Vosslings Adventure Book: Heritage Days

Day 27 Happy 4th of July!

Day 27

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

July 4, 2015

Happy 4th of July!! Today we had an activity filled day ahead. We arrived bright and early ready for events ahead. We tried to round up our kids that stayed over night with some cousins. There was a bit of a circus planned today. There were some clowns, face painting, fishing, games, prizes and scavenger hunt. The kids all had a blast with clowns Caleb and Liz playing a game with a parachute. I really enjoyed seeing the big cousins take over some of the entertainment for our little ones.

The afternoon was filled with so many fun activities including our traditional gigantic firetruck water slide. The water slide is usually the "do not miss" event for the kids. The fishing contest is also moving up on the list of events. I loved fishing this year. I started off by myself and ended up with 5 groupies under the age of 10. Love my parental duties. I really enjoyed this years reunion because there is a new generation on kiddos running around and it was fun to learn about them all.

Later we had our hayride from Uncles farm back to Picnic Point were we love to fish and sing and cook up some good ol' burgers on the grill. At Picnic Point we love to take our time fishing and working on our best catch for the contest. During our hayride, it turns into a hay throwing fight between the 2 tractors. It really is a big hay mess but it certainly is fun by all!

The big kids hung back and Chandler slept in a tent in the yard at the radio station WJLY while Carmen slept at her Aunties. We drove to St. Louis where we spent the evening with my parents for the night.

Face paint fun

Giant tarp with clown cousins

WATERSLIDE

Cousin time

Uncle giving you the "what's UP"

Hayride

Hay fights

cousins bonding

Cousinly Macho Macho Men

The little ones watching all the fish swim in the little pond that

were caught in the lake.

Day 26 Park it in Ramsey

Day 26

Park it in Ramsey

July 3, 2015

Today we had to pack everything up after sleeping in the RV in the driveway at the machine shed at the Family Farm. We needed to get it hooked back up to power instead of running the generator. We made arrangements to stay at the local Ramsey State Park. Josh had to watch the kids, prep for his day at the reunion as well as pack up the RV to move it. I had a wedding shower and baby shower to attend for 2 lovely ladies. I had a wonderful time visiting with all the wonderful Aunts and Cousins at the double shower. Time got away from us and Josh and I were down to the wire when it came to moving the RV and rushing back in time for the family photo and lunch. Off we went...

The Park was beautiful and full of Forth of July Campers. There were kids all over the park riding bikes, playing games, playing on the playground and even made a makeshift lemonade stand. It was the most festive park we have been to yet. Everyone there was gearing up for a pretty awesome 4th of July celebration. After we wiggled our way into our camping spot, we ran back to the reunion in time for lunch but unfortunately we missed the family picture.

Later we did some fishing, ceramic art, games, pogo stick contest and many other activities. Tonight was the big night for Fireworks. We took a 20 minute drive to the next town over called Pana. They have a great Firework show for the 4th of July. We all arrived at the Pana Park where we played at the playground, played frisbee and chatted amongst ourselves while eating sack lunches waiting for dusk. As dark was upon us, we drove over to a family friends house where we packed their back yard for a spectacular firework show. It was a blessed day.

(Uncle)Grandpa and grandson fishing

Pogo Stick contest

ceramics

Wedding shower

cousin time

double trouble

Day 25 HERITAGE DAYS

Day 25

Heritage Days 2015

Depart- Lawton, Oklahoma
Destination- Ramsey, Illinois
670 miles and 10 hours

July 2, 2015

We had a very busy day ahead. We had come to realize the Voss family reunion starts TODAY! My planning was a day behind. The only location we had to skip was our stay in Joplin, Missouri. A few years ago we took a trip to visit Grandma in Oklahoma and stopped for the night in Joplin, Missouri just after the tornado had ripped through town. We vividly remember the experience of driving through the devastation. It would have been a nice trip to go through there a few years later and compare the rebuild. I hope we get the opportunity at another time. We departed Lawton, OK at 6am in the middle of a rain storm. Josh was soaked after closing up the RV so we can get on the road, it was dark and wet and not the best start to our day. We had a good 10 hour drive ahead of us to arrive at the Family Reunion in time to hitch a ride on the firetruck in route for ice cream at Dairy Dee.

When we pulled into Ramsey, IL., we were ahead of schedule and really excited to set up camp at the WJLY Radio Station. As we pulled onto the lawn, the front tires sank into the ground, Josh stopped immediately. We were STUCK! We drove over 4000 miles and got stuck on the last leg of our trip. It was a bit of a fiasco but thankfully we were at the farm with family and were able to get immediate assistance. First we tried to pull it out with Dad's truck. It was unsuccessful. Then we tried to pull it out with a tractor, the tires just spun until there were spin out holes in the gravel drive. Lastly, we used 2 tractors to pull the RV until it started to roll back. SUCCESS! We had a good laugh at this. I'm just thankful we had access to equipment and a few family farmers to pull us out!

After we got ourselves out of the front yard, we drove up to the machine shed to park for the night. We were so happy to have made it to the reunion in time for dinner and the traditional firetruck ride to Dairy Dee for ice cream. When the firetrucks got back to the machine shed, Josh and his dad tired unsuccessfully to find us power for the night, the generator would have to do. We had a slumber party in the driveway. So be it!