Walter Family Reunion Washington D.C.

Last weekend we hopped on a plane to BWI and our 2011 Walter Reunion. We arrived in the late afternoon and had missed lunch, so after getting our rental car (a cute Mazda 5), we headed to a great Thai food restaurant I had read about called Little Spice. It was amazing and the white wine was appreciated too. After dinner we drove to the Cherry Creek Campground where we were staying with all the family in the "Abigail Adams" cabin. This was a large three story house with a big deck. We enjoyed being with family and then retreated to our very cold (but very private), basement room.
Friday we rose early (when you are in the basement, you can hear footsteps in the morning), and got ready to head into D.C. We took the metro in with Martha and Clark and nearly melted in the 100 degree plus five million percent humidity as we walked to the air and space museum. I had voted for the American History museum, but the boys outvoted me three to one. They loved the museum and I found it interesting. I spent some quality time on my new iphone when they planes got a bit too much looking for places for lunch and I found a great recommendation for the restaurant in the American Indian museum next door. The food was indeed delicious and it was nice to spend time with Martha and Clark there. After lunch we melted some more as we walked back to the metro station, though the Good Humor man showed up halfway through and offered Michael and the boys some free ice cream!
By the time we made it home we were all suffering from the heat. The kids tried to play outside in the little blow up wading pool with their so-sweet and spunky cousin Harper, but eventually gave up in the heat. We took cold showers and laid in our cool basement until everyone else got back from their exploring and we met up again upstairs for taco night. After dinner the kids put on their traditional talent show. It was probably my favorite part of the whole reunion. Michael's youngest cousin Mason was the MC and did a fabulous job. The kids were precious and all the grownups enjoyed them. Davis demonstrated his balance as his talent and Sam pretended to be a zhuzhu pet.
Saturday morning we breakfasted early and headed over to the adult-only "Martha Washington" house for the traditional family meeting. We sat in a circle and shared what's been going on in our lives. I love this part and enjoyed the meeting. We broke for lunch and then all headed out for the Cherry Creek Park pool. The kids splashed and played for a couple of hours and then we came home and got ready for "friends and family" night. We all had matching reunion t-shirts and everyone looked great. After a slow start to the evening, (car drama and late arriving guests), the party began. There was a great-looking bbq spread on the buffet (I had to have some grocery store sushi alas, stupid allergies) and lots of friends came. We took family photos and ate and chatted. We put the kids bed late again after some fun with glow sticks and heard lots of fun and singing even after we'd gone down to bed ourselves.
Sunday morning was traditional family brunch and the traditional family sing-a-long. It was fun to watch the kids learn the family songs and to hear the beautiful Walter voices. Note to self- next time practice the songs ahead of time. After that the official Walter reunion was over, though lots of family was staying through Monday. We climbed in the car Martha and Clark and drove to Arlington to spend the afternoon with Michael's cousin Marti, her family and the rest of the Miers side of the family. They had a very cute townhome and we all had a great time. The boy cousins played, went to their community pool and Sam fell in love with their Star Wars toys. Marti made a great dinner on the grill with a great bonus for me of having almost everything on the buffet being something I could eat! It was so nice and delicious and a real treat. I really enjoyed spending time with this side of the family and it was extra special since we don't get to see them very often.
Sunday night we sat around in the living room of our Walter reunion cottage and visited with the cousins and aunts and uncles who were still there. We stayed up late and had some laughs and told stories.
Monday we cleaned up, packed, hit the wonderful Little Spice thai food restaurant again and then caught our plane home. It was wonderful to be in our own home again. We've had lots of travel this summer!
The rest of this week I have spent frantically trying to catch up! I worked getting my mom and dad ready to leave for Canada and just catching up around home. Soon I will let you know some exciting future travel plans we have made around here this week as well.