The Rest of our Weekend

 First, a bit of business. Blogger was at it again, as I didn't see any new posts in my notifications for 4 days. I poked around a bit, but I'm sure I missed some of your blogs. It looks like maybe notifications are working again, so I should be visiting more regularly. I hope there are no more problems for a while. But Blogger is free, and sometimes you get what you pay for. Now on with the post.

Last weekend, we went to West Virginia for a family reunion. Here are a few of the highlights.

When I was growing up, we gathered at my grandparents' farm every summer to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. There were 23 of us cousins, and we had a great time running around the hills, but mostly playing in the creek and catching crawdads. Everyone would bring food, and we would usually make ice cream. I had so much fun. After my grandparents both died, we discontinued the gatherings for a few years. But the farm was still in the family, so we started them again. 

A young Theo playing in the creek at my grandparents' farm.

It was very special to me that I could take my kids to play in the creek and experience the big gatherings just like I did. We have continued the reunions over the years, but the crowd has gotten smaller and smaller. However, I'm still very happy to connect with any of my cousins who can make it, and this year was no exception. 

Although not the primary focus of the picture, you can see two things we have at our gathering every year. One is the crock with flowers that has the family name on it (blotted out), and the other is the tablecloth where attendees sign their names and dates.

Next to my family farm is a big farm where my father and his brothers all worked. I had heard for years that a Revolutionary War soldier was buried there. This year, I finally visited and found the markers of Bailey Rice and his wife, both born in the mid-1700s. 

Bailey survived the war and lived to be almost 100 years old. Almost triple the life expectancy at that time.

The other event we hoped to see last weekend was the Sternwheel Festival in Marietta, Ohio. Marietta, Ohio is directly across the Ohio River from Williamstown, WV, where we stayed. The first night we sat on the WV side and listened to the music and watched the barges and boats on the river. Saturday night was a big night of fireworks to celebrate the 50th year of the festival. After trying several places, we returned to my cousins' because of the crowds. And that worked out great. We sat on their porch out of the rain and saw a great show in the sky. We used a live stream for the lower-down displays.  So we didn't actually make it to the festival, but we got to participate in a way, away from the crowds. Just the way I like to do things.

There was a large stage at the waterfront with live music all day.

Sternwheelers lined the banks. There was a race Sunday afternoon that we didn't stay for.

We left Sunday morning planning to get home by 4 o'clock, in time to pick up our entries at the local fair. We entered them Thursday night before we left, and they had to be picked up 4-6 pm on Sunday. Luckily, we made it in time.

Along the way, we stopped at Cooper's Rock State Forest in WV. Fog obscured the otherwise scenic views.

 

Ward got Grand Champion with his Roycroft table.

And I got a blue ribbon for my embroidery sampler.

After the fair, we could finally go home. We were hot and tired, but happy with our weekend of visiting.

Until next time...