Last weekend was the annual Leroy and Esther Schrock - Ramont's paternal grandparents - reunion, held this time at their homeplace near Jump River, Wisconsin. I don't yet have the photo with everyone on it, but above is Ramont's family with (Great) Grandma Schrock; his dad, Elwood, is the eldest in the family. We were around 30 people altogether.
Most of us stayed in the house or yard of (Great) Grandma Schrock, while the rest stayed just down the road at daughter Rita and Alvin's home. Rita and her daughter, Maria, did ALL the cooking, hosting, and general logistics - truly extraordinary hosts! Ravonn's family and ours stayed in two campers on the yard. The one we stayed in is in the background above, beside the barn and beyond the trampoline. Since we knew this ahead of time, our kids were soooo excited before and during (and after) the event to sleep in a CAMPER!! It was pretty cold the first few days, so we enjoyed having our mate around the campfire each morning, waiting for the others to stumble out of their beds. Here are Ranene, Joseph and Josiah with Ramont and Anna. Ranene's family is on its way from Alberta to Harrisonburg, VA where they are moving onto a farmstead and beginning their new life this weekend!
We also spent the days in various activities. My favorite was just sitting and visiting, while the kids played around the yard on Jonathan's dream machines - here a real, live four-wheeler, with cousin Noelle. Also in this photo are Ramont's cousin Verlyn, his wife Lisa and their baby, Claire.
Ramont gave some of the rides, here with Josiah running behind.
Grandma Schrock plays cards with Greta and Noelle.
The trampoline was a gigantic hit with the kids (the "rules" of only one kid jumping at a time, not so much). Jonathan and Anna were the youngest cousins (except baby Claire), so they mainly got bounced around. Thankfully they have some extremely solicitous bigger girl cousin that took great care of them.
We ate three super square meals a day in this garage, and also had morning and evening singing and sharing times in here. Let me tell you, the Schrocks can SING. And tell long stories :)
The food was amazing and (too) plentiful!
Here are the hosts, Rita and Maria. I've seriously never (with the exception of Ramont's mom and his sister, Ravonn) seen such relaxed hosts as they were.
Rita made this amazing cake with the names of everyone who attended the reunion. If you know the family, you can see it follows family tree lines in the leaves.
Cousin Greta high-fives Anna before pictures.
Jonathan enjoys some watermelon.
There was even an organized kickball game. No, Anna was not a participating member.
The first and second cousins line up for family pictures.
This is as good as the family photo-ing goes at this stage in life. [Yikes.]
Entertainment while family pics happen in the background.
Esther Schrock with three of her children: Betty, Elwood, and Rita; Arlan lives in Virginia and wasn't at the reunion.
(Great) Grandma Schrock, age 93, pioneer, pastor's wife, handiworker, and much, much more.
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