Until I was six we lived in Ohio where my father’s family is from. Daddy was an only child but his parents each had about a dozen brothers and sisters (really!) so there were lots and lots of relatives. We moved to Florida and then later to Georgia but we spent most of our summers in Ohio and the years all seem to merge in my memory, but I think almost every year there was a huge family reunion with great aunts and great uncles, second cousins and third cousins and kissing cousins galore. It was always a lot of fun because there were other children to play with and tables full of good things to eat. I missed having a big family most of the time because for most of the year there were just the four of us. My mother’s family was on the West Coast and we only got to see them about twice the whole time I was growing up. I admit I sometimes felt a little deprived when my friends talked about their many cousins and aunts and uncles. So it was amazing when a family reunion of our very own sort of arranged itself for us.
The clan
Last year when we were on our bike tour in Poland we had a non-simultaneous exchange – people from Virginia Beach stayed in our house and used our car. In exchange we could use their beach house this year. At first I wasn’t even very interested because we had already had two exchanges to Virginia and there are 49 other states to visit, well 47 if you count in the Florida and Rhode Island exchanges we have had. Anyway, I knew Daddy and Lanie didn’t want to make another long trip and the house is right on the beach so I arranged for the last two weeks in May thinking two birthdays would be fun to celebrate together (mine and Jenny’s). At some point we realized that the boys would be out of school during exactly these two weeks so that Lee and Tony, Max and Alex could come along too. And then when my sister-in-law heard about it she suggested that she and Gary join us for part of the time from Texas. (I never thought of it myself because I knew she taught and didn’t realize she could take time off from school.) I hadn’t seen Gary for more than twenty years and had never met Suzi! I was lucky that Jenny had made pictures of them last year when she had a layover in Houston. Still when Frank and I went to the airport to pick them up I wasn’t sure I would recognize him, but I did! It was a suspenseful half hour watching people walk by and asking myself, could that be him?
My baby brother and his wife Suzi
So we had our family reunion and it was great fun and very well documented because Frank and Lee arranged for a professional photographer to come on Sunday, May 22, (which just happened to be my birthday) and take lots and lots of pictures of us.
The background looks really fake but it's not!
We flew to D.C. on the 14th with Lee and Tony and Max and Alex and I got to read a chapter of Charlie Bone (much like Harry Potter) to Max over the noise of the 747 engines and miscellaneous other sounds from a completely booked out plane. We finished the chapter but Max didn’t ask for another one until we were safely in our house in Virginia Beach. Alex slept much of the way over but Max hardly slept at all.
Sweet dreams!
Your move, Papi.
We separated in Washington because Lee and Tony wanted to do some sightseeing with the boys (they saw Bush!, or at least his car) and then drive down to the beach the next day. We had a flight to Norfolk to catch. Unfortunately we had about a five-hour wait for our flight and discovered that there was an earlier flight which we couldn’t take because our bags were already checked. So we sat in the airport waiting for our flight at 7:10pm. Well, at about 6:00 pm we started hearing strange noises which turned out to be thunder and when we looked outside there was a huge storm brewing. Shortly after that they stopped all air traffic coming in or leaving the airport, so we waited an additional two hours for our flight to take off. When we landed in Virginia Beach it was about 10:00 pm local time, but it was 4:00 am German time and we weren’t there yet. Neither were our suitcases which didn’t make it onto the plane in the seven or so hours we sat at the airport. I usually take necessities with me in my carry-on but for some reason this time I didn’t, so after Paul (our exchange partner) found us our first stop was K-Mart for toothbrushes and toothpaste. Paul offered to drive which sounded like a good idea to me, considering the time of night and that it was dark and that I had never driven in Norfolk or Virginia Beach. So he drove us half way to the beach house and got out near where he lives, handed over the keys to the Mercedes SUV and gave us instructions to continue on. Of course we couldn’t actually see the map his wife had drawn for us because I think I mentioned it was dark, and we never did see the red barn we were supposed to look for because red barns aren’t very good sign posts in the middle of the night. In spite of everything we actually made it to the house and arrived at around midnight.
Of course, it looked a little different in the middle of the night.
Early Sunday morning Frank and I went grocery shopping because there was very little in the house to eat. And the few things I had packed to use the first morning (like coffee) were still somewhere between Dulles airport and our house. It was a fairly nice day but we couldn’t leave the house because our luggage was supposed to arrive between 9 am and 3 pm. (It actually arrived at 8:30 pm but I was so glad to get it I didn’t even complain!) Of course the weather that had held us up in Washington followed us to Virginia Beach and by late Sunday afternoon it was very stormy. The problem was that was when everyone was supposed to arrive. Daddy and Lanie called a couple of times to let us know they were trying to find us in the pouring rain but I couldn’t really help them with instructions since I didn’t know my way around much yet. Everyone made it in the end, tired and a little damp but happy to be there. Jenny and Ulf, who had flown from Berlin on Sunday, only made it to Richmond before they gave up and spent the night there. So it was actually Monday when we were almost all there. (Gary and Suzi came on Friday.)
