Family Reunion

"Family Reunion, she's gonna be a good one,
So lemme bend your ear, the clan's all here,
For the Family Reunion"

July 30-31st the Coughlan Clan celebrated their 8th Family Reunion. Hard to believe it's already been that many years but the reunion only gets better and better with time. Thank you to Valerie, Leslie, Preston and Karen for all their hard work planning, setting up, cooking, tearing down and putting up with us in the back yard year after year. Your dedication to the reunion does not go unnoticed and everyone truly appreciates it.

Saturday may have been a bit soggy but it didn't damper any one's spirits. Everyone came prepared for a great time. There's always so many well planned fun activities for the kids each year. Scott did a great job teaching the kids the art of paper origami. The kids loved making their pop bottle fire flies as well. Thanks to Karen for organizing bingo on Saturday and painting on Sunday for the kids. We definitely have some budding artists in the family for sure. A huge thank you to Hollie and Danny for setting up the fireworks. It was the best fireworks show to date! And what a special touch to watch the Chinese Lantern float up in the night sky. It's going to be hard to out do yourselves next year but we are sure you will give it your all. Excellent job guys!!

Of course one of the highlights of the reunion is the washer toss tournament. Nothing wrong with some friendly competition amongst family right? In case you missed it, here are our 2011 winners.

Vada & Herbie fought hard against Jamie and Hollie to capture third place. Jamie got an honorable mention for playing so well having NEVER played in a tournament before. Way to go Jamie!!

Corrie and Gary placed 2nd. The games for 1st place were quite interesting to watch since it was mother vs daughter and brother-in-law vs brother-in-law.

And the 2011 Family Reunion Washer Toss Tournament Champions are Donna and Jason! Congrats to you both!

Another highlight of the reunion of course is the food. And man, was there ever lots of great food! Saturday's supper was delicious. Everyone enjoyed hot turkey sandwiches, fries, dressing and desserts. Also Ian provided his pork speciality for everyone to enjoy. Sunday morning's breakfast of sausage, ham, pan fries and toast was a great way to start the day and give us all the energy needed to compete in the washer toss tournament. Hots, hams, turkey, gravy, fries and desserts was a very tasty way to end the afternoon. Thank you to Leslie, Ian, Morgan, Hayward, Preston, & anyone else who helped cook the meals. Thank you to Cameron and Valerie for making the delicious dressing. Thanks to the girls who cooked the turkeys and made the gravy. Thanks to anyone who provided those decadent desserts. And of course, it wouldn't be a family reunion without the cake!

And yes, the cake was as good as it looks!

Everyone was having such a great time this year that we did something we haven't done before. We stayed the second night! Sunday evening a small group of us stayed for a campfire, star watching with Scott's telescopes and a performance of a skit Sherry wrote called "Horsebank Memories." The kids quickly practiced the skit and early in the evening performed it for a small group in Preston's garage.

The kids singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during their performance of "Horsebank Memories".

The kids did an amazing job! It was very nice to go back in time and remember some of those fun times out at the Horsebank Lodge. There wasn't a dry eye in the place by the end of it.

So we think it's safe to say the 2011 Family Reunion was a huge success. Already looking forward to the 9th annual one! Family and tradition are two of the most important things in life. We are lucky to have both of these things in abundance. ♥