For our annual 4th of July reunion, over the course of 5 days 40 people descended upon "Hukilau" - our family cottage.
It rained Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when Don and I were there alone before anyone else came. The rest of the week it was sunny and beautiful.I'm not going to concern myself with sequence or what day was what. This is just a little photo album.
This pair of swans toured the lake throughout the week.
All 7 siblings were there (Bennett alone was not there; he died in 1996). This is Nelson, the eldest. See his t-shirt? We all have "HUKILAU" t-shirts.
We celebrated Peggy's 65th birthday, she's Nelson's wife, here with their daughter Tammy.
Susan is #2, here with her husband Rodger.
Here is #3, my blogging sister and close friend, Ginnie (aka "Boots") and # 6 Jim (aka "Jimbo")
Forgive me, Nancy (#4) for this terribly blurry photo - the only one I have of you! with grandson Asher. It's not easy to catch this baby in a still moment.
John, #7 (in that other, obscure Michigan university's t-shirt, poor man)
And here's me, #8, at Ginnie's request, so I've added it. These birthday glasses of Nicholas' made the rounds, as you see.
And there were lots of kids and grandkids.
Audrey is Todd and Lisle's 4-year-old (Nancy's granddaughter)
Amy is Ginnie's daughter, from Atlanta, with her fiance Dennis, in from California
Wilma (Jim's wife) with daughter Stacy and granddaughter Greta
John's wife Sandy with granddaughter Ever Eden
Nicholas (Ginnie's grandson), Eli and Lydia (Jim's grandkids) and Audrey (Nancy's granddaughter) watching Wilma, Stacy and Greta in the kayak. Owl is watching over them.
Some of us swam across the lake and back. Here is Simon (Stacy's husband) in the water, with Sydney, Eric and Todd. Eric and Todd are Nancy's sons, and Sydney is Eric's daughter.
Greta, Jim's granddaughter
Lisle, Todd's wife, with Asher, their son
Ginnie and her domestic partner Donica (in the Wahiawa shirt), with Ginnie's daughter Amy and fiance Dennis playing Spades. That's Nicholas in the background.
When I needed to be quiet, I got away and read. I think I read one entire page over several days.
Nicholas, our son Peter, and his girlfriend Caitlin weren't resting with this book that Nicholas got for his birthday. (Our Lesley in NYC couldn't make it this year. Boohoo.)
Don with Audrey and Nicholas in one of many boat rides.
Amy and Dennis celebrating the holiday (and Nicholas' birthday). Please notice Dennis' MSU hat (he's a USC fan, being from southern California). How nice of him.
Nicholas (hiding), Caitlin and Peter in the paddle boat, that needs fixing - mostly goes backwards!
On Friday night we did our fireworks. Here are Lydia, Audrey, Sydney and Nicholas with sparklers.
Eli (Jim's grandson) with Uncle Don, shooting bottle rockets
There were fireworks all around the lake for several nights.
Here's most of the gang in one spot. Nelson, Peggy and Tammy had already left. Even though I didn't get a closeup of everyone, they're all in this photo (I think). That's me in the middle in the white pants right after hitting the auto timer on the camera and running to sit.
There are many family members in New York, Georgia, Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Michigan and Australia who couldn't make it. We missed you!
23 comments:
wonderful photos! almost like i was there. the kids are growing so much, i so want to be a part of their lives. i try to be from far away.
next year!! hukilau in the summer is just not like any other place on earth.
thank you for sharing!
loves.
Ruth, the group picture is not enlarging.
Children are having a whale of a time. Greta's is a wonderful portrait. Keeping camera delay in mind you caught the fire works at the right time. Sad that Rachel and Lesley are not there.
older generation looks very fit Ruth. Wonderful pictures. Orhan Pamuk is a bound edition ?? Very expensive here. Paperbacks are cheaper than US.
Thanks for posting this!! Too bad Rachel wasn't able to make it as she had hoped! We agree with Lesley--next year is definite! What did Dennis and Caitlin think of our "tribe"?!!
