Morgan Family Summer Reunion: Cousin Shenanigans

It is never a dull moment when the cousins are together, both at home and out on numerous adventures. As parents, our hearts are so full to hear the nonstop laughter and silliness that ensues whenever these sweet cousins are together. Thinking back to my childhood days with cousins, it gives me such joy to realize that these times together - no matter how chaotic and difficult to schedule - are creating lifelong memories for our kids that they will no doubt share and reminisce about for decades to come when the rest of us are long gone. I'm so thankful to my parents for bringing us all together with these summer reunions, and I'm praying they can continue despite the increasingly hectic schedules we find ourselves navigating.

The laughter and silliness was evident in all of our photos throughout the weekend. In addition to the times at home, there were quite a few more cousin outings this trip due to the fact that we had our first cousin driver, Renee, carting around some of the kids for random adventures. Of course, this is an unfamiliar experience for me - sending my kids off with a relatively new driver - so my rule for them was to send me photos while they were away in order to comfort my uneasy mind and assure me that they were safe. Leave it to Connor to doctor the photos (haha) but at least they indulged my request. 

There are always random cousin activities that seem to emerge out of nowhere. This year it was a sweaty garage workout with a few of the dedicated ones in the bunch. It cracked me up to see them together and especially when Ryah needed some motivation, which triggered Connor to morph into a demanding personal trainer alter-ego, yelling at everyone to work harder. Ha!

 

When the kids were younger, matching cousin outfits were all the rage and a big part of our event and picture planning. Now that they're older, it's down to Kaitlynn and Marissa to carry on the dying tradition. Kaitlynn has always fit right in with my brother's girls - she looks just like them and could easily pass as one of the 'M' cousins (Makenna, Madison, and Marissa). But it surprised all of us anew to see how similar Kaitlynn and Marissa look these days, especially when they dress alike. Love these sweet matching cousins!

For the second year in a row, the up-all-night-cousins-sleepover was highly hyped and anticipated. There is a lot of talk and planning for the fun that goes into this event. The entire rest of the weekend had to be worked around the cousins' ability to stay up all night and function the next day. So I guess you could say it was the pinnacle of the weekend fun, and it was anyone's guess who would survive the night. It caught us ALL by surprise, with Renee being the sole repeat survivor. Connor missed it by an hour when he accidentally fell asleep at 5:00 a.m. What a waste, ha!

On the afternoon after the sleepover, the kids had to rally fast because we had big plans to celebrate a huge milestone in the group: Renee's high school graduation! It hardly seems real (or fair!) that she could already be this grown and on her way to adulthood. My sister Michelle is handling it FAR better than I would be, no doubt! To celebrate the momentous occasion, we joined Renee in a shopping trip to a local mall followed by a nice lunch together as a group. Of course, we're quite the large gang, even when the men decided to stay home. We headed out for our shopping adventures and ended up splitting into some smaller groups. It's a good thing we were all prepared to do some shopping, because the wait for our table for lunch turned out to be 2.5 hours! It was a fun afternoon together despite the heat, and we were happy to have the special occasion to celebrate together.

When we got back home, it was time for the real celebration for Renee. Alli and her girls did a wonderful job with some outdoor decorations, and Renee was able to open her graduation gifts from the family. I may still be in misbelief that she is officially out of high school, but we were excited to celebrate her next chapter.

To cap off the long and busy day, it was time for another time-honored family tradition: the Morgan Freeman talent show! Yes, it's an odd name but that's what it is, and the cousins look forward to it year after year. Kaitlynn and Marissa tend to steal the show every summer, and this year was no exception. They spend hours and hours perfecting their routines, and this year's synchronized swimming and black light performances got them more "ooohs" and "aaahs" than ever before. So much talent in this family of ours!! ;) 

Phew! Writing about all of these cousin shenanigans makes me feel exhausted all over again. But as if that weren't enough, we packed in SO much more fun in our long weekend together. Next up and perhaps most special of all was the biggest and most momentous event we've ever celebrated in our Morgan family history: my parents' 50th wedding anniversary!