reunion familiar camacho 2013

bobby and i have what you would consider a large family - the five of us.  i come from a family of 6 - 2 boys and 2 girls. bobby is an only child but has gained 2 step brothers and 2 step sisters.  my parents both had 14 in their families and bobby's mom has 6 siblings in her family, with countless cousins and second cousins.  that's lots of people, people.

we colored coded the families for fun.

my dad's family came together in la for the 3rd annual camacho reunion. family came mostly from baja california; ensenada and tijuana.  but he has family in puebla, where he is from, and texas that couldn't attend.  we ended up with 43 people.

we've been planning this reunion since january, coming up with ideas, themes and menus.  my family and my aunt's family met once a month to discuss and plan.  and then the day finally came.

made cousin designed the logo for this year.

we started the reunion at a park by my parents' house.  we set up a volleyball net (we loved playing it so much at my mom's family reunion), pop ups, tables and chairs.  the kids and those of us that were feeling sporty played volleyball while others chatted and caught up.

we ate pizza, chicken, salad, fruit.  we hugged and laughed and celebrated the beginning of a wonderful weekend.

one of the things we wanted to focus on this weekend was the story of our family.  my generation has heard stories about our grandparents, aunts and uncles but we wanted to highlight those stories.  my dad and 2 of his sisters took turns storytelling.

they spoke about how my grandparents met, "dated" and married in secret. they spoke about my uncle, my dad's oldest brother.  i could write a whole blog post novel on this man.  he was an adventurer, an actor, an animal lover - not just dogs and cats, he had tigers, elephants and monkeys as pets. he was a pilot, a radio announcer who owned a hot air balloon. he was a giving, loving, generous human being, both to his family and to complete strangers.  he opened a safari animal park in mexico before he died. his kids now run it.  you can read a little about it here.

my aunt spoke about my uncle who was a bullfighter.  (i know they led exciting lives!)  those stories blow me away.  regardless of how i feel about bullfighting, my uncle led a dangerously romantic life.  she also spoke about my aunt who had a flair for the dramatic and how my other aunt was a social butterfly that attended parties and had an intense love for life - and still does.  there were stories upon stories - and i loved that.  more than anything that weekend, i loved hearing the stories.

we went back to my parents house for more stories and coffee and dessert.

we set up a timeline for everyone to fill in with birthdays and marriages.  it was cool to see the cycles of time.  one marriage leading to births and weddings leading to even more births and wedding and so on and so on.

 then the party continued at my brother and sister-in-law's house for music, snacks and beer pong?  yes, we lived a little of our college days (not that i did that in college) around the table with beer, ping pong balls and lots of laughter.  

we wrangled anyone we could to the table, my dad, my mom, my aunts, my cousins.  and who was leading the way? my niece - who is over 21 by the way.  (we party legally.)  i haven't laughed that hard in years.  it was a blast and not something we do often.  and the next morning i remembered why.

our dj's for the night. 

sunday we went to church and got a special blessing from the priest.

then went to my other brother and sister-in-law's house for hamburgers and hot dogs, and more laughter and stories.  seriously my family is sooooo funny.
 

signing my dad's shirt.

giving out party favors.

and goodbyes.

i loved catching up with everyone and spending the weekend engrossed in family and stories and laughter.  it was a lot of work to prepare for but we didn't want it to end.

gracias por todo familia. los quiero mucho!