last saturday, the butz family had a reunion. i have 20 cousins on my dad’s side (he is 1 of 7 kids) and we are all really close in age and get along great. we have been so blessed to spend a lot of time together growing up. for awhile there was a wedding every year so those were our reunions, but since there is not a wedding on the horizon we have decided to start having reunions. more importantly, there are so many babies being born we want to meet them!
sunday, july 11th my mom drove to hudson to hang out with the schmitt family and pick charlie and i up to go to green bay (thanks mom!). bill could not come until late friday night so it was nice to arrive early in the week to spend time with a few of my cousins and their kids who were in town early too.
charlie was delighted to be able to hang out with pops on his skid steer (my dad did drive him around in it). note how intense charlie is while in the skid steer. he was torn between loving it and crying.
i think charlie still prefers hanging out outside the skid steer and talking about the things it does with pops.
we hung out at my aunt jan & uncle john’s pool. here is charlie with his cousin jude. jude was investigating charlie’s belly button and then charlie had to point at something on jude.
this cracked me up. the hippo pool was supposed to be for charlie, but lily used it mostly to cool off.
we swam at the country club with auntie suzanne (charlie learned to say “suzzz” during the week!) and other cousins.
charlie was able to play with more of pop’s tools. he loved loved loved the drill.
my cousins griffin and grace played their violins for us after dinner one night before charlie went to sleep. he loved it and was giggling when the tempo would pick up. it was precious.
friday night is when almost everyone had made it to town. my mom had a low key dinner for everyone and all the great grandkids were able to play together (there are 10 – only 9 could make it).
this pop up tunnel/play house provided tons of entertainment.
charlie loved sitting in this mini wagon and wanted to be pulled with it. luckily nana was willing to do it.
charlie still in the wagon!
finally…the day of the actual reunion! a few of my cousins were staying at my parent’s house. we all woke up and had breakfast and then went out water skiing for a bit.
our little boater!
around noon, everyone headed to john & jan’s to gather. most of the kids/babies nap around noon so throughout the house pack n’ plays were in every room! charlie napped for 3 hours, which was fantastic and gave bill and i sometime to catch up with everyone.
the classic cousin picture – elizabeth, me and joy. we are each about a year apart and have had a picture of just the three of us for as long as i can remember.
then one with ashley (my cousin danny’s wife)
it was the most beautiful day! we were hanging out on the deck, by the pool, on the boats and jet skis, etc.
charlie enjoying a ride from his 2nd cousin thomas. not sure what charlie’s obsession is with being in moving things, but it was definitely a theme during that week!
then the group pictures started…
my grandma with her kids (my dad is the 3rd in from the right).
the attempts to get my grandma with her great grandchildren…didn’t go so smoothly.
we did get a big group shot that i will post later when i get it.
ahhh. a more controlled picture. this is of most of the cousins.
trying to ride a tricycle!
the day was fantastic. what a great time to relax and be with family. sunday, we relaxed at home and packed up. it was so sad to say goodbye to my cousins who live farther away because i know it will be awhile until we see them again.
here is elizabeth, meg, danny and tommy.
ashley, kay, me, bill, my dad and my grandma. 
