A Weekend On The Tree Branch

Not literally, mostly because my ability to climb anything is non-existent! 

This past weekend was spent with family! 

First off, let me just say, THANK YOU so much to our wonderful hosts for the weekend.  There have been a few e-mails passed around with thanks, and I was going to do the same, but then I thought...."hey, what is it you do best?!!?  BLOG!!"  To those of you who read what I write regularly, welcome back and to those of you checking it out for the first time, enjoy and bookmark me.  I try and update about once a week.  And if you have some spare time, go back and get caught up on the adventures of my everyday life!

It was a Hutchison Family Reunion.  It's the branch of the family from my Grandmother's side.  My gramma was a Hutchsion and had 4 sisters.  As a child, I fondly remember the get-together's at my Aunt Phyll & Uncle Jeff's cottage on the Otonabee River.  So many memories were made. 

Slowly, the sisters passed on and the get togethers got few and further between.  The last one was probably about 5 years ago.  After having met up about 3 times in the past year at funerals, it was decided that perhaps we should get together somewhere other than a funeral home.

My cousin Barry, his wife Jean and their 3 girls, Sarah, Kailee and Darcee offered to host this fabulous get-together at their beautiful cottage on Lake Muskoka.

We packed up the van, so that outside observers or those without kids would think we were planning on staying much longer than one night!

We were greeted by the girls at the end of the driveway, welcoming us and taking food orders for lunch and dinner.  Sarah led the way up the driveway to the cottage and showed us inside. 

Instantly, we felt welcomed and happy to be in the presence of family.  We unloaded our things to our room and set out on exploring our new surroundings. 

Pictures do tell a story and that is about what I am going to do..share some photos.  I will admit right now, I "stole" some of them from family members that posted pictures already...but please, give me a break, I have kids and no time to use the camera!

But before I get to the pictures from this weekend, let's kick it old school and bring back a few memories from reunions of the past!

Myself and Brad Shaw....1982?

Gary, Uncle Al, Uncle Laurence and way in the back, Uncle Jeff - 1984

Gramma and Aunt Phyll - 1984

Me - 1980?

Gramma and Ashley - 1984

Aunt Doreen, Aunt Phyll, Aunt Shirley and Marlene Shaw - 1984

Adam Dickie - 1984

Chris, Uncle Jeff and Grampa - 1984

Amy and Adam - 1984 (FYI, the doll is Lionel)

Scott and Steve - 1984

Boy, have things changed, the main one being that all the Hutchison girls are now watching down on us, but I am sure they were partying along with us all night!  If you doubt me, ponder this....

Mom said she was going to bring some tomatoes up and just chop them up in a bowl, because Aunt Shirley always brought tomatoes.....I get home to an e-mail from Barry and in it he mentioned that Uncle Al (Aunt Shirley's husband, for those of you not in the loop) was not going to attend, but he sent tomatoes!  Coinkedink?  You decide!

And now for the updated photos:

The Cottage

The boathouse

Afternoon Wine Tasting on the dock

My hubby Brian and Hayden on the jet ski

Brian and Abby

Brian, Abby and Cindy with the pig-tails

Abby in the beach area

Abby

Our host, Barry Stock

Grampa (Gary) and Hayden in the paddle boat

A game of beach volleyball in progress

A beautiful sunset



The talent show...since when is drinking a talent?  Go Karly!!!
In truth, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get asked to compete
Must be because I have kids!!



Gord Koehne, Dad, Barry, Allie Koehne and Julie Koehne, enjoying a campfire

Brandon MacDonald, apparently looking for his shoes...
what do you expect when your "talent" is a drinking game? :-)

Good morning Jenn, Bob and Adam Dickie

Mom (Lynne), Hubby (Brian) and dad (Gary)

Hayden and Abby

Gramma and Abby

I hope you made it through all those photos without getting bored!

There were a few noticeable absences from the tree, the entire Shaw and Reid "branch" were unable to attend, as well as a few from the MacDonald, Stock and Coulter "branches".  But we were about 45 strong and with a family as large as ours, it a feat in itself to get that many together in one spot.  I hope we were all well behaved enough to get invited again! (hint hint...wink, wink)

It really was the perfect way to end the summer!  Thanks again to our wonderful hosts!