Family Reunion

On Friday I returned from a fantastic family reunion in Williamsburg, VA. I'd only been to Williamsburg one time: in high school, my dad and I drove down to visit William & Mary. But car trouble on the way there meant we arrived on the first day of spring break, and a dog show in Washington left all the hotels in VA and MD booked solid, so we gave up and drove all the way home, arriving at 5 AM. Anyway, this trip was far more successful. A total of 21 members or associated members of the Marvin clan (my mom's family) came together from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, and Alaska. Six of those members were under 8 years old, and in our matching t-shirts and energetic brand of family chaos, we took over the timeshare complex--including pool and mini-golf course--and got our money's worth at Busch Gardens (riding some awesome roller coasters) and Water Country USA. We also spent some time lounging by the pool, visiting a sandy beach along a river in Yorktown, soaking up a little history at Colonial Williamsburg, and enjoying delicious meals and of course, the family standard, evening happy hour(s).

Before we left, I had the idea, inspired by some of the family photo sessions my friend Dave does on the Vineyard (see some beautiful examples here and here). Unfortunately, the aforementioned family chaos made it impossible to organize everyone to spend more than five minutes being photographed, so I had to try to grab some shots while I could. With such adorable kids, it wasn't hard to get a few good ones. Here are the best; click through to see the rest.

My cousin Pascha's daughter Mairead:


My cousin Amber, whom I haven't seen in almost 8 years, with her adorable daughter Rowen and my brother Dan:


Mairead again, with my cousin Chanda's daughter Calla, making her robot face:


Amber with our uncle Jackson, and a hamburger on a stick:


The boys: Liam, 6; Brendan, 5; and Tiarnan, 7


Tiarnan (one of those teeth had just fallen out that morning) looking fierce:


Mom and me looking miserable in the stocks (an obligatory photo at Colonial Williamsburg):