Reunion, Day 4: Celebrating

The Sunday of our reunion was my grandfather's big celebration. As I have mentioned in the past, my grandfather was the pastor at Divinity Lutheran Church in Parma Heights, Ohio for many, many years - so many years, in fact, that he earned the title of Pastor Emeritus. This was the church that I grew up in until my family moved to Florida, and although my grandfather retired when I was young, I still have such vivid memories of him in the pulpit of that church. That church is basically a part of our family.

The church seems to feel likewise, and they planned a large celebration in honor of my grandfather's 90th birthday, as well as the seven other members of the congregation who turned 90 this year. Can you believe that? Eight of them!

The 11:00 church service that Sunday was a special service in honor of all eight nonagenarians of the congregation. All were recognized at the beginning of the service. The church also brought back a number of former pastors, all who worked with my grandfather and knew him well. Pastor Connie gave the sermon, and all the hymns were my grandfather's favorites. There was a variety of special music (adult choir, bell choir, soloists), including a performance of "Go Tell It On the Mountain" during communion by my sister, my cousin Adam and my mom. Our family took up three pews at this service and it was just a wonderful way to worship and celebrate together.

The man of the hour!

Our family starting to gather in the pew before church (photo thanks to my mom!)

My mom, Heather and cousin Adam singing during communion

How Ellie spent most of the church service!

Divinity had a professional photographer there to photograph the celebration, and after the service she agreed to take a nice formal portrait of our family for us. We had formal photographs taken many, many years ago (I was maybe five years old?), and needless to say, our family has changed a bit since then. Because it is so rare for us all to be together at once, no exceptions, we decided this was the time to update the family portrait. It was just so great to all be together for such a happy occasion!

After our portrait we joined the catered lunch being held in the fellowship hall. The hall was filled with members of the congregation at long tables, all there to celebrate the each of the 90-year-olds, and my grandfather in particular. Pastor Terry (who was one of the pastors at the church while I was growing up) was the master of ceremonies for the afternoon. He spoke a little about each 90-year-old, and each was given his/her own little birthday cake. Then he called my grandfather up to the front for a "This is Your Life" thing that was very fun.

Celebration in the Fellowship Hall

Artsy pic (stolen from my sister) of the tables!

Pastor Terry and Gramps

Pastor "Pesterman!"

Awww, Jackson is all tuckered out.

Enjoying the lunch with Ellie

Each of the visiting former pastors also spoke about Gramps, and then each of his children and their families was called up to the front to say a little something, too. And then my grandfather said a few words of thanks before ending the luncheon with the benediction.

Uncle Nathan and his family, and Aunt Rachel and hers

Pastor Gramps!

It was really a wonderful celebration, and I'm so proud to be a part of the Hesterman family. I'm so thankful that my Gramps is so loved by the congregation of that church. It was so nice to hear so many people say such wonderful things about him, about how he touched each of their lives and what a wonderful man he is. He has really done a lot of good with his 90 years and he has been such a blessing in the lives of so many. We love you, Gramps!

After the luncheon, we all returned to the house. We snapped a few family photos before changing out of our church clothes.

My family

Sweet Ellie was oh so tired.

Back inside, my mom started telling Ellie what a good girl she was in church, and for some reason Ellie found that hilarious and got quite a fit of the giggles!

That Grammy is so funny!

That smile kills me.

When we changed clothes, we changed all the babies into their Cleveland Indians outfits - even though we couldn't make it to a game this year, that doesn't mean we can't create a nice photo op!

Zazi

Ellie and Zazi - just a pile of Indians babies on the floor

Ellie and me, Santiago and Molly, Zazi and Zita! A spirited bunch!

She's clearly upset that I have signed her up for a lifetime of disappointment that comes with being a Cleveland sports fan.

Of course, we had to bring Gramps (the biggest Cleveland sports fan I know) in for a few pictures with his Chief Wahoo-sporting great-grandbabies.

Gramps with three of his grandchildren, and their children!

Four generations (Ellie just wants to eat his hand)

Chief Wahoo becomes her.

We spent most of the afternoon relaxing around the house, but later that evening all the young families decided to take the babies to the hotel where most people were staying so the babies could go in the pool.

Jacob, Zazi and Zita

Ellie, Eric and Alex

Molly, Arturo and Santiago

Ellie loves the pool now! She's a pro!

Back at the house, we had leftovers for dinner and - you guessed it - drank wine and watched some Olympics. Fun stuff! However, that night the goodbyes started. My Aunt Rachel, Uncle Mark, Adam and Sarah all left that night, and when we finished at the hotel pool we also said goodbye to Jacob, Zita and Zazi, who would be leaving early in the morning. We also said goodbye to Uncle Peter and Rosemary, and Uncle Nathan, Aimee, Alex, Taylor, Henry and Jackson began their return train trip to Idaho around midnight. It's always sad to see these get-togethers winding down!

I still have a few more pictures to share with you from our last morning in Cleveland, so that will be coming up tomorrow!

Family Reunion, Day 3: Sightseeing

Brace yourselves - a ton of pictures is headed your way!

The Saturday of our family reunion was our big outing: the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo! We usually try to catch an Indians game when we're in town for the reunion, but this year the Indians were away all weekend so we decided on the zoo as a great alternative, especially with all the kiddos in attendance this year.

So, on Saturday we donned our official reunion t-shirts and were off to the zoo. Yes, that's right, we had matching t-shirts. Back in our earlier reunion days, we often had reunion shirts, but that tradition fell by the wayside over time. During my baby shower weekend in January, my cousin Molly and I decided that we should bring the t-shirts back this year. Molly took the lead, came up with the design and did all the research, and she did a great job. The design included all 25 of our names (plus our beloved late Nana) and other words that represent things that are important to our family.

Our t-shirt design!

My favorite part? The fact that even the babies had matching reunion t-shirt onesies!

I wish I had taken a good photo of all of them together in their reunion shirt onesies, but I didn't. So this half-shot of Ellie's onesie is the best I can do.

Personally, I think we all looked quite fetching.

Gramps, Uncle Mark and Eric in the zoo parking lot

Family gathering up, pre-zoo

Funny faces for my cousin Sarah and Eric

Aunt Rachel and Heather are hands-on-the-hips, purse-between-the-feet twinsies!

The last of our clan (my cousin Jacob, his wife Zita and their baby Zazi, from Boston) arrived late Friday and went straight to their hotel that night, so when they joined us at the zoo on Saturday it was our first time seeing all of them and the first time many of us met Zazi.

Zazi and Ellie are quite pleased to make each others' acquaintance.

And so, we were off to the zoo!

Ellie's first trip to a zoo!

I have lots of memories of the Cleveland Zoo from my childhood. My favorite part was always Monkey Island, which I remember as being just overrun with monkeys, all running and jumping and playing everywhere. This time, I was so excited about Monkey Island that it was one of the first stops on our agenda. But it was a total bust! Nary a monkey to be seen, only a couple of goats. I was quite disappointed.

No monkeys on Monkey Island! Rip-off.

But, the rest of the zoo was great. A few highlights: a giraffe up close and personal, a baby rhinoceros, a posing polar bear, a grizzly bear with a stick, and the koalas (because if you don't love koalas you probably don't have a soul).

Giraffe

Baby rhino, eating his food bowl!!!

Polar bear perched atop a rock

Grizzly bear proudly showing off his stick

Koalas! If you could look at both of these pictures and not say "OMG AWWWWWW" I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.

Also great? The elephants, Ellie's reaction to the shark tank, and the fact that my sister and I rode a camel for $4, thus crossing Item #9: Ride A Camel off my bucket list!

Hanging out with the elephants

Ellie checking out the sharks

Camel ride!

Although, of course, seeing and doing all these things with family was the biggest highlight!

My mom and cousins Alex and Sarah filling in for the missing Monkey Island monkeys

With my family

A few of the clan

Post-camel ride laughs

Left: Uncle Mark and Ellie modeling the latest in zoo-appropriate headwear

Right: Ellie and her Auntie Heather in the koala exhibit

All the young families outside the zoo

(L to R: Arturo, Molly, Santiago, Zazi, jacob, Zita, Ellie, Eric, Me)

When we finished at the zoo and got back to the house, everyone was pretty beat. It was a very hot day and we did quite a bit of walking. So, we were pretty casual with our afternoon - many beers were consumed, naps were taken, and the usual activities (eating, talking, admiring babies, sports) resumed.

Zazi and Ellie getting to know each other!

Baby swap! Ellie is being held by her Auntie Molly, and I have sweet Santiago!

Alex, Jacob, Eric and Adam playing wiffle ball while Molly, Zita and Zazi watch

Just a few of the girls (and Arturo and Santiago crashing the party in the background)

Left: Cousin Taylor holding Ellie

Right: Eric up to bat

Left: Molly and her darling niece Zazi

Right: My mom finally got Ellie to nap! That is one challenge she will always accept (and conquer!).

We also had ourselves a delicious ice cream cake in celebration of Gramps's 90th birthday.

Happy birthday, Gramps!

And of course, we had to make time to take our group portrait, as we do every year. This time, we had to move from the living room to the porch in order to fit all of us! How cool is that?

Top Row: Aunt Rachel, Uncle Mark, Gary, Adam, Jacob, Uncle Peter, Rosemary

Second row: Heather, Alex, Aimee

Third row: Eric, my mom, Sarah, Gramps, Taylor, Uncle Nathan, Arturo

Fourth row: Zita and Zazi, Ellie and me, Molly and Santiago

And last but not least: Jackson and Henry

Duh. Of course we had to do a goofy one, too!

We had Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner that night, and the usual suspects stayed up, drank wine and watched some Olympics. Then it was off to bed to rest up for Sunday and my grandfather's big birthday celebration at our church!

Stay tuned, that's coming up next!