Monday, July 14, 2008

College Reunion

This weekend was one that I had been looking forward to for a long time. It was the one weekend a year that I get to spend with my dear friends from Grove City College. Last February (2007) the girls all got together for a spa weekend to celebrate our 30th birthdays. It was on that weekend that we decided that maybe we'd continue to get together just as women and make the whole family gatherings every other year.

It had been two years since we had had one of these large gatherings - Ella was two and a half and Catherine was maybe 10 months. It was definitely different, i.e., easier, to be there with four and half year old and an almost three year old.

As is expected, we were up way too late both nights. Isn't that the whole point of it? Lots of laughing and silliness - as Karen said, it was pretty much like we were back in college again. It's always so nice to catch up with these dear friends and as always, although we haven't seen each other in over a year, it's as if not a day has passed since we were last together.

On Saturday we all went to a lake and played in the sand and water. Some of us went out in paddleboats, canoes or kayaks. We took the girls in their first boat ride. It wasn't super exciting because, I know this may be surprising, paddleboats are pretty slow. I watched the canoes gliding gracefully by us and was a bit envious. But I imagine we would have ended up tipping it and the girls would have freaked out. As it was, Catherine freaked out a little bit when Matt faked a fall overboard. When the girls saw he was alright, she jumped in and joined him! (with a life jacket on, of course). After our lake play time and picnic we headed back to get the younger kids down for their naps and then the ladies all took a trip to the pool for some more sun, swimming and catching up.

That night after a yummy dinner and dessert (Happy Birthday Karen and Kate!), we played games and laughed some more over our lack of drawing abilities (mine at least - I got the point across in the most rudimentary way possible) through a few rounds of Who What Where. Then it was on to the Wii - tennis and boxing. True confessions - my arms were sore on Monday after three rounds of boxing. My advice to you should you ever Wii box is wisdom passed along by my friend Kate "don't laugh, it takes too much energy."

This weekend takes a lot of planning and then seems to go by way too fast and leave us all looking forward to the next one. I love how easily our kids all got along and enjoyed playing with each other. I hope we are laying the groundwork for connections that last for a long time (future Grovers perhaps??)


In order from l. to r. Owen and Carter Lee, Catherine deMontaigne, Nathan (on the ground) and Derek Sears, Will Britton, Cade and Jack Milinovich, Nadia Waclawski, Ella deMontaigne and Sarah Sears.

Many many fun and memorable moments over the course of the weekend, but some of my fave's are:

Playing Who What Where Saturday night. It's such a fun game - definitely recommend it if you enjoy games. I had some insane guesses (submarine, being hit by a car) when I got a bit overconfident and decided I didn't need to actually look at the picture too carefully (but, hey I still tied for first place - when I'm on, I'm on and vice versa).

All the little girls getting their nails painted by Kate (of course the color I had with me was RED) and the boys coming out and wanting in on the fun as well. If you could have seen the look on their dad's face...anyway Kate quickly scrambled and came up with painting three (or two?) nails and having them be special Spiderman fingers used for shooting webs. The next day Jack walked by me and I heard him say something about going to get his toes painted now - lucky for him I think that Greg was alright with that - hey, it's only paint, right! :)

As always, reminiscing about the stupid silly things we did in college. None of us were drinkers, but we often wonder what crazy things we might have done if we were. It's almost scary to think we could have been more bizarre!

Watching the guys hang out. As much as us girls make this happen and tend to communicate more, all the guys really enjoy being together and I think this weekend is something they look forward to as well.

Finally to the Devitis family - your absence was felt and we hope someday you'll be able to join us, but you're always there in spirit!

Now it's time to start planning our girls' spa weekend - way too much fun just thinking about it!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you guys all had such a super weekend. I have a similar weekend with my girlfriends from high school and their families every Labor Day weekend. This makes me all the more eager for our turn to come!!

Kevin and Amy said...

Oh I LOVE IT!!!!! What a fabulous weekend! I have to confess that I stalked around your other blogs that are listed on your site and saw Karen's pictures...none of you girls look even one day older than how I remember you from 1998! Gorgeous families, too, wow. Sounds like an absolutely spectacular weekend, I can't wait to see your pictures tomorrow!

stella g. said...

we sure know how to have fun, don't we? i miss you guys already and which i could pack you up with the rest of our army stuff when we move around. i love that we get to have our "just girls" years, but there's something to be said for the ways our hubbys like to hang out together. we must NEVER stop doing this!

Kerri Smith said...

that's why my arms are sore! i thought it was from canoeing, but i mostly just let Christian paddle me around the lake. boxing (and winning) was what must have done it!
thanks for putting together a fantastic weekend. i put pix up on facebook - i didn't do the whole tagging thing (mostly b/c i'm not so good at facebook.)

stella g. said...

i was sore, too! but i totally knew it was from the Wii and not a cool think like kayaking, or drawing what looked like drunken cows really fast. thanks for rubbing in the "i'm a big loser part", kerri!

shannon_milinovich said...

jack only has a little of the red polish on his three fingernails now -- i have to admit, i am afraid to paint my toenails with him around!

by the way, i so should have put pamela anderson in a baywatch bathing suit -- just thought of that today at the lake -- then she would not have been confused for dolly parton. jack wants to live next door to you - he said we can tell cars "stop we have to cross the road to get to megan's house"

Sarah said...

Megan, Thanks so much for posting all these pictures. It was fun to see everyone and all the adorable children you all have. What a neat get together! I am so glad you guys make a point to do that.

Happy said...

So cool that you have all been so diligent about getting together and keeping those friendships strong. That seems like a rare thing anymore with everyone's busy lives.

And all those cute patootie kiddies!!! My...you have all been busy.

Have a good day.

Renee said...

soooooo glad you had so much fun! hopefully the eagle rock house will provide many more times of college reunions for you....
everyone is beautiful and the kids are adorable!

Anonymous said...

What great pictures and what a great group of friends. You look just like I remember you at Megan's wedding!! You know what it takes to keep friendships alive--time together. Keep making the effort. Not only will you look forward to the reunions, your children will also. Love, mom K

Courtney said...

You are so lucky to have such good college friends (and still be in touch with so many of them!) Looks like you had a great time!

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