Our Local Family

I went to my very first Spenard Family Reunion this weekend.

("Spenard" is secret code for our family's name - trying to throw off any psycho stalkers.  Pretty tricky, I know.)

Rube's posing with his Great Aunt,

who recently climbed Half Dome.

We did a whole group photo in front of this sign.

Can you read it?

Spenard Park

Named after Paul's Great Grandfather:

John S. Spenard.

If I understood properly,
he was mayor of this town we were in.

I think that's so neat.

Did you notice the name tags?

We don't get together very often.

And it was quite extended into the far reaches of the family.

Okay, let me just tell you that this one guy,

I don't know who he was,

but he was hanging out in our shelter house

so I'm assuming we're related,

felt comfortable enough with our family connection to give me Hard Time.

Let's pause to ask Paul a question here.

Do I like people giving me a hard time?

"No."

So this unknown relative of mine walks by and says to me,

"Where did you get those white legs?"

What?

Picture me dumbfoundingly moving my head at a tilt
from side to side

trying to figure out what he expects me to respond with.

He coolly walked on, not giving me a chance to explain how rare a set of legs such as mine are.

I bet he couldn't get his legs as white as mine.

Anyone can tan, but can you whiten?

Let's just pretend he was only walking through the shelter on his way to the Catholic Festival rocking across the street.

Paul's dad, John M. Spenard,

gave us a geneological background talk.

I enjoy my conversations with Paul's dad.

He has a lot of information to share.

And he draws pictures when he talks.

Perfect for my visual learning style.

Here we have eight cousins climbing together.

Several more younger ones were hanging out
toward the bottom.

Benen, Aidan, Dane, and Peter
with Samuel working his way up.

It was a fun day.  The kids had a great time playing together.  And I enjoyed meeting and chatting with more of Paul's family.

In a few weeks we're headed to the St. Louis area for a reunion of Paul's mom's family.  You could test me on all their names and I'd do pretty well.  Except don't.  It's summer and my brain doesn't need to work that hard.