View of the house from the beach. It looks twice as big from the back
and you can't even see the ground floor in this picture.
So what did we spend our time doing during the two weeks together? Well, we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing. We found out very soon that getting ten people to move was a physics lesson in inertia and finding a place for them to go to and park was a lesson in advanced logistics. And we had the beach right outside our door. Although Frank and I aren’t very beachy people we really enjoyed the boys enjoying the beach.
Notice the advanced defense technology at the top of the castle wall.
Many happy hours were spent building a mighty German sandcastle and Alex’s first concern every morning was whether it had made it through the night.
It's great fun to have an uncle do the heavy work for you.
I made a habit of walking on the beach for an hour every day, either with Lanie or Frank, which helped a tiny bit to work off some of the delicious food we were eating. (More on that later.) And of course we had the pool to play in.
The freezing water wasn't so bad when the sun was hot.
However, the weather was very mixed and not every day was a beach day.
"Where are the porpoises? I know they are out there."
Alex enjoyed playing computer games and Max spent a lot of time reading.
Max was very proud when he finished this very thick comic book.
Actually Alex also did some reading himself. I gave the boys two books with stories about dolphins and Indians and Alex read the first dolphin story and he also read a few Donald Duck comics. He’s just in the first grade though (Max is in the second) so his reading speed isn’t very fast yet. It takes him a while to get through a story.
On one of our trips into Virginia Beach we had a game of mini-golf which the boys enjoyed and Jenny won.
The next Tiger Woods maybe?
Go, Jenny!!!!!
Tony, Ulf, Max and Alex joined the millions of people all around the world who flocked to see Star Wars III the day after it opened and Alex spent part of his pocket money on this really cooool chair.
That's Dada resting on the chair.
Of course, with so many people around to play with, Max and Alex took full advantage of the situation, instigating pillow fights at every opportunity.....
Surprise attack from the rear!
......or letting Opi chase them around the billiard table.
Faster! Faster! (Is Frank turning into butter?!?!)
The one touristy thing that Frank and I did – and that on the last day of our stay – was to go to the Virginia Marine Science Museum with Daddy and Lanie. We couldn’t talk anyone else into going because everyone else wanted to take advantage of the really nice weather. Too bad for them because the museum was great fun. We didn’t get there early enough to see everything – two hours wasn’t nearly enough time, but we thoroughly enjoyed what we did see. The aquariums were fascinating.
This one seemed suspiciously interested in us!
There was a nature trail outside so we got to enjoy the fabulous weather and Daddy made good use of his scooter. Did I mention that he is 84 now and no longer able to walk any distances? With the aid of this battery powered scooter he can get around very well.
Also known as Easy Rider
One of the fun things we did was to cook for each other. We took turns making expeditions to the grocery store and concocting delicious meals, especially after our first restaurant experience. It’s not a good idea to go out for a spontaneous meal with ten people. We did all go out together on our last evening, but we scouted out the restaurant first and booked a table. At least I got to try crab cakes, which were very good.
We ate in style!
Everyone helped.
The high point for me was my birthday, not because it was my birthday but because we could all be together and we had spectacular weather and delicious steaks and key lime cheesecake. And we had guests! Mary Ellen’s father and sister came for the afternoon and shared our meal with us. John is over 90 and in very good shape. He climbed the three flights of stairs to the living room with no trouble and he entertained us with some stories about growing up in Virginia Beach. 
Mary Ellen always knows how old I am (I tend to forget) because Jeane is the same age.
Frank has been trying to get my father to tell the story of his life on tape for years now. One attempt was when we were together in Tallahassee and Frank used his Palmtop to record what my father said and the computer crashed and everything was lost. So this time Frank bought a Sony recorder but my father wasn’t cooperating. He would talk for a minute or two and then not want to continue. Then Lanie had the great idea of having Lee interview him and it worked out very well. I guess Daddy prefers answering the questions of a nice-looking young lady.
This is Your Life (Anyone remember that old TV show?)
So our final day came and as it so happened, it was Jenny’s birthday! 
It says "Cool Sister" and has a pinguin on it - it must be from Lee!
The trip home was a lot less eventful than the trip over, which was a good thing. I got to sit next to Alex who hardly slept at all, but he was no trouble. I think we were all happy to be home after two wonderful weeks in Sandbridge.
No, Frank and I did not put our suitcases on this trolley!
Gary and me
Oops! That wasn't planned!
Hollywood?
