Goss Family Reunion

Now that the Heart Walk is over, I can finally catch up on blogging. Here is the run down on our Goss Family Reunion (my Mom's side) that I helped plan in July. It was a blast to plan especially around so many people but sure was a lot of work :)

We held the reunion in Fairfield, CA (where I grew and where my Grandma Goss currently lives). Most of my cousins, aunts and uncles also lived in Fairfield at one time too. We decided that since it is hard for Grandma to travel, we would hold the reunion in Fairfield and plan it around her birthday (which is June 26). We purposely did not tell her that part though.

The last time we had a Goss Reunion was in 2011 in Las Vegas.

We had a fabulous turnout with my grandma and parents, of course, and all of my brothers and sisters and their families in attendance along with Aunt Lori and Uncle Ray, Aunt Liana and Uncle Peter and Jonathan, Uncle Larry and Aunt Joan, my cousins Shauna, Spencer, Erick, Jennae and their families.

Here was the official itinerary for the reunion I put together from suggested ideas:

As you can see, we kicked off the reunion with dinner at BJ's on a Thursday night where we also celebrated my Aunt Lori's birthday. The official start was on Friday with a tour and lunch at the Jelly Belly Factory.

Here are photos at the Jelly Belly Factory:

All of us before we embarked on our tour. Notice Matt's head got cut off.

Rocky and little Alex

Nieces - Melodie and little Aria

Jack (nephew) got tired before we even got started

Tori and Bryan (my sis and bro-in-law) and others waiting to get started with our nerdy tour hats on

Melodie and Alex (in the stroller) - niece and nephew

Best bud cousins - Cody and Melodie  (nephew and niece)

Rocky, Aria, Danielle and Grandma

Aunt Joan, Uncle Larry, Uncle Peter, Grandma Goss, Aunt Liana, my cousin Jonathan and Melodie

Dylan (nephew), Paige (sis-in-law) and Kailey (niece)

Keri and cousin Danielle

Tori, Jack (apparently he had a question), Bryan hiding behind Alex, and my Mom

Sarah (sis-in-law), her newest Aria, Paige, my bros - Ryan and Rocky

Matt, Keri and brother Bo

The kids loved the Jelly Bell Tasting Station - especially the weird flavors as shown here

 After lunch we headed over to the Rockville Cemetery in Suisun where my Grandpa Goss is buried. My cousin Danielle made an awesome timeline on a sheet of his life and she shared information and photos about Grandpa Goss with the rest of us. Then my Grandma and my mom and her brother and sisters shared their favorite stories of Grandpa with the rest of us who didn't get to know him much or for the little kids - at all. It was such a special experience to get to hear about my Grandpa and learn about his life. Danielle did such a fabulous job!

Mom, Tori and Jack at Grandpa's headstone for a generational photo

Mel, Jack and Cody checking out the headstones

Danielle's timeline of Grandpa Goss' life (being held by my cousin Alma and Uncle Larry)

After the grave visit, we headed over to my Aunt Lori and Uncle Ray's home for a pool party which is always good times. I enjoyed laying around talking to Paige and Sarah while watching Matt and the boys throw a football around in the pool. And Ray and Lori spoiled us with all the watermelon we could eat.

Ryan, Matt, Rocky and Dylan fighting for the football

Matt, Dylan, Ryan and Rocky

Aria enjoying the grass by the pool

After the pool party we had our reunion kickoff party at the local institute building with dinner, music trivia, Rock Band and Karaoke. My mom, Tori and I each put together some music trivia for the others which was not easy when you know how much we like to argue. Several people were put in "the shame chair" for cheating off of their family members which was hilarious. I did music trivia questions, Tori did "Name That Tune" and my Mom did "Don't Forget the Lyrics" questions.

Then we put on some Rock Band for a bit, played pool and ping pong - even Grandma Goss got up and played. We then closed the night with karaoke which is always good times in my family. Somehow a family men's group was formed of Ryan, Rocky, Bo, and my cousin Erick and the rest of us enjoyed watching them sing their faces off. There is already talk of men's group reunion performance :)

Neil and Grandma Goss playing ping pong

Mel and Sarah singing  Barbie Girl I think

Rockband with Jackson on back-up mic

And the band was formed - Ryan, Rocky, Bo & Erick

Here they are singing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"

Here are some vocals: https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10200491753029384

The next day, we held our first Goss Family 5k Run and Walk around the Paradise Valley area. We planted Grandma at the finish line to cheer everyone on and give out breakfast. My little bro, Seth, kept her company and served as time keeper with Grandma (he had just broken his foot at a trampoline park). Then my parents set up a folding table and water at the halfway point along the way which is good because the little kids just made it halfway and ended up hanging out there.

Matt didn't quite make it up for the run which is a same but the rest of us had a blast despite the extremely hot weather. The 5K was a success and probably my favorite activity. I ran with some of Sarah's high-school age siblings and was pleased that I was able to keep up with them the whole time.

