Missing people

August -  Oyster Party month, birthday and anniversary month.  There is always a lot to celebrate this time of the year.  For more than twenty-five years we hosted an event that became known as the Oyster Party.  It began as a family reunion and the first time we had fresh oysters on the BBQ was when Jon's parents brought bags of fresh oysters from the Washington coast.  

The date seemed to always be around the time of either Jon's mom's birthday, August 7th, or Jon or his sister Linda's birthdays, August 18 and 19th.   Flying Fish came into being and we ordered the oysters from them every year.  Twenty dozen oysters.  Everyone brought side dishes and it was a marathon party event that began around 2:00 in the afternoon and ended with music until midnight.

These days I think about all of those fun times as Jon and I do our best to stay home and social distance.  We are missing all the people in our lives.  I have decided to post some photos in my next few blogs of all of the people we are thinking of and missing.  I hope they bring some happy memories to you as they did for me.  

I have hundreds of photos, so bear with me. 

 

The Reineke side of the family

Oyster party photo of the kidlets.  A photo we took every year.

4th of July - Cougar Creek Band and the second line

Singing one of the songs at midnight.

Summer - the gig and the diners at Trinity

Oyster party -  Tyler Long, JP and David

Adam Long and George Rolofson

Lora Long and Oliver

We always had games for the kids.  Daughter-in-law Julie was great at inventing new games each year.  The kids loved it.

Julie, giving the game instructions.

Ellie and Rylee - pick up a penny with your toes.

Ellie and Lyndsie Kiebert, Jens Heisel.

Our last Burkhart family reunion in Missoula.

New Year's Eve:

The song they are all singing is either, "If I Were A Rich Man", or "The House of the Rising Sun".   I think they were having fun.
 More tomorrow...