle Earls age and the fact that he, his dear wife Hazel and their son Steve could not attend, there is discussion of bumping up the next reunion to next year.....location...Sequim Washington. One of my cousins who was not able to make it this year is already talking of making it next!
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