Rain + Relatives = Reunion!

The rain has returned to Juneau with a vengeance, and naturally, just in time for our family reunion that starts today. I’ve really been looking forward to this reunion for a number of reasons. I’m looking forward to seeing so many family members, of course. This is for the Dvorak side of the family, which is Joe’s mom’s dad’s family. (Did you catch all that?)
Grandpa Doug is the oldest of five and four of the “kids” are still alive and will be here. All five of Grandma and Grandpa’s grandkids will be here, and four of their six great-grandchildren will be as well. I’ve lost track of how many people will be attending altogether, but I think it’s around thirty! We’ll all be at a lodge about 33 miles out the road, called Adlersheim Lodge. It’s a beautiful lodge, right on the water, open and airy inside and no cell phone service!

I’ve been a little worried leading up to this, wondering when Joe will get back. He left Saturday and I knew the boat was heading a long way south this time—all the way to Port Armstrong, which is near the southern tip of Baranof Island. Thankfully, he called me yesterday on a satellite phone to tell me they would leave Port Armstrong around 5:00 pm today. So unfortunately Joe will miss the first twenty-four hours of the reunion, but he’ll be there for the important part! We’re having a murder mystery party on Friday! More importantly, once Joe is back from this trip, he’s done with the fishing gig. I know it’s been a good experience for him and of course it’s been nice for him to be employed and make some money, but I’m really looking forward to having my husband back home with us! I’ve missed him and the kids have really missed their daddy this past month.

So now comes the crazy part. We have plenty of time until we have to be out at the lodge, but I have a whole big list of things we have to do before leaving. Before moving on the boat, I liked to clean the house before leaving to go on vacation—you know, so we could come home to a clean house. While we’ll make sure the dishes are done and the floors are vacuumed, the boat won’t look all that clean with our sheets pulled off and all the mattresses pulled up and the pantries open so everything can dry out while we’re gone. I’m still adjusting to what going away for the weekend looks like now that home is on a boat. Ironic, isn’t it? We used to leave the house and go away on the boat for a long weekend. Now we’re closing up the boat and going away to a big house for that long weekend

The kids are super excited to see everyone and to go see somewhere else. I’m looking forward to Joe being back and spending time with so many family members we don’t see often. I only have one concern about this weekend: will we be able to sleep? After being used to sleeping on the boat, I don’t know how it’s going to be, sleeping somewhere different. The land just doesn’t move right.