Grossman Reunion 2009

We rang in the New Year in Indiana with Ryan's dad's side of the family. At the end of each year, Ryan's paternal grandparents, their six kids and their families, and their family's families, all gather together for a weekend reunion to celebrate Christmas and fellowship.

Ryan and I committed to going BEFORE we knew we would end up taking our first road trip with the girls (we initially intended to fly) and BEFORE we knew we would be in ONE room with the four of us, Ryan's parents AND Ty & Jenna. Yes. One room, all eight of us. I truly believe our lack of this info ahead of time was God's way of getting us there.

Here's Alexia before she knew what she was in for (a 10+ hour drive):

The first day we drove only halfway and spent the night in a hotel. Both girls slept the first three hours of the trip (10am-1pm). We ate lunch, then they were up for the second leg of the trip. Cranky, tired of being confined to a car seat, and just plain bored.

Ryan and I attempted to put the girls down at their normal bedtimes that first night in the hotel.

Mistake.

Alexia was so hysterical, Ryan and I looked at each other and had a serious debate about turning around. The funny thing is that we had set up the baby monitor in our room and so his family could see us via video from their room, and guessed that we were re-thinking our plans to go on. Alexia won and we let her stay up with us. We continued on with the trip. And from there on out, we chose to back off the normal routine and she took one big nap each day and her bedtime was moved from 8pm to 11pm. Oh, and she slept in our bed the whole time we were away, too.

Our time with family was so nice. There were definitely times where I vowed I would never do it again with babies. But it was a blessing to introduce Naiya and to have everyone get to know both of our girls. One of my favorite things of the weekend was the after-dinner sharing times, where each family had the chance to tell what had been going on for this last year. It was so sweet to see some of the younger cousins speak for themselves with such maturity and unveil their impressive perspectives and outlooks on life. And I admired some of the family's vulnerability of some of the really hard stuff going on. I feel like Jesus really allowed there to be a sense of connection through the times of sharing.

Being in such a large group magnified one of the biggest adjustments I've struggled with now being a mom of two. And that is the lack of deep, meaningful conversations for me. It is something I so look forward to when reunited with family or friends. But often I am disappointed it doesn't happen or they are few and far between, because of distractions from kids or being just plain drained when the opportunity arises to have that conversation. I would rather just sit and observe. I joke that I'm becoming more introvert as I get older. Hopefully it is just a season.

Our first night we had dinner at Ryan's grandparents' home. Here is Grandma Grossman meeting Naiya (7 months) for the first time:

Here's a view of Grandma & Grandpa's home, because I love to remember people's dining room. The place that we usually spend the most time in:

{Please also take notice of the blue, old school bicycle exercise machine in the middle of the photo. It never fails that someone hops on it and rides it for entertainment. Naiya was even subjected to its un-ergonomic self.}

Somehow wigs got brought out the next night at dinner at the Benz':

We were so thankful to be able to make a last minute decision to invite ourselves to stay with friends of the family the first couple of nights before the reunion began. So the four of us made ourselves at home with the Boyd family and were so blessed to have our own "space" there. Alexia was befriended by a more-than excited pint size friend:

Here are more photos from the weekend. Sunday worship:

Alexia decided she wanted to play the recorder. I almost fell out of my chair laughing so hard when I saw this:

Great-grandbabies Alexia and Drew (both 19 months):

We had a wonderful, snowy weekend. And a beautiful view of it all from the main room. The food was amazing. We ended up getting more sleep than I thought we would with the girls. There's just something to say about one weekend a year that intentionally brings family together and passes on a rich heritage to each generation.