Jones Family Reunion

Dad, Auntie Rayne & Auntie Karen

The end of July 2008 brought a whole gang of Jones' to Jonesville for one of the first Jones reunions that I can recall. While we awaited the arrival of baby Jones with fingers crossed that he/she would make an appearance sometime during the week we had fun fun fun. From tubing to bocci to just hangin out - the week was full of lots of laughter and love!

A highlight of the week for me was the Scavenger hunt I created. Who doesn't love a little scavenger hunt right? Well this one turned out to be more than I could have ever expected. The best way to describe it would have to be cutthroat - which is a strange descriptor for a friendly little hunt but friendly it wasn't. After drawing teams out of a hat the list was distributed with instructions that it needed to be completed by 8:00pm ( I think that gave them about an hour or so). Some of the items were simple like a colored toothpick, a golf scorecard, a diaper. Some were intended to be simple but turned more difficult like the orange smartie and a seashell. I figured the orange Smartie would be easy because all you had to do was go to the store and buy a box of Smarties. Well little did i know that my cousin Karen would buy ALL the boxes of Smarties so as to eliminate the other teams chances of getting any. As Trevor B walked in to buy a pack she quickly changed her order from one box to all leaving him stranded....until he regrouped and just ordered a scoop of Smartie ice cream. Smart Man.

The seashells was another story. My mom quickly scooped the big seashell that sits on the mantle for her team and then in true Judy style continued to do a little cleaning of the bathroom while she hunted. While in the bathroom she overheard my aunt on the other team mention that she knows there is a chain of seashells somewhere in the cabin. Well no sooner had Judy heard that then she darted from the bathroom ripped the chain of seashells from the wall they were hanging on and took off down the road so they couldn't get them. Seriously she ran.

Thehard boiled egg was another fun item that turned dirty (in more ways than one). As one team boiled their egg on the stove another team waited for an unattended moment to steal it. And as the first team to the finish line found out, the eggs were going to be tested for their hardness and lets just say theirs didn't pass the test.

One of the last items was a picture of their team, with the Jonesville sign. With digital cameras this task was easy until one team stole the sign leaving the rest of the teams out of luck!

In the end, I actually forget who won. But I do know this. If Karen G hadn't been the favorite aunt before, she and her 10 packs of Smarties rocketed her into that position pretty quickly with all the kids.

As crazy as that week was with all the kids, all the missed naps, all the late nights, all the mouths to feed it was one of the highlights of the year for me. Catching up with each others lives, meeting each others kids, and getting reaquaintted with one another after being not seeing one another for a long time is worth more than words can say. Here's to the memories of Jones Reunion 2008 and let's hope we don't wait another 20 years for another one!

Elyse and Megan enjoying some ice cream cones

the Garnsey's - minus Brad and Susan who we missed!!

Karen (a.k.a- the Smartie Lady) Kristen and Ethan -snuggle buds

& Abby ( A.k.a- Bee)

Let's get this tubing started!!!!!

I think it works better in the tube Sarah (although I shouldn't talk.. Karen G and I tried the tubing and although I haven't laughed like that for years we couldn't stay on for longer than 1 minute and getting back in to the tube was near impossible... good thing there were no cameras around for our attempts

Chris and the girls

Are we seeing double - looks like 2 Karen's to me

Hold on Brod.. that hammock is a dangerous thing- it can flip you out before you know what happened.

Father, Son and Fish

Stephanie Auntie Joan

Cousins- Jack and Maggie

Can anyone say ZZZZZZZZZZZZ