A Family Get-Together

John's family used to get together pretty much every Thanksgiving; not everyone always made it, but it was nice. After his mother died, that kind of fell by the wayside. No particular reason....it just seemed like the motivation wasn't there anymore. Well...with my family, when one or more of us is going somewhere, we just throw it out there...sort of "Here's where we'll be..if you can make it...join us!" and as a result you may find a group of Burton relatives here, there and everywhere at random times. I decided earlier this year that it was high time John's family did the same....so we suggested a get together at Disney's Ft. Wilderness. I just felt it was something important that they needed to do. Two of John's sisters have not been speaking to one another for several years...and I thought this might be a good way to get the two of them together; and maybe talking again. I suggested that being with the whole group would take the pressure off and without making a big deal out of it...the two of them could at least start talking again.

Brenna and Megan happy to be back at Fort Wilderness Campground again after many years

The majority of those asked said October would be best...so Brenna and I picked a weekend in October and took it from there. Planning didn't always go smoothly; (as you know if you read past blogs....)but I decided I was just going to keep on going and even though the whole group wouldn't be there...we'd have fun with those that did make the trip. I am so glad we did!

Lori was gung-ho from the very beginning. She managed to get 3 of her 4 kids there, as well as her dad and step-mother and her brother and most of his family.

We suggested Ft Wilderness at Disney World, because we have had many good times there over the years. I figured there was a variety of accommodations...from cabins, to tent and camper sites, to the Wilderness Lodge. I had hoped we could get a group together in the cabins...and even though that didn't happen, it all worked out. Turns out our cabin with a few extra tables and chairs set up on the deck worked. Most of the Alabama and Georgia group stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. We met up there on Friday night.

Bill, Sara( his great-niece), Kathy talking to Bishop (great-great nephew) and Sara's husband , Lance.

We lucked out with a weekend of perfect weather.....a little warm...but sunny and no rain was all we really cared about after a month with record rainfall!

We laughed when a couple happened to sit down in the area where we first situated ourselves, and Lance not knowing any of the out of sate crew promptly introduced himself to them. They shook his hand and greeted him...then I told him,,,Ooops...these aren't people from our group. hahahah

 We didn't know exactly how we were going to manage dinner with 19 of us...but we decided to venture downstairs to the self-serve restaurant and see what they had to offer. Not only did they have
a variety of options...there just happened to be a group of empty  tables right outside with plenty of room for all 19 of us. We sat down and ate and chatted and enjoyed each others company.
Next up was getting the whole group down to the dock to catch a quick boat over to the campground. Brenna had checked the timetable and suggested that we all watch the Magic Kingdom Fireworks and the Electrical Parade from the beach at the campground. She took charge and told everyone where we needed to go. She was or designated "cruise director".

Clarissa, Harrison, Bishop, Lance, Duane,Debbie,Lori,Elliot, Sara, Lance, Gloria, Gary, John

We had perfect timing....all 19 of us were able to load up onto a boat rather quickly...along with a few extra folks.

We found a pretty good spot at the beach and everyone sat and enjoyed the fireworks and then the electrical parade. Some of the group had stayed at the Lodge before...and I think some had been to the campground...but none of them had ever been down to watch the fireworks, etc, so we had a lot of fun. Naturally...while we waited, everyone continued chatting and getting to know one another.
Our plan for Saturday was to let everyone do their own thing in the morning and then meet at our cabin by 2:30pm for our cookout.
John's brother-in-law Mac and his wife weren't sure until the last minute whether or not they were going to come for the weekend. Mac hadn't been feeling well and didn't know if he was up for driving over, etc. Well, they did come on Saturday and I am so glad they did. (I knew Lori and Gary were especially looking forward to seeing Lou and Mac). Also, John's nephew Walter and his wife, along with two of their three children arrived late Friday. So we were up to 25 people total. John and I spent a  part of the morning getting set up; until Brenna, Josh and Megan were ready to ride over to the Grand Floridian for brunch at the Park Fare Restaurant. Brenna had researched the places that offered Gluten free selections, made us a reservation...and we were off. It's always fun to go to the Grand Floridian...I just love looking around the grounds. I have been to the character brunch before...once with Megan and her friend Arielle, and another time with Brenna and Megan. It's nice.

