Happy Belated 4th of July

I'm so thankful for the stop over we've had here in Seattle...it's been so nice to have a break from the road, re-group, catch up on some rest from the hectic-ness that was my life before leaving CO but most of all, getting to spend time with family.

 Six of the eight siblings

My mom comes from a family of 8 children - she's the oldest, and only girl, with 7 brothers following behind her.  My grandparents are gone, so she and her brothers are now the matriarch/patriarchs of the Blazer family.  My Uncle Sam & his wife, Joan, have very generously offered up their home over the past many years and hosted a big family reunion over the 4th of July weekend for whoever is able to make it.  There is a good bunch of family already in the WA area, however, others are scattered in California, Iowa, Oregon, New York, and even Brazil so it's been almost impossible to have ALL of us together at the same time.  Last year, they managed to have at least all of the original siblings together, but this year there were just 6 out of the 8 in attendance.

We still had a good turn out though - 49 total with the original siblings, their children, and their children's children (and that's not even counting all of the family dogs that were there). :)

 me with my Blazer cousins (minus 1 who missed the pic...) sorry Holli :(

and according to one cousin-in-law...
'proof that the Blazer kids can reproduce' 

aka the Blazer grandkids :)

If I had my act together, I'd have borrowed old family photos from my mom and posted a pic of all of the Blazer cousins when we were all kids at another family reunion way back when, but those pictures are back in CO...would be fun to see a comparison photo of the group then and now. :)

It was a great day, full of fun things like bouncy castles, volleyball, games, catching up, lots of food, and a grand finale of some pretty amazing fireworks, put on by those daring family members who like to light things on fire...

A BIG Thank You to Sam & Joan and family for all of the time and effort you put in to another spectacular reunion!