Our Reunion of Cousins – the ROC

In 2016 we lost the second cousin of my generation, Wayne Woyce.  We lost Wayne's sister, Sharon several years ago.  Wayne's unexpected death prompted me to gather the remaining cousins for a backyard Bar-B-Que in Owen Sound in June of that year. There are only seven of us left so with spouses it makes a manageable group.  I also decided to invite Wayne's children, who also live in Owen Sound.  We planned a series of games, including Horseshoes in my backyard pitch. We also purchased decorations and helium filled balloons to make it look like a big event, as well as prizes for all of the winners.

Our Big Family Reunion in Owen Sound

Shortly after moving to Owen Sound Robyn and I decide to go camping in Grundy Lake. It was an awesome experience. We went hiking through the park and fished in the lake. We spent five days camping in my Insta-Tent and cooking outdoors. As you can see from the photos Robyn caught a fish and very much enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with just me and her.

It turned out to be the perfect sunny day. We played games all afternoon until we put the hamburgers and hotdogs on the BBQ around six.

Shelly was accompanied by her husband Stephen Morlock and her children Zach and Chelsea. Shelly's family was by far the youngest in the crowd. The cousins at the time ranged in age from 67 to 71. We had a Washer Toss contest as well as a contest to guess the number of jellybeans in the jar.  However the crowd favorite was by far the Horseshoe Games as shown in the photos below.  At the end of the games it was my job to hand out the prizes to the winners. Stephen won the horseshoe matches and his son Zack cleaned up in washer toss. John came in a close second to Stephen in horseshoes and his wife Bonnie was first place in guessing the jellybeans.

Great times were had by all attendees and Cousin Karen offered to host the next Reunion of Cousins at her place. As it turned out this has become an annual event with each cousin taking turns as the host. Except for the Covid years we have gotten together every summer since this inaugural event took place in the summer of 2016