People watching in the lobby is always fun...and I love the fresh flowers, like this beautiful fall arrangement

Disney is a top destination for kids in the Make A Wish Foundation...so they go out of their way to work with any special dietary needs, etc. Each restaurant we went in, we told them Megan was allergic to gluten and they sent one of their chefs out to talk to her. Then they would take her on a "tour"  (in this case of the buffet) and let her know what she could safely eat. Then the chef asked if she'd like pancakes or waffles.....you should have seen her eyes light up. She requested pancakes...chocolate chip if possible.

gummy worms were an extra touch...she could have done without them...but this giant pancake made her happy!

I noticed two young teens at the next table glancing over at her pancake....they were wondering how Megan managed to get that! hahah Let me tell you....she ate every last bite. When she spotted the chef later, she walked over and thanked him and told him how much she had enjoyed it.
We also enjoyed acting like kids....(thanks to Josh for taking the pictures of all three of us)

After our brunch we had to get back over to the campground to finish setting up for the big event.
John was planning to cook hamburgers and chicken. Debbie & I had  made a couple of side dishes. Brenna and Josh had contributed a bunch of sodas, Lou and Mac brought the pickles, mustard, Ketchup....everyone contributed something.
Kathie brought a birthday cake, because as it just so  happened that Gary's 80th birthday was October 10th. We were so happy to be able to share that celebration with him...Lori and his son Walter, plus their families. We were also celebrating Lori's birthday ( Oct 15th) and Steve's 16th birthday.

John and I had an assortment of games on hand to keep everyone busy. Al let us borrow a pop-up tent and a Corn Hole set. Amy and Reid let us borrow their Bongo Ball game and I had a couple of Ice Breakers to help get everyone talking and interacting. They actually were doing a pretty good job on their own...but I wanted to get everyone involved. I had asked everyone to bring a baby picture or a favorite older picture. We hung them up and tried to guess who was who...this kind of worked...but we had more than one of some people and about half the gang either didn't bring one...or did...but forgot it back at their hotel room. Oh well...we made do....
Next I gave everyone a pen and a stack of note cards with different questions on them. I instructed everyone to ask a question to the person next to them...and then work their way around the "room"...talking to everyone. I think they weren't too sure about this at first...but it worked out really well.

the questions weren't hard.....things like are you named after anyone? What would you do if you could try anything and not get hurt? (top answer- sky diving,)

at one point my great niece Sara said..."those guys aren't even asking questions...they're just talking"....they she laughed and said "I guess that was the point of this wasn't it."

After we did this for a little while, we collected all the "results" and sorted them out.

the golf cart came in handy...hahah

Once we cleaned up from the game it was time to continue chatting and start eating. Dinner was followed by the whole group singing" Happy Birthday" to Gary (and Lori and Steve).

While a group of us sat and told stories (Mac was having a great time) Brenna  shuttled some of the group and some of the younger kids off to the pool for some fun. Between riding around on a golf cart full of people and playing on the slide, etc at the pool, the kids loved it. For Brenna and Megan...it was like old times....riding around on the golf cart.
So...our get together was a success. All the people who were worried about how it was going to work out (John...Kathie...???) realized that in the end, we all just wanted a chance to connect with one another and enjoy hearing each others stories and get to know each other a little bit better. We did. It's too bad that Sandy didn't make it...she would have enjoyed it. Maybe next time (several people are already saying "Let's do it again!") we'll get the rest of the group here...because I know they are seeing all of our photos on Facebook and saying to themselves...Hmmm...too bad we didn't go I'll start working on it. :)