For every even year since I was born and for many more before that, the Meiners-Hodes family reunion has been going on in Kansas City. There are over 4000 living descendants of Katherine Hodes and Henry Meiners. This newspaper clipping is from the KC Times 6/29/1970 to put this event in perspective.
Since I got married to Danelle in 2000, we have never been in KC at the right time for this event. We decided that this year, we would make this an event we couldn’t miss! With mom passed away, I’m beginning to feel the precious pull of time where I don’t want to miss events like this to see people before its too late.
The night before the event, we all went out to dinner together. Our crew was Dan (dad), Jennifer, Brian, Zach, Phillip, Hanna, Danelle, Hogan. We went to a favorite Mexican restaurant.
Hogan, Zach, Brian, and Phillip. A quick side note, we sometimes have trouble remember which is Zach vs. Brian. Corvin came up with a non-sense saying to help us remember. “Where the B in Brian stands for glasses”. We laugh every time, but remember their correct names!
Dad with Hannah and Jennifer deeply pondering their orders.
Hannah, Jennifer, and Danelle now margarita sisters!
Back in the living room after dinner, here is Dad in his chair! We had great conversations.
Now to the family picnic/reunion on Sunday. One of the hardest things to do at these events is take photos. No, its not hard to pull my phone out and snap photos, but when you’re spending time in the moment, I find that I often don’t want to interrupt for a photo. So there are close family photos, but not enough of others that are also important to me. Also, it was super duper hot today. If not 100F, very close.
Holly, Lindsey, and me.
We made camp under a tree. We brought chairs in a wagon and a blanket.
There was a good picnic lunch and drinks included with the cost of admission. It did the job of getting us to set up camp and chat with other family members.There were lots of events going on during the picnic, but we choose to hang out together. Until the fire truck arrived!
Hogan, Hannah, and Lindsey getting wet!
We all got different levels of wet going in and out of the spray. It was a great way to cool off on this warm day. I’m pleased that Danelle and I were able to come in town and be with family on this bi-annual tradition. I’m also wondering why I’ve missed the previous 11 with Danelle. We’ll be back!
Hogan Haake