Monday, July 18, 2011

A Steece-style Family Reunion: Rochester, MN

A quick lunch before festivities begin… Joe, Paul, and Brad (Brad is Kate’s brother).

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Dani, Dan, Kate, and Pete

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Beth, Jess, and Ed

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John, Meg, Ryan, and me

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The kiddie table. I swear my children lived on popcorn for over a week. Every place you go to serves free popcorn! It blew my mind. The quads were in heaven.

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Later that evening, all the family met at Brad and Beth’s house. Beth and Meg were amazing in planning such a huge event! It was perfect and I can’t thank you guys enough for all that you did!

I’m bummed that I did not take more pictures---as I was constantly counting 4 children over and over and over. But here are a few.

The crew making smores at the bonfire.

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“I LOOOOOVE SMORES!”

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Ethan and Andrew locked themselves in the dog cage…

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…so we went with it. Here is Aunt Beth walking the “dogs”. (I swear they pretend play puppies all day long! Its hilarious)

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The next day was Sunday, July 3rd and we all met up at a beeeeautiful park.

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Here is Savi with sweet Aunt Rosie. We love her so much!

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The Steece fellas: Dan, Dids, Joe, Ed

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The boys with Aunt Rosie…if this woman can’t put a smile on your face, then I don’t know what will!

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I just love this cute little dress! I had bought it days before our suburban was stolen, and it was still in the back of the car. Sad smile SO, naturally, I just HAD to go buy another one at the Cracker Barrel!

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Joe, Meg, and me

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All of the 1st cousins: Mike, Dan, Ed, Tim, Pat, Meg, Joe, Ryan, Pete, John

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As you can see, there is a long line of males in this family. Meg, Savannah can relate!  (Oh, and Mike & Tim are twins, btw! We’ve got them on both sides)

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Sav with some of her girl cousins! She absolutely LOVED playing with the other girls.

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Sweet Aunt Rosie with her great nephews and niece. (Sav, Ethan, Drew, Ben)

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Me and my bros (Dan, Ed, Suz)

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Me and my hunny

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Ethan, Andrew, Jess, and Beth (I had to forcibly remove the twins from the desert table---no wonder Ethan puked the next morning!)

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More popcorn! Drew and Ethan were infatuated with the popper.

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Ahhh, the good ‘ole Keefe legs!

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Savi requested a picture with her Daddy.

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A good ‘ole family game of flip cup! These Steeces sure know how to party!

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I turned around to find this… (someone is getting sleeeeepy!)

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Ah, the tweedles… They spent the entire afternoon with their backpacks on, chasing each other around the park, and throwing sand on each other by the volleyball pit. CRAZY KIDS! But- aren’t they SO cute?!! (E- left, Drew- right)

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I get asked all the time- “How can you tell the identicals apart?”

and I really don’t know what to tell ya. I have always been able to---it really is a “Mommy thing”, I guess. I am THE ONLY ONE who can tell them apart. Not even Joe gets it right---he is usually only about 75% accurate… I dress Drew in blue and Ethan in green so other people can tell them apart (including Dad!). It is uncanny how much they look exact alike- and more so the older they get. Little crazy miracles boys. I am amazed at identical twins…always have been. (with my mom and her twin sis). It truly is incredible.

 

Back to the family reunion. We had SUUUUUCH an awesome time! It was so neat to see my kids playing with tons of cousins that they didn’t even know existed! I wish we lived closer and could get together more often. I knew I was blessed when I married in to the Steece family….and this trip just made me realize it even more.

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No wonder Joe turned out to be such an incredible man…he has been surrounded by a strong and loving family his entire life. It was such a blessing to spend time with you Tracys and Keefes (and every other clan I am leaving out)! Thank you SOOOO MUCH Beth and Meg, for all of your super hard work to pull off such an awesome weekend. It was perfect.

 

And Grammy and Grampy, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this trip possible. It was, without a doubt, a trip of a lifetime and we wouldn’t have changed anything about it!

Love you so much.

suz signature

8 comments:

Julia said...

I have never been real interested in family reunions, but these pictures make me think that maybe it is time!!

Unknown said...

wow! so cool. I don't come from a very big family on either side. Both of my parents only had 1 sibling each and we've never had any kind of big family reunion. I'd even be happy with a little one!

Looks like a great time! (Love Sav's dress, too! I'd have gone and bought another one, too!)

Kaia said...

Those pictures of E and A on the bench are so cute! And thanks for that paragraph about telling them apart.. I try my hardest from pictures and have to give up every time! So now I don't feel so bad! ;)

Liz said...

Ok, maybe I've just gotten lucky, but I can usually tell the twins apart. I know....crazy psycho blog reader....but I usually can.

Kat said...

looks like an amazing trip! LOL @ the doggie stuff - I've always said I'll crate my kids...I'm just kidding.

Anonymous said...

Hi Suz,
I have been reading your blog for a long time now but never commented before. I just wanted to encourage you and say that I love your positivity and 'real-ness' and really enjoy the time I spend reading here. Keep on! Shosh :)

jag said...

Loved the shot of the twins planking on the picnic table!

Mercedes said...

Your children a perfectly adorable even when it appears they are being ornery. You have you hands full in the good fun kind of way!

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