Our biennial Clawson reunion was held at Topsail Island, near the southern tip of North Carolina. We've never had one on the East Coast before, it was a treat! I'll start with pictures, then explain what I love about this family, and what I love about this location.
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| the whole family got theses hats for behaving so well during pictures |
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| our beach houses! These 5 story, 9 bedrooms homes housed all 60 of us. somehow. |
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| my brother skim boarding |
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| brother trying to teach me how to skim board |
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| my brother surfing! This is the first time he's ever tried it. I'm impressed |
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| Bjorn loves to dig in the sand and build sand creations. The whole family was very impressed with his skills. |
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| chillaxin'. This is pretty much what we did all day, every day |
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| Grandma with the computer for little ones to skype with the cousins who couldn't come. Notice the light houses on the mantle? That was my craft for the week. A couple hours, a few supplies, creative kids and voila- 20 lighthouses |
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| one of my fav. cousins. refusing to smile. |
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| a sample of "Bu's Boutique" Grandma gets a bunch of goodies from Oriental Trading and the grandkids come in to the store and "buy" merchandise with seashells. It is a tradition all the kids look forward too. |
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| girl cousins with Grandma |
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| the best family picture |
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| Mom, me, and sisters |
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| some of my "clients" from beauty parlor night |
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| 8 kids (and parents) dancing in unison to a choreographed version of "Friday" . The most talent we've had at our "untalent show" in years! |
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| my siblings acting out "firebolt" while I sang |
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| a glimpse at the gathering during Sunday's music time |
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| we spent HOURS in this pool- daily! |
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| "pirates wear pants!!" |
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amazing sunrise seen on the way home from taking Bjorn to the airport early morning mid-week
Clawson's: I love being one of the oldest cousins. I remember when each of my cousins was born, and have loved watching them all grow up through the years. I love chit-chatting with my Aunts and hearing about their many adventures in motherhood. I love the variety of ages- funny teens to talk to, silly pre-teen girls, energetic toddlers, and opinionated elementry-schoolers. I love our attempts to bring order to this chaos. (we've actually improved leaps and bounds, but Bjorn doesn't believe it). I especially enjoy our traditions: beauty parlor night (I'll admit this one isn't my favorite, but the little girls are so intent on it! They don't remember a reunion without it. One told me "I remember every hair-do I've had at every beauty parol night"!), BU's 'Butique" (explained above), family history moments (the cousins are getting old enough to actually sit and listen to real information) and our "un-talent show" Everyone enjoys music and singing and dancing, and we all have a VARIETY of actual talents in that area. It's great. And lastly- glow-sticks. We haven't done this every reunion, but we should. 30 kids with glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces purchased from Bu's Butique all playing in the tide pools in the sand after the sun's gone down- it was an incredible sight.
TopSail: I loved being in North Carolina! The 3 hour drive from Raleigh to the island was full of large and lush green trees, everywhere. All of a sudden we crossed a bridge that seemed to lead to the horizon, and ended up on an island. The houses were right next to the beach, and the combination of warm ocean water, pool. and hot tub every day just spoiled us. We did play volleyball and tennis a couple times, but it really was too hot and humid to enjoy those activities for too long. Hence, we stayed in the water. Following various kidlins from here to there.... wandering inside to grab a bite to eat from the half a costco we purchased. The inside of the houses were incredible. nice furniture and beach decor everywhere, everything about this beach is beautiful! I could vacation here EVERY summer. |
1 comments:
You guys really packed it in this summer! Sounds like you had fun. We're jealous of all the traveling you guys have been doing lately!
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