Jewkes Weekly Reader: September 2009

Summer has come and gone, as of today! Such a busy summer and so many memories stored away under ‘My Pictures’. Can I possibly publish them all? Not a chance, but you’ll get the highlights. Summer started early with the Taskers and Crofts trekking to Georgia in early June. They came just in time for Lincoln’s 3^rd birthday celebration at the local country volunteer firestation just down the hiway from Hickory Hill Farm. There was definitely a cousin majority on the guest list – 15 of the 19 guests were related! When the fireman honked the horn, all of the kids ran for cover, except Lili and Sofi who weren’t about to give up their throne on the front of the engine!

The days of June definitely weren’t lazy – the dress ups got a full work-out, swimming, gum-balling, horny-toading, and even a prince posing as a princess kept a houseful of grandkids busy! I don’t believe there was a quiet moment during the waking hours, and that’s coming from someone that doesn’t hear the full volume of the noisy moments! Somewhere in between all of this we managed a trip down to Cinnamon Beach – just one picture of Amanda carting Jordan and Jonah up to the condo is the only evidence I have of that, but I promise there were about 25 more of us around, too!

Speaking of Jordan and Amanda – they have returned to Georgia and are almost our neighbors, if the living in the next county counts for neighborhood closeness. Jonah has joined the Georgia Cousins Club! The Club celebrated Lili and Sofi’s Big 6 at the Bounce House – fun, fun, fun. All of this was topped of with ice-cream cake at the park which melted faster we could eat it – it was a gooey delightful delicious mess.

July’s main event was the big gathering together at Brianhead for a few days before the even bigger gathering in St. George of the extended Jewkes clan. The big gathering included everyone in our family with the exception of Jeremiah, Jason, Brian, and Dave, which means there were 40 people under one big roof. The bigger gathering included over 100 Jewkes relatives spread out under several condo roofs to allow for breathing room.

Unfortunately, Ollie B’Gollie had a hard time breathing and spent a couple of days and nights in the hospital. Fortunately, he is all better and back to his shining, happy self. The family marathon trainers were diligent – they continued their training whether we were at 9,000 feet or in 100 degree weather!

Since those of us that drove to the reunion (Claire and kids, Emily and kids, Rachel and kids, Rebecca and kids…and one grandma Becky) were on a marathon road trip, it just seemed we needed to get more mileage out of our miles, so we extended the reunion phase to a Sundance phase, driving north to Provo, and taking in all the traditional delights there for a few days. Somehow, we all managed to get back to GA in one piece, with no fender benders, no car breakdowns, and a manageable number of kid breakdowns. Rebecca and Christian get the gold medal for feeding the five thousand, or so it almost seemed as they were our main way-station on the drive west. Rachel and Jennefer get silver medals – they only got a portion of us! Claire says she isn’t going on another road trip for a long time, but Emily was ready to go the next week which was a good thing because the Sedgwicks came to town the next week! We had three delightful weeks with four delightful Sedgwicks and I must have been too busy once Jessica and Dave left for Africa, because I have no pictures to prove their presence! Enjoy the moments from our 2009 summer!