Kingsley Reunion pics

Here are some group shots of our little cousins, after a memorable week of hard play together. Kudos to the fun uncles who did silly antics behind the camera to try and get all the Littles looking in the same direction or smiling all at the same time. 

And one of all the Kingsley siblings and their spouses. Man, I love these people! It's such a treat to spend time with them!

Another random shot....

Several of the relatives went to Six Flags together for one long day of play together. This was so memorable! The kids were counting dimes to buy their own tickets, and were SO excited to participate with the Big People while the babies/toddlers stayed home.

The Kingsley family is scattered across the North American continent, so it is rare for us to be all together in one place. (People currently live in Alaska, Texas, Delaware, Washington, Utah, Louisiana, and Michigan. Yikes!)

One of the highlights of the reunion was to sit together around Nana Kingsley's feet and listen while she read aloud funny stories from her Joke Journal collection. It's a cute little box filled with bits of paper....anytime her children had said something funny, she'd immediately jot it down on whatever writing surface was handy. She pulled out scraps of paper one at a time, read the funny quote, and we all laughed together until tears streamed down our faces. With ten children and years of notes, there were plenty of memories and laughter to fill an entire evening. SUCH a wonderful way to spend time together!

Family reunions are always over too-dreadfully-soon, but I am happy to soak up all the great experiences with the snippets of time we have together. I appreciate the ways family helps strengthen and inspire me, and I truly cherish any moments we get to share. 

Kingsley Reunion in Delaware, Day Trip to DC

We spent a day of the Kingsley reunion exploring Washington D.C. together, which was a grand adventure spending the day inside several Smithsonian museums. We all loved exploring the different collections, but I think the favorite sites for our kids were the Natural Sciences building and the American History building. 

In the American  History Smithsonian museum, we were able to participate in a fun activity where a SUPER-huge American flag is opened up in the main entry. Hundreds of visitors help unfold the flag and hold it off the ground. Then we all sang the national anthem together, with our voices echoing off the granite walls. Afterwards it was like a huge team-building game to properly fold the flag up again. It was so memorable. 

The Natural Sciences museum was absolutely gorgeous and was the highlight of our day trip. The collections here were so riveting and we all enjoyed several hours exploring. The gems/minerals hall was my favorite spot...there were so many fascinating minerals I had never seen before (like the glowing phosphorescent ones- that was very intriguing!) Daniel really loved the insect hall....there were so many interesting displays and we loved watching exotic creatures. 

During our walk between sites, we came across a really talented musician jamming with a drum. His enthusiasm was contagious and he invited the kids to play with him. They had such a delightful time and this man was so encouraging in his feedback. 

The ride home on the DC subway was another grand adventure for the children!

We also spent a day at a beach in Delaware, where my kids made their first sand castles and loved riding the waves with cousins. Matthew had a rough ride on one wave that pummeled him face-down in the sand, then lifted his feet and swirled his body around (effectively filling his nose and mouth with sand and scraping his face all up) which was not the thrill ride he had been seeking....so he was a very sad boy for part of the day. He didn't let it dim his spirits too much, and after a breather and a quick cleanup he was back in the water again. Joseph was terrified of the water, so he stayed safely away from the surf and played in the sand. 

Nathan kept trying to coax Joseph into getting at least his toes wet, but Joseph would have none of it and would lift his feet up high away from the water. 

Cousin Ella dug this hole for-ever, so I asked what she was doing. She cheerfully said, "I'm digging a hole to China! I think I'm getting close!"

Back at the house, the grandchildren all worked together to transform the large play room into a little house, partitioned into rooms. They used giant boxes to construct the walls and doorways, and made separate rooms for groups of cousins to 'live' in. They had so much fun designing the floor plan and decorating their little spaces. They carefully moved bedding into their rooms and spent every night enjoying a slumber party in their house. What a fun way to spend a week with cousins!

Pennsylvania

On our way to Delaware from New York, we eagerly explored several parts of Pennsylvania. We really enjoyed the many factory tours available in this state, and it was so hard choosing which ones to visit. We could have stayed in Pennsylvania for days- there is so much to explore! 

We enjoyed stopping at one of the many pretzel factories and learning how to make our own soft pretzels.

We really loved visiting more Amish towns in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and enjoyed stopping by several local shops to explore the goods. 

I was so determined to purchase some high-quality kitchenwares, but most of the shops I could find were actually just tourist shops that had nothing to do with Amish living, such as Pampered Chef stores. I explored for some time and couldn't find any shops where the locals would actually shop, so I stopped a woman and asked for information. It turns out the local shop didn't have any signs and was hidden in the basement under a fabric store. Away I went and had SUCH a delightful time perusing the goods. The place was devoid of any tourists (except myself) and the local women/girls doing their shopping were so helpful. I have a personal rule that I prefer souvineirs to be something useful rather than just clutter to add on a shelf, so I was looking for metal kitchen goods to take home. I found my treasures and came away with sturdy metal mixing bowls, beautiful metal serving spoons, and an iron dinner bell. I think of our delightful trip every time I use these things. 

One of our favorite Amish shops was a preserves place, packed with jams, jellies, pickled items, and relishes. The store was scattered with samples everywhere, and we really enjoyed tasting so many new recipes. We bought a few jars to share with our relatives and savored every lick of a particular dessert topping we purchased....it tasted like peanut butter mixed with caramel sauce. Oh heavens, was it delicious!

Here the boys peruse the town map to choose the stops they'd like to make....there were so many choices!

We really enjoyed stopping by the Crayola Museum and playing for several hours. There were so many fun hands-on projects to create here. They really loved melting crayons and creating spun art with the melted wax. There were dozen of neat art stations where kids could use crayons in unconventional ways. Another favorite station was one where they could melt crayons and pour the wax into a fun mold to create a sculpture they could color with.

Joseph really loved painting with melted wax...he made dozens of little butterflies at this station.

Another fun factory tour was a visit to a guitar factory. We enjoyed watching the steps for creating acoustic guitars. It was so fascinating and we all enjoyed learning the story behind one of our favorite instruments.