Campbell Family Reunion

I feel extra blessed to have extended families on both sides who love to get together for reunions. It's difficult to schedule a time that works for most of us, and everyone has to deal with the cost & hassle of traveling, but the end result is so much fun! This month, my dad's side of the family met at the Ranch House in TX for a long weekend. The Ranch House was built by my Uncle Brian & Aunt Margaret on my mom's side, and they generously offered to let us use it for the Campbell family get-together (thank you guys!). In the past, we've rented condos from a vacation resort and we all agreed that we LOVED having everyone together in the same house instead of splitting up into different units. This way, we got to eat every meal together and when something fun was going on anywhere in the house, we all knew about it and could join in. The weather was warm and sunny so we spent plenty of time outdoors, too. We also took an excursion to the nearby town of Waxahatchie to eat dinner at a catfish restaurant.

The weekend was full of catching up with each other's lives, playing games, eating good food, and lots of laughter. I love how much we enjoy spending time together despite the fact that we live all over the country. We're planning to have a Campbell family reunion every other summer, and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

When my family got to the area, we visited Waxahatchie to look around and make sure we knew how to get to the Catfish Plantation restaurant.

The courthouse building had an interesting legend of the "Unrequited Love Carvings". To read the story, click here. We walked around the building to see all the carved faces.

We arrived at the Ranch House, and other members of the family quickly followed.

The first night, we taught all the cousins how to play "One Bounce" on the ping pong table. It's a great game that involves everyone who wants to play, and it made for many fun hours.

The lake is filling in nicely, and this year there were paddle boats and some medium-sized fish to go fishing for!

Some of the cousins warming up their baseball arms

There was a cool breeze that made the porch extra relaxing

About 15 of us played a fun game of whiffleball and the rest of the family enjoyed watching from the patio

And of course no Campbell reunion would be complete without the Men vs. Women Trivial Pursuit game! The women won, largely due to our aunts' collective age ... I mean intellect. :)

A dark picture of Table A at the Catfish Plantation, which apparently is a very haunted building. If you look closely at Steve (2nd from the right), I think we *may* have caught the reflection of a ghost in his glasses. (eerie cackle)

Table B waiting patiently for their food.

My cousins' kids, who were infants a minute ago and are now graduating from high school & college.

My cousins (I'm not sure why it chopped us off at the legs)

The requisite family photos, starting with my family (Steve wasn't able to make it this year)

Matt and Aunt Lillie

Uncle David, Aunt Ann, Christina, Ronda, Cal, and Cole

James, Steve, Jillian, Angela, Jordan, Aunt Wanda, Jackson, Uncle Larry, Alyssa, Anne, Emily, and Allan

The Campbell Clan - we missed some cousins and their families this year and we really hope that everyone will be able to come in 2013!