The first weekend in August we had the Hoelting reunion (held every 4 years) and about 500 people flooded the town for a few days of visiting, dancing and fun! I have been to Nazareth about 5 times now for different events and it is always so peaceful and simple to visit the farm life for a weekend. (Well chasing a wild 1 1/2 year old is never peaceful but you know what I mean!)
No one has more fun than all of the kiddos! Out of the 500 family members, I would say about 300 of them are probably kids! They run around from sunrise to about 11pm like wild ones and crash and burn at the end of the night - lol.
There really is no way to fully explain to anyone what these reunions are like but maybe this will help. Below is a piece of the family tree that covers one of the walls in "The Hall" which is the building where the whole weekend is centered around. We have 995 people in our family - 995!!!! This particular reunion stems from all decendants of Craig's great grandparents, so his Grandpa was one of the 9 children. Each of the 9 branches wears a different color, we are green, and on Sat we take a huge picture in the football stands where each section is a different color!
We hit the road about 6am on Friday morning and made the 8 hour trek to Texas...
And a few hours later - lol...
During our road trip the boys were so excited to see some tractors and even get to pet a horse. You never know what you will find when you stop on the side of the road for a litttle break!
We arrived in Nazareth about 4 pm and got cleaned up and ready to go to the hall to see all the relatives! That night there was a dinner for everyone and then just mingling, drinking, singing and kids running all over the great outdoors :)
Chase hanging out with Austin & Kyler...
Adult cousins enjoying catching up
Saturday morning started with an optional baseball game. Craig, Don, Kyler and Austin played and we tried to convince Chase but his shy nerves kicked in and it wasn't happening
Brady checking out some new cousins he hadn't met yet...
Brady having an absolute ball on the blow-up slip and slide!
Waiting in line with his cousins and Cameron taking good care of him!
After swimming Brady and I headed back to Craig's Aunt & Uncles house, where we stayed, for a little nap together. In the meantime Chase had a blast riding 4-wheelers at another Aunt & Uncle's house. I don't have any pictures but he told me all about it :) After napping we headed to church for a mass where literally the entire congregation is our 500 family members separated in the church by our colors! Then we headed to the hall for more playground fun and a BBQ dinner.
I had to take some some photos of Brady & Chase playing on a zipline on the playground. We have always thought Brady is the world's strongest toddler so these pictures were cracking me up..holding on all on his own!
Next it was time for the football stadium family photo. Brady making his way over to sit in the stands...
By the time we took the picture the entire stand was full of Hoeltings!
An attempt at a few family photos in our green...
And a few last photos of the big dance and party at the hall Sat night!!
We had a great weekend in Nazareth and look forward to our next visit!
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