Or grandmother passed away in February just after her 95th birthday. Instead of the family flying in for the funeral her children saw the value in honoring her through a family gathering later in the summer. They debated the location, lakes, Colorado, parks.... What made the most sense?
Rockford Illinois.
None of us live there anymore, but my grandparents lived there all their lives (minus summers and a few years in AZ). Their children (our parents) were born there and when you think about it, after this memorial weekend, will we go back? Most likely not.
We flew from VA, my folks flew in from CT, my sister drove from MA, my cousins, Aunts and Uncles flew from CA, TX, CO. Everyone blood related was there-to include all the next generation.
I love that my Aunt Louise invested the time in some family reunion t-shirts.
The blue shirts on tops are my Uncle Kens (oldest child) family (they have lived in CA as long as I can remember, Matt, Caiti, Emily and Allison live in CA, Jeff and Luz are expecting their first baby and live in CA, Linnsey, Mike, Braden, Mikala,and baby to be #3 live in TX.
The red shirts are my mom's (middle child) family
The black shirts are my Uncle Russ's (youngest child) family (he has lived in the Midwest area ranging from Indianapolis, Chicago and currently Michigan). My cousins Rachel and Greg both flew in from CO
Funny face photo--everyone seems to stick out their tongue..
Little bump in the road. Small trip to a local clinic for some super glue
Bus tour=nap time for this crew
But for the rest of us, we toured all the old haunts. The house my grandparents first lived it, we heard stories from uncle ken about using a BB gun to break the street light, my mom told stories of polishing my grandpas car-I would imagine driving down those streets just brings it all back.
Here are the 3 siblings at their High school--what does ERAB stand for? Eastern Red And Black.
Remember this movie? Based on this team, Rockford had a few claim to fames.. (Other than the Hartmans)
More family historic homes.. We thought this was the home my grandparents lived in when their oldest son ken was born. After our return
we were showing my grandmothers brother these photos and turns out we might be mistaken.. Uncle ken was thinking he would just recognize it... Well it has been a few years,
Although my grandparents were both cremated there is a memorial stone in the cemetery surrounded by their family. We took the bus there to spread their ashes and have a family moment together.
In the ashes from my grandfather there was a paper written by my cousin while she was in middle school. She read it to all of us as it just seemed fitting, a great piece on my grandfather, the flag and devotion.
From there we visited the fire station where my grandfather served for many years
The bus tour ended with LOTs of pizza 'to go style' from Capri! Here we all are indulging in the Hartman Hub.
I promise we didn't eat the ENTiRE time, but here was the crew again at the Stockholm inn. A truly amazing breakfast place I'm Rockford. It's huge (my mom reserved a room for our family) well attended and FABULOUS!
After a filling breakfast we hit the Coco keys water park where some of us needed a nap
While some just 'soaked it all up'!
The walk to the water slides
Happy little man
A tentative little man
We escaped the water park for a brief bit to snap a cousin photo... Here we are in age order-from right to left---Matt, Jeff, Me, Stosh, Linnsey, Greg, Rachel
The serious pose
Followed by a little crazy
Kudos to the cousins for the miles that separate us, we truly enjoy each others company, how different we are in age, background, location and it all just works.
Check out the next iteration,
Thanks Mom, Uncle Ken, Uncle Russ for orchestrating such a wonderful memorial weekend. Grandma Doris and Grandpa Roy who were never afraid to travel were honored to know the miles we all traveled to remember them.
