The 2022 Phosie-Gertie Picnic

 The mostly annual Phosie-Gertie Picnic was back on schedule after a two year pandemic break. Our Labor Day weekend family gathering has been held almost every year for the last 50 years, and this year we celebrated that anniversary as well as overcoming COVID. As it was we still had one couple who were absent due to that plague, and another family where cancer got in the way. Both are doing OK and should be back in the family fold soon. 

For those of you who don't know the history, Phosie and Gertie were sisters and progenitors of this ever growing family. For many years the Phosies and the Gerties have had adjoining cabins on Sunlight Beach, Whidbey Island. Both original cabins have now been replaced, and of course our first elder generation, Phosie and Gertie's kids, have long ago departed. We still honor them.

We started the afternoon with the Reeder/Foster cabin meeting, the retreat of the "Gerties".  We take our joint property responsibilities seriously. 

As siblings and cousins of three generations gathered, we greeted each other with hugs and checked out the family history displays. 

Preparations continued: getting ready for the balloon toss. 

When all were gathered it was time to raise the Phosie-Getrtie flag and sing our anthem.

Yes, we had 50th Anniversary shirts. 

Then came presentations and acknowledgements. The youngest generation, now all teens and more, presented the Elders, their grandparents. 

From right to left, oldest to youngest. Tom is three minutes older that his twin, Jan. 

Tom Fuller, a Phosie, presented a piece of glass art he created, featuring the two original old cabins. 

Tom Reeder presented Jill with a 100 year old Maple burl clock shelf which was made by Tom's great grandmother MaryAnn's brother for Mary Ann's 74th birthday in 1921. Mary Ann was Gertie's mother-in-law. This is something Jill actually wanted and it finally was rescued from our attic. It was always referred to as the ugly shelf, but no one ever threw it away. Now it will be loved again. 

New member Johnnie, a Phosie, was inducted into the "50 Club", a ceremony the elders enjoy as their kids turn 50.

Next was the group photo. 

Surprisingly, cooperation is easier when the kids are all teens and more. We even got some of  them to still sit on the ground. 

Next up, the water balloon toss.

Winners! nephew and uncle.

Time to traipse over to the beach for the sand castle contest. This year's theme: The Phosie- Gertie Picnic, of course. 

Surf's up. Some of the heat from the previous week would have been nice, but we also appreciated the coolness. 

And there are no more photos. After stomping around in the sand taking photos, I was tired, and retired to the kitchen to help prepare food for the eating part.

There was lots of eating, and talking, and laughing, and getting reconnected. 

It was another very successful PG Picnic.