Final Reunion Plans

The summer is going very fast. It is almost time for our Third Annual Family Reunion. Plans have to be getting finalized.

First: Simply are you able to attend or not. Just a simply yes or no is good. No explanation necessary. Of course we would love to see everyone!!! Maybe in the future we should stick to about the same weekend, then we could always try and plan around it. I know for myself it seems like everything always happens at the same time.

Second: If you are coming. Will you spend the night at Mary and Jerry's. They do have the room. If not I believe Kathrine and Eric will be able to put someone up.

Third: Mary and Jerry are planning Shish- K-Bobs. We need go withs. Let them know what you are bringing. On second thought let us all know, so we can plan better.

Fourth: The Grab Bag. I am not as good as coming up with the list of rules my dear brother did. Here is my version.

1. We will have an adult grab bag and one for the children. Children are considered the fourth generation of the Okar family. Adults being the 2nd and 3rd generation. I am counting only from Mom and Dad.
2. If you want to participate, you are to bring one to two grabs gifts. The amount you bring will be the amount to get. Same with the children. Remember look around the house, do not spend money. If you do go to the dollar store.
3. The children will go first. It would be hard to do the oldest to the youngest, so we will just put the grab gifts out and let them pick.
4. Adult grab bag will be a bit different. Each person will pick a number. We will then go in number order. Details to come later about the numbers and so forth.

Based on a few of the comments from some of the previous blogs, how about thinking a taking an hour maybe and letting everyone know what you are up to these days. Trying to get to know each other a bit more.

How about a game of Bocce Ball? Someone has Mom and Dad's good set. Who is that?

Any other ideas, please jump in and suggest.

I will also copy this and e-mail. Again if you see that someone is not on the list, please let me know.

Liz

REUNION PLANS

Hi family,

I guess somehow it is my job to pass the word about the family reunion.

Am really disappointed that David and Gulin will not be with us.

Excerpt from the family blog.

Mary Agnes has put aside the weekend of August 21 - 23, 2009.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Again, being a saint, she offered to host the reunion at her home.
Probably just an excuse to get Jerry working on the house.

Mary and Kathrine would like to know who is coming and who might be staying with them. I for one will once again ask Mary and Jerry to put me up. I will bring a mouse trap!! Kidding.

Mary and Jerry are planning shish- k- bobs for the main meal. Chicken, veggie, venison and beef. Make them how you wish. We need to have the go withs. As always being true Okars we always have plenty of food. Let Mary know what you will bring. I will bring plates, silverware and napkins. Will also make something to eat. Some sort of rice dish.

As for the grab bag. We will have two. An adult one and one for the kids. If you want to participate you are to bring two “grab bags” per person. The idea of course is to not spend money and find things laying around your house. I imagine for the kids if you do not have things around the house, the dollar store is a great place to find things. REMEMBER ONLY TWO PER PERSON.

I hope that I have everyone’s e-mail on this list. If you see someone missing please let me know. At one time I had them all, then my mother board went.

Tie Dye shirts. It has been requested that we do tie dye, but try and use natural dyes. Beets for red. Coffee, tea, onion skins and so forth.

Any other ideas would be great!!

Bart, in regards to smoking. Those who do, smoke outside and can do so discreetly. Is the place you work a non-smoking establishment?? It will be great to see you.

I sincerely hope to see the Greg and Mary Okar family. Sure did miss seeing Pat, Molly, Matt and Leanne at the last one.

I am going to attempt to try and cut and paste this on the blog.

Any other ideas and or comments, let me know.

Kathrine, I will e-mail you some pictures from the 4th of Levi and Charlie. Some of them came out really good.

All my love to all of you.
Liz (better known as Putt-Putt) as a child. That or Little Bit.

Reunion!

I think it seems as if everything is coming together. Today however, I was surprised. I saw Patrick after the Cubs game. I started talking about the reunion and his exact words were, "What family reunion?". Can someone please clue him in better than I could. He said he is moving the first weekend of August. Maybe he can make it also. I am going to bring tie dye. I think we should include the people who want to do it the old fashion way and not use markers. All are welcome to share. I would prefer if it was a no smoking event. I do not think it sets a good example for my nieces and nephews. Plus I am training for a marathon and would prefer not dealing with it. Uncle Dave looking forward to your grilled veggies. For people staying what about a quick canoe trip or golf round?

Okar Family October 2008

Christmas Plans

I am keeping the Christmas get together on December 21. It will be an open house style gathering. People are welcome to start arriving at noon and can stay as long as they like. I will have snack food, baked goods and sandwich fixings. People are more than welcome to bring any other food and their own beverages--beyond water and soda. I would love to see everyone and hope that you can make it!

What about summer?

What about sometime during the summer?  I would suggest sometime around the last week of July.  The only concern is that the rentals are weekly May to September.  The fall is also fine with me and the rentals are nightly after September.  Then at either time would we have more than 6 or 8 or 14?  

The Next Reunion?

After some discussion at the 2008 Okar Family reunion, we thought that we might take up Bart's (middleman's) suggestion to visit the Chicago area. Because it is unlikely that we could all fit into Bart's place, Katie did some on-line searching and found this place:

link

In Michiana, near the shore of Lake Michigan. It looked good to those at MA and Jerry's breakfast table. Visit the link and see what you all think.

Or, perhaps some else wants to host? Maybe you have another idea, let us know. Thing is, we have a time deadline, of sorts, because this place will likely go rather fast, and we need to make reservations quickly.

As far as I know, we are aiming for the same time of year: Early October.

Thanks, Katie, for your efforts. I'll send you an email to help you sign up as an author.