Every year, the Parks Cousins get together for Parks Palooza! Grandma and Grandpa Parks would be soooo proud of our commitment to stay strong as a family and enjoy each other and our families. I know that would be the one legacy they would want to leave us with.
Here is a little family history...remember this blog is for my kiddos, so I want them to know who everyone is! Papa has 2 Brothers Clayton and Don. My Uncle Clayton is the oldest and has Dana and Shelley. Uncle Don is the middle brother and has Danny, Holly, and Michael. Finally, Papa had Mendy and I. So, all together, there are 7 original Parks cousins. Now, we have expanded though as many are married and have kids! If everyone were to be together at once, we would now total 19! We were so sad this year that Dana and her whole family couldn't join us, however, we were blessed to have Dana's daughter Taylor (now a beautiful 21yr old!) able to come. Michael was the only other cousin not able to attend, but he has vowed to make it next year! All who attended this year were: Danny and his beautiful wife Sally, Holly, Shelley and her hubby Tony and Son Jackson (age 5), Dana's daughter Taylor, Mendy and Chris with kids Mackenzie (age 5) and Jaxson (19 months), and our clan of 4 (Caelin 1yr/Cade 2 yr).
This year we rented a pontoon boat and spent the afternoon on Lake Austin. The weather was beautiful and the water felt so nice. Most of the time was spent lounging and talking in the water, but we did have some great action take place with the double tube rides. Uncle Chris was the boat captain this time and did a great job keeping us safe. Shelly enjoyed dancing to the wild 80's tunes and eating her caramel dip (nuff said), Danny enjoyed the water and hanging with the kids, Holly enjoyed laying in the sun...and her noodle (also nuff said), Mendy enjoyed chasing kids and talking, and I had a blast eating goldfish and riding the tube with Taylor. The cousins had a great time. Sometimes I wonder what the "outsiders" think of us and if they ponder what they have gotten themselves into...
At the end of the Boat fun, we did a quick Parks chant complete with hands in and then headed to Hula Hut for dinner. It was quite a memorable day.
Sunday morning, we woke up and all met at Danny and Sally's for a brunch. Sally really outdid herself with quiche, fresh fruit, fresh tomatoes, hawaiian sweet rolls with turkey/cheese, homemade blueberry muffins and coffee/juice! It was nice to have a place to let the kids run around (5 under age 5...wowzers) and all of us just relax and catch up. I sure wish we all lived closer as gathering in one spot with everyone from Dallas, Houston, Austin, California, and Michigan can be a bit challenging. I look forward to this every year and can't wait for next years adventure...where we going next Cuz'?!
