Raabe Reunion 2016

Another great weekend. 

First a few pictures.

Smelly Mud Bath

My big girls at the lake

Cousins

Cousins grades 7 and down

The Warren Raabe crew

Warren and Silvia Raabe had 3 children who married and collectively had 7 children. Now we are a group of 30 Raabes. (pronounced Ray-be) No, we don't pronounce our name that way.

In this picture we are standing in Nebraska, behind us is South Dakota and off to the right is Iowa.

When we "camp", we do it in style

MINUTE TO WIN IT

And I won! Which means I got a nasty old tarnished trophy...totally worth it!

We stacked marshmallows, chop stick race, cup stacking, gum in flour, donut on a string, puzzle and then several we didn't get to. I am a bit competitive so I'm proud to say I won all but the first race I was in. In the children's division Emma and Reagan did well. #braggingrights #familyfun

Blowing a bubble with flour in your mouth is tough

Biker Babe

Emma was so excited that Uncle John rode his Harley this year. Lucky for her no one else wanted a ride so she wiggled her way on the bike every opportunity she could. 

This was one of the best reunion weekends we have had in a long time. About every 3 years we change locations. We have been to Lewis and Clark State Park outside of Yankton, SD, Kansas City, MO, some farm house in Iowa, Platte River State Park in Lewisville, NE, Honey Creek State Park in Iowa, and now Ponca State Park. In order to get 3 cabins together we have to book a full year in advance so we didn't know what it would look like when we arrived. The cabins were the best we've had so far...clean, spacious, great amenities. Even though I worked a bunch I still felt like I had plenty of time to hang out with the family around the fire. And the best part for me, this year the food prep and clean up was a shared effort. 

It's hard to believe next year may be Emma's last, who knows what her schedule will be like after she graduates from high school. On a walk she talked about being older and bringing a husband and children to the reunion. WHAT? Ha I guess those days are coming. She is such a great girl (young lady), this is going to be a fun journey.

Family doesn't look the same in all groups or even seasons of life. When we lived 1800 miles from our biological family we relied on friends to be our "family." Now that we are near by we recognize how blessed we are to have these people in our lives on a regular basis. We don't always see eye to eye...it was important to avoid all talk of the presidential elections. And even though Warren and Silvia were strong Christians unfortunately we can't always discuss religion either. I suppose that's typical in most families. What isn't typical is the bottom line, we love each other and want to spend time investing in one another. I thank God for this group.