Witmer-Stauffer Drop-in at the East Petersburg Community Park

I'm finally sitting down to blog.  Whew!!  There's so much to write, and so many pictures to share.  But even if this post ends up being so long that every reader quits long before the end, I'm still gonna do it.  Because I do this for me.  More and more I discover stories and events I would have forgotten all about if I had not blogged about them.   So here goes.

On Sunday morning Dick and I drove to Lancaster County.  We arrived long before necessary at the East Petersburg Community Park where we were hosting a drop-in for Lisa, George and Sophie from 2 - 5.   But that was okay.  As we sat at the park we reminisced.  You see, the very first house we bought in 1978 nearly backed up to that park, with just the fire company between.  And wouldn't you know it?  While we sat there the fire alarm went off reminding us of the years Dick ran with the fire company.  We used to joke that he would hear the alarm and jump out of bed any hour of the night as I slept on.  Likewise, I would hear a child's voice and jump out of bed any hour of the night as he slept on!

Lisa, George, and Sophie had spent the previous two nights in DC with Jeremy, and he drove them to Lancaster County for this event.  I had invited our Stauffer and Witmer relatives who live in Lancaster County, any of our children who could come, and Lisa invited a high school friend Monica (a faithful reader of this blog, by the way!)  The weather forecast warned of strong thunderstorms, but I guess they went elsewhere, because our weather was great!  I think there were fifty-three people there.  Most of them came and stayed till 5.  It was a TOTALLY wonderful afternoon.

The guests of honor.

Four generations of Stauffers.

Four generations of Witmers (Grandma Mary standing in for my mom and dad, of course.)

Jeremy with Ray and Thyda and Sophie.

Anthony (far right, standing) made it too on his way back from a guitar show in New Jersey. 

Lisa with her high school friend Monica.

Dick with his dad and brothers.

Jeremy with cousin Heather Stauffer.  Neither of them can deny being a Stauffer!

Ray and George catching up.

Thyda loving on Sophie.

Cousins Laura and Joe.

Lisa chats with Grandpa Stauffer.  The two grandmas chat on the other side of the table.

Doris's daughter Kim and her son Andrew.

More of Doris's family.

Aunt Deb with some Stauffer cousins.

Doris's husband Dale and Dick's brother Steve - the carpenter brotherhood.

Steve and granddaughter Natalia.

Sophie getting acquainted with Monica's daughter (left) and Steve and Faye's granddaughters Morgan and Natalia.

Doris's son-in-law Scott with his daughter Brinley.

Two little girls with the same name, though spelled differently - Doris's granddaughter Paityn and Fred and Deb Stauffer's granddaughter Payten.

Stauffer girl cousins, Krista, Heather, and Lindsey.

My sister Mary Ellen (here with Doris's granddaughter Brinley) was a tremendous help, even getting the pavilion reservation at a reduced rate for me because she's an East Petersburg resident. 

Two of Steve and Faye's grandsons, Adam and Eli.

My brother Dick and his wife Nancy just returned from a three week trip to the west coast that day.  They came and Nancy showed us pictures of our sister Barb's new house in Idaho!

Nancy and Doris with Brinley.

Stauffer women, Carolyn, Deb, and Faye.

Laura's Payten.

Doris with granddaughter Brinley.

Cousins!  Zoe and Andrew.

Lisa and Grandma Arlene.

When 5:00 came, we were glad Anthony was there to take luggage in his car.  We piled Lisa, George, Sophie, and Nilla Bean into our car with us, and as we left, we went around the block so we could drive up Main Street right by "our house".  It was white with country blue trim when we owned it.  

We had an important stop to make on the way to State College.  Sam, Jenn, and Sammy had not been able to be there because of a big family day at a Harrisburg Senators baseball game with her dad's place of employment, UPS.  So we stopped in at her parents' house near Harrisburg.  Sammy totally hammed it up.  The more we laughed the more he "hammed"!  I LOVE those curls!

Then we made the rest of the trip to State College, settled in, got some pizza, and reminisced the fun day.  It was SO good to have them here.

More about our time together in the next installment.