All in the Family
This week, I’m headed to one of my favorite places on earth:
Every year, for 62 years, my dad’s family has been going to the same hotel in the same city in the Canadian part of Glacier National Park for a vacation. As his brothers and sisters (of which there are 6) began to grow up, get married, and have children of their own (and he did too, clearly), it became an annual family reunion. And I look forward to it all year. I have 12 aunts and uncles, 12 cousins, 5 cousins-in-law, and 2 baby cousins (which is the term we use for the children of your cousins). And almost all of them are at Waterton every year.
Over the years, the fun was extended from a weekend to a full week. Now we go up on Monday and come home Sunday. Not everyone can go the whole time, of course, and every once in a while someone can’t make it at all one year, but that’s the great thing about going every year: you know you’ll see them all again next time. Festivities include a tennis tournament, a golf tournament (this year we even added a bad pants competition), and occasional bocce or softball games. There are lots of hikes, of course, and a huge barbecue to close the whole week. The BBQ usually ends with a lot of tipsy family members singing along to Sweet Caroline very loudly and dancing around a fire while emptying their bottles of Molson Canadian and Kokanee.
I may have time to update the blog while I’m at Waterton, but even if I don’t I’ll have lots of great stories and pictures to share when it’s over. In the meantime, I’m off to drink too much, get sunburned, and hopefully win the bad pants competition…
