Monday, July 23, 2012

The family that plays together



They say the family that plays together stays together. 
 

This saying is definitely true when it comes to my father’s side of the family, the Murphy’s.  This weekend was the annual Murphy Family Reunion in College Station/Bryan; it’s held every third weekend in July.  This was the hubs, bambina, and my second year attending.  Here is a picture of my brothers and sisters from my father’s side of the family.



James Jr. (T), Eric, Bernard, Me, Dorena, Jarlene


Although I wasn’t raised around this side of my family, we have come together and bonded like we have always been in each other’s lives.  It was just me growing up; I was an only child on my mother’s side and while it had it’s advantages, I was kinda lonely!  The good thing is that I now have all the brothers, sister, cousins, nieces and nephews that I always wanted! 


Since there were so many years when we weren’t together, we’ve decided to not waste any more time and fully embrace being one big (and I do mean big) happy family!


Just a small fraction of the family.


This was definitely another successful family reunion and I look forward to maaaaaany more years of these annual summer get-togethers in one of my favorite places of the world!


View from one side of campus.


 
We arrived in College Station On Friday afternoon and went straight to lunch with one of my favorite family’s ever: Rachel, one of my girlfriends from this group, her husband Luis, and their precious son!


Rachel, Luis, and their handsome boy!


Friends for twelve years!



Primos (cousins)!


After lunch we got checked into the hotel and rested up because the Fish Fry started at 6:00pm at a park in Bryan.  After the fish fry we came back to the hotel, I went for a night run on campus and then we went and hung out by the pool with the family.



Saturday morning I got up and went for an early morning run around campus again.  This time, I went all the way down University Drive to the Northgate area, which is right across the street from the dorm I lived in the first two years in school.  I ran 3.5 miles but took it way easy because I was stopping along the way to take pictures.


View from University Drive.

 
Saw this view everyday because I lived in the first dorm on the right (Hobby Hall).



Administration and Meteorology buildings.


Kyle Field (on the left) from afar!




I came back, got cleaned up and met my brother for breakfast.  Is there anything better than hotel waffles?!?!  There’s just something about that turn over waffle iron!  My home-made waffles never quite come out like that!



After breakfast, I took a nap with the hubs and our little one and then we got ready to go the Lincoln Recreation Center for the bar-b-que.  It was the perfect place, since we had picnic tables set up for everyone to eat at and the gym area where the kids played for the entire day.  Well, not just the kids because at one point there were dodge ball games where my brother and husband joined in on the fun!








We enjoyed lots of delicious food and family time where we all sat around and got caught up on the past year’s activities and happenings.  It was nice to see everyone, including some new faces that we hadn’t gotten to meet last summer. 


Later, we headed back to the hotel, rested up a little more, and then went out to the pool again where we all spend the rest of the night.  The adults sat around chatting, cooking, drinking…and the kids were in the pool.  It was a lot of fun!


Eboni (neice), myself, Shar (cousin).


There was no early-morning run for me the next morning, however!  I was too tired because all of the weekend’s excitement and movement finally caught up with me.  We all met at our annual meet-before-heading-out place, my cousins’ Blynthia and Chuck’s house.  We had summer sausage, cheese and crackers and got our last chats in before we all headed our separate ways.



From the lunch with one of our favorite families on Friday, to the reunion and family time on Saturday and Sunday, overall it was a beautiful weekend!  If the saying is true, and the family that plays together stays together, then this family is one that will definitely continue to prosper for many years to come. J  




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