Family Reunion

Every summer my brother and I gather our families together for a day of fun and games. This past Saturday we all met at Tuscora Park in New Philadelphia. Tuscora Park is totally family friendly with rides aimed at younger children, playgrounds, a pool, and lots of open space for running and kicking balls. Bill's family always outnumbers mine even when not everyone can attend. All nine of the Whytes were in attendance but Bill's possible number with 14 grandchildren will always win. Not that we're competitive or anything. Ha!

The first contest was the card game Spoons. I suddenly noticed that many of the younger family members and my husband had gathered around a table to play. One at a time the participants left the game with a disgruntled expression, none more so that Joe. One of Bill's grandchildren was the winner.

The second tournament was Scrabble, played with partners, and by the look on Joe's face, these kids had been practicing. That was won by Bill's granddaughter Kelsey and her boyfriend, both students at Kent State. Joe was again unhappy as he didn't approve of their Scrabble dictionary nor words such as "qi."

The last game being more physical, I had to count on my children and granchildren to redeem the Whyte name. Throwing a bean bag at a board with a hole in it seems simple enough but the scoring was complicated and I never did quite figure it out. My last hold out in the tournament was my son-in-law Jason but he lost in the finals. Again Bill's family won!

Where was I in all this friendly fire? Talking to people I don't see as often as I'd like, playing kickball with our grandson Jack, laughing at all the others, and enjoying the wonderful food. As well as the traditional hot dogs and hamburgers, we had a southern influenced picnic with baked lima beans, cheesy grits, pickled cucumbers and onions, and deep fried okra! Bill brought his deep fryer from home and fried up the okra right there. It was wonderful.

I look forward to next summer's picnic! Maybe I'll have to work with my family for a bit of revenge in these tournaments, but I'm sure Joe will still be complaining about the Scrabble tournament even then.