The Jones Family Reunion

Every summer, the Jones family gathers for a reunion somewhere in Ohio; mostly in and around the Coshocton area which is where most of them are from and a lot of them still live. So Mr. Jones and I loaded up the van and headed down to Ohio. I love the drive down there. Mr. Jones does all of the driving, which is a good thing because driving puts me completely to sleep! I'm not much better as a passenger! Within about 45 minutes on the road, I am completely drugged, stupified into a sleepy, coma-like state! I really am a terrible traveling partner.

But having said that, I do like to take road trips. I love the scenery on the way to Coshocton -- and the deeper you get into Ohio, the prettier it gets. It's not flat like here in Michigan. There are abundant hills and valleys. We pass so many old farms -- the ones with the huge stately brick farm houses, shaded by poplars and willow trees, surrounded by white-picket fences, vast rows of corn, wooden farm fencing with Queen Anne's lace peaking through, lazy cows feeding in the fields, bright-colored wild flowers dancing along the hilltops, the ever-present hawk gliding ever-so-gracefully just above a circlet of trees ... and quaint little towns all along the way --

The town square at Mt. Gilead

I wanted to take more pictures of these small towns with their town squares, old court buildings, libraries, war memorials, stone churches and main streets -- but Mr. Jones didn't want to stop for me to take pictures! I shot this photo through the window of the van. But listen to some of the names of these places: coming into Coshocton from west to east -- Mt. Gilead, Mt. Vernon, Newcastle, Walhonding, Nellie, Warsaw ... if you go further east, you run into W. Lafayette, Newcomerstown (that one cracks me up!) and Gnadenhutten (pronounced: Ga-naden-hut-ten but often pronouced "Ga-nooten-hooten") -- can you imagine having the misfortune of being born in a town impossible to say and even worse to spell? -- and then south of Coshocton are places like Conesville and Zanesville. It's all very country. And a lot of it is Amish, especially if you tavel a bit north and east of Coshocton to Walnut Creek or Sugarcreek.

Well, we finally arrived! We checked into the hotel and right away went over to the Coshocton County Fair Grounds where Uncle Rