Family Reunion

{Day 1: Local Attraction Day}

In talking to people, I found that The Moss Family Reunion is an anomaly.

I guess I had always presumed that all family reunions

were multi-day affairs of large attendance.

I was surprised to find that most family reunions consisted of a small group
getting together for lunch and by 2 p.m. everything was cleaned up

and the participants had departed.

Welcome to the other side of the coin:

The Moss Family Reunion

It is held every two years, often in conjunction

with where ever our church conference is held

since people who have to travel far are already in the area.

It doesn't matter how closely or loosely (or not at all) you are related,

you are still welcome.

This year it was held at a camp grove in Pennsylvania

and started Wed. evening and ran through Sat. morning.

This is the cute, yet chilly and unheated, cabin where my parents slept.

Most people were housed upstairs in the main lodge.

Seven of us females slept in this room.

There was plenty of room for sleeping but not much room for putting our stuff.

The first full day is when everyone picks local places to visit.

Some do it in family groups, others find people with similar interests to tag along with,

and others "do their own thing."

My group ended up being a car load of girls

with my mom and my boys in another vehicle.

My dad was off visiting bookstores with a friend.

We enjoyed our drive through the Amish countryside admiring the neat farms,

their unique scooters (I would have brought one home for Tiana

if it would have fit in my suitcase!) and their specialized clothes lines.

Our first stop was a little basement store.

The surroundings were serene.

Our main hang-out of the day was the town of Lititz.

The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery was a fun tour.

We were taught how to roll dough into a traditional pretzel form.

The first attempts didn't look too good but this one turned out okay.

Then there was a tour of the now defunct brick ovens and explanations on 

the baking process.

We decided to leave our cars parked and strolled the streets

to see what we would be interested in doing next.

I had heard of this place and it happened to be a few blocks away

so this is where we ate lunch.

It was obviously a very popular lunch spot.

We ended up eating on the patio with my mom seeking out the sun

and me making sure I was in deep shade.

 Everyone seemed to especially like the glass bottles of water.

I had this amazing peanut butter, banana, Nutella panini.

It's probably not a place I would bother to take my teens again.

They just were not into that type of food and would have

been happier with a hamburger or pizza place.

Wilbur Chocolate was across the street so we ambled over

to peruse their treats.

I was disappointed to find that it was only a retail store with no factory tour.

This is the candy bar of her dreams.

 

Wesley ended up buying her this three pound box of chocolate

pieces as her graduation gift.

She was pretty happy.

After a visit to the lovely downtown park,

we walked on the other side of the street to our parking area.

We popped into a few shops but spent the most time and money at the ice cream parlor.

It was fun to sit outside watching the cars go by and admiring

the old buildings that line the street.

On our way back north, we came across a fabric/gift/home store in

a huge barn-like structure.

I have never seen so much fabric at one time.

I think there were three floors of fabric plus it had grown

into a little house attached to the building.

It was amazing...although the boys were far from impressed

and spent most of their time on the front porch.

Everyone drifted back to the camp for supper at 5:30.

Afterwards, there was a pinata for the children to enjoy.

Everyone was pretty worn out from their busy day

so the evening consisted of sitting around and talking

and families getting their children ready for bed.

Some of the teens stayed up later to enjoy spending time

with friends they don't get to see very often.

They were quiet and didn't disturb anyone so no one minded.

So ended day one but we knew even more good times were coming the next day.