Some of my most favorite memories from childhood are from our Stewart family reunions that we used to have every 4th of July at Munson Lake. What fun memories. As all but one of my dad's brothers and sisters have passed away the past 15 years the tradition sadly came to a halt many years ago. Two years ago several of the cousins decided to try to bring the tradition back. Instead of gathering at Munson Lake, they met up at one of their homes and had a huge meal and a pool party. We weren't able to make it to that one because we were living down in Orlando at the time and couldn't make the trip. Well, last Saturday was the 2nd annual "begin-again" Stewart reunion and we got to be there. It was so awesome getting to see cousins and other relatives that I haven't seen in FOREVER. Fried chicken was the main dish, of course, along with many, many yummy sides and deserts. The kiddos had a blast in the big pool and the "baby pool" aka, the whirlpool....
Here are some of my third cousins...
The daddy was the designated "pool parent" for the girls, of course :)
Cousin Luke....he is such a cutie!!
The girls chowing down with PawPaw
Uncle JB....He was married to my dad's older sister Aunt Sue. Uncle JB looks EXACTLY the same as I remember him back when I was 5-years-old. Seriously...I hope I age that well :)
the girls LOVED the baby pool :)
There were just a few kiddos :)
Some more 3rd cousins....
The girls making a friend :)
Luke with his daddy, Chad. Chad basically grew up at my house b/c him and my brother were inseparable. Chad was out-of-control crazy as a kid. Little Luke is following in his footsteps....he's not afraid of anything! He was just running and jumping into the water...even when no one was there to catch him...oh, did I mention he is 15 months old??!
My mom and cousin Gail....
Gabbie in time-out from disobeying daddy in the pool....shocking :)
Cousin Jason (who, in my mind, is still 8-years-old and should by no means be able to be married and have 3 little girls!! That is nuts!) and his youngest little cutie-pie...
Cousin Casey and my brother. I meant to get all the Stewart males together for a pic but I didn't get around to it....one thing would have been in common....completely BALD heads :)
Gabbie giving PawPaw a bite...
Three of my 2nd cousins in the middle (all sisters) and two 3rd cousins on the outside...
More cousins.....
Gabbie swore she wanted to jump off the diving board...but then would freak out and sit down...
and then jump off from the sitting position holding BOTH of Shane's hands....geeeez.
Fearless little Luke...
I couldn't get over it!
What a great reunion! SO glad we got to make it this year
We went back to PawPaw and MawMaw's house and the girls were THRILLED at the new truck MawMaw had gotten for the grand kids....
They started off a bit rough with their driving, but after a few minutes they got the hang of it and were zooming all over the yard :)
I heard Gabbie say that she was going to drive up "the mountain" that was straight ahead of them. She changed her mind when she got a bit closer :)
Gabbie insisted on being the driver (she is going to have control-issues...where in the world did she get that??) and Jocie was fine with it. I totally felt like I was seeing a foreshadow of when they turn 16....ahhhhhhhh! I can't handle it!
We went over and checked out Uncle D and Aunt Juliet's new house now that they have moved all their stuff into it. It looks AWESOME! I'm so happy for them!
Cousin Landon loved showing the girls all of his toys....
which consisted of mostly trucks, cars, and tractors :)
Then Shane became their flipper....
They wore him out!
Gabbie and Landon taking another spin in the truck :)
We love you, Grandma!
On the way out of town we stopped by one of our cousins house to visit for a minute and the girls talked Michaela and Brianna into painting their "fingers and toesies" :)
Fun times!