Lesley, you know how much I missed having you at Hukilau. But I thought of you so much that in some way I felt your presence.
rauf, the Pamuk book was expensive: $26, but I wanted it because he will be signing it, and I figured it would be a worthy keepsake. As you know, I got it wet in the rainstorm, which made me feel terrible.
I'll email you some photos so you can see them closer.
Mrs. M., I hope you can make it next year! Dennis had already been with the gang at New Year's, and he seemed ok then, but I didn't hear anything from him this time. Caitlin apparently had a good time, so she was pretty "game." :)
We missed you. But your mom showed me pictures from the past year in FL: Renaissance, graduation, 40/50 birthday party, etc. Great ones!
Great photos, Ruth! Even though I was there, it was great to see the moments captured.
Mrs. M, Dennis absolutely loves the cottage and connected with the place and the people almost immediately. As Ruth mentioned, he had been there before, but the summertime is such a different enivornment. He even survived his first HFCA meeting! :-) We missed you!
Ruth - Coming to you from Ginnie's blog. Love seeing all of you having such a fun time together. Dennis told me he had a great time! Happy to send our love in pecan squares.
Thanks, Amy! Yes, Dennis was a trooper to sit through the meeting. :| It's wonderful to welcome him to the family!
Judy, thank you for visiting and enjoying the photos! We love having Dennis in the family, and I've heard a lot about you! But all I need to know is in the pecan squares! WOWOWOWOW! They are so incredible, and I have yet to make them from your recipe. :| We will hand over your prized container to the Atlanta folks at Farm Day. :D I hope you'll stop by again.
26 daaalars !!! i paid 70 rupees on the pavement shop 70 rupees is
less than 2 dollars. Paperback in a good bookshop would be less than 10 dollars.
The picture of the book is very dramatic Ruth, so much depth there.
i think Pamuk would love to sign on a very dirty and damaged book.
He'll remember you.
oh yes books are available on the pavements, That speaks well of people of Chennai Ruth ?
This post is absolutely wonderful, Ruth. I love it! In fact, since I haven't done my post yet of the reunion on In Soul, I'm directing them to you here. I hardly need to do anything myself!
It all came and went so quickly, as always happens. But it's a memory to have and to hold!
Thank you!
rauf, I would have way too many books in my house if I lived in Chennai, and I would be reading 20 books at a time instead of 10. It's a wonderful gift to the people of Chennai that they can buy books so cheaply. Our paperbacks are around $15, still very expensive. That's why I decided to spend $11 more to buy the hard cover.
Ginnie/Boots, well ain't that sweet! I'm happy to have your visitors, but I know you'll have your own unique perspective and hope you will post about our time. Yes, it went way to fast, but I'm so glad I had time with you. Thank you for making that LONG drive!
Ruth, I have a request! Since I have sent you a couple of my pics of YOU, would you kindly add an addendum to this post with a pic of you, to round out that all 7 of us remaining sibs were there! I, for one, would like that!
ok - those were just incredible pics! I love em all. And you guys are so lucky to be shooting the fireworks. WE practically missed all that stuff this year (in both Canada and California)..
I love your fireworks pic too!
Ginnie, you can see now that I added one of your photos of moi, thank you very much. :D
Expat Traveler, it's nice to see you here! I'm glad you like the pictures, and yes, it took several attempts at shooting the fireworks to get a decent shot. As rauf said, you have to click at just the right moment. I failed at most of the attempts.
I'm guessing in many parts of the country fireworks were outlawed with the fire dangers.
Thanks so much for posting these, Aunt Ruth! They transported me to Hukilau...all the way from Alaska.
Kris, we missed you and Doug, Josh, Anna and Aleia. I hope one day a visit can coincide with the 4th of July or Farm Day. We miss seeing you so much, and your babies are growing up so fast, I can't believe it. I hope you're enjoying summer now in Alaska!
How delightful so have such a wonderful reunion. Your love for eachother is the glue that makes the reunions happen.
PW, thank you for your visit to our reunion. We've talked a lot about how this cottage has become the symbolic center of our family relationship. We're fortunate to have a place we can gather and sleep in beds!
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