After I finished running, Josh and I drove around in his Hummer to cheer on the others and pick up any stragglers. It as fun seeing everyone out there - and imagine our surprise to find a bunch of kids at the water station. We threw them in the car and took them back to the finish line - and they loved rolling down the windows and cheering on their parents and siblings.

Even though it was a competitive event, of course, we did have to commend Josh for beating everybody considerably. My brothers were all big long-distance runners in high school and we have had much debate on which brother was fastest - this settled this for now.

My mom and I put together prizes for the top male and female and top girl and boy. The winning prizes were tall knee high socks that my mom had sewed little capes on them.

Grandma and Alex

All of us post-run/walk

Everybody lined up to start - notice Ryan and Rocky pushing each other out the way

After the fun run, we went to a park and had lunch and "Cousin Camp". My cousin, Erick, and his wife, Jaylynn, put on a bunch of " Minute to Win It" type games for all of us. We would have stayed there for hours but I had to grab volunteers to help us set up at the church for Grandma's birthday party.

Matt trying to eat the donut off the string without using his hands or arms

Ryan & Josh watching Bo go crazy on his donut. Bo attacked the donut like a beast and struggled to get a handle on his donut. He had all of us rolling on the grass laughing. Cody felt sorry for him not getting his donut so he ended up stepping and pulling it off the string and handing it to Bo. Cutest thing ever!

The classic water balloon toss

Erick "the pro" trying to show us how easy the cup hat game was

Spencer's boy, Quentin, trying to eat a gummy bear off a pencil

The cup hat game had everyone puzzled 

Nobody was exempt from the donut game. Here I am trying to attack my own donut along with Jaylynn, Jennae and Quentin.

Neil, Erick & Bo (watching in awe)

The water balloon toss

It was hard to pull Rocky away from Aria

The twins - Bo & Josh

Rocky attempting the cup hat game

Quentin, Mel and Dylan 

The first round of the donut game with fierce competitors - Bo, Rocky, Josh (wearing one of my dad's old work suits for fun) and Ryan

That night, we put on a surprise western-themed Birthday Celebration for Grandma at my parent's church building. She knew we were having a party but she didn't know it was for her and that we had invited about 50 of her friends.

But first we cleaned ourselves up and took family photos:

The Goss family

Lori and Ray's family 

The OG Adams'

The twins sylin

Bo and Josh again

Erick & Jaylynn's family

Jonathan, Aunt Liana & Uncle Peter

Spencer's family and Shauna (his twin)

Jennae's family

The full Adams Family 

KerMatt

Spencer's family again

Erick's family again

Bryan & Tori's family

Grandma and her daughters

Ryan & Paige's family

Bryan & Tori's family again

Grandma's party started out with dinner then we had a musical program emceed by my dad. Here is the program:

We tried to have the program centered around music that my Grandma would know. We couldn't have the program without mom and her sisters singing. And we even talked Grandma into coming up and leading everyone in singing "Back in the Saddle". Melodie did an adorable tap number, Bo sang his heart out and then Tori and Bryan played an AMAZING viola & piano duet. I've actually never heard Bryan play his viola so I was pleased that he agreed to do so and he silenced the whole room. Tori is the only child in our family who actually has stuck with piano through the years and she played beautifully. I think she even inspired Seth to want to pick up piano playing again. Lori played her flute to the "Star Spangled Banner" while my mom accompanied her on the piano and my brothers, Matt and Dylan sang a song from one of our family's favorite musicals "The Music Man". I helped them put the number together and they were great and really looked like they were having fun. Kailey played the piano making my mom proud and then Tori and I did a medley of "Singing in the Rain", "Put on a Happy Face" and "You Are My Sunshine". Tori and I are so used to singing together from our childhood so it was easy for us to throw that together. We ended the program having everyone sing "Home on the Range" and then Grandma said a few words thanking everyone for coming. You could tell she was so happy and thankful for her party.

After dessert we moved Grandma over to the photo area we set up and had everyone come over and take western photos with her. She loved it!

Bo and Grandma

Matt, Grandma and I

Us being tough

Grandma and her baby girl, Lori

Bo, Grandma and Josh 

Grandma and the twins again

Grandma and her girls

Ryan (looking like ZZ Top), Paige, Kailey, Cody (adorable), Grandma and Dylan

Neil, Spencer, Daria, Grandma and Ethan

The man formerly known as my Dad with Grandma

Dad, Grandma and Mom

The next day we went to church together and were planning on barbecuing but the cold, damp weather ruined those plans. So we ended up having lunch and many of the families went home. The rest of us went out and played soccer for a little bit and then up back at my parents to hang out. After so many activities I think we were all pretty tired. But it was so fun to spend time together and catch up on everyone's life.

We concluded the ruin on Monday morning with a hike at Rockville Park. Only a few of the families were still left and we ended hiking more than we intended but we loved it! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend and family reunion.

After that we all said goodbye and went home. We took Paige back to San Jose with us because she was flying out from there. It was nice to have the time with her still and to show her around the South Bay a little bit. Matt even took us to dinner at Google.

Love my family and the fun times we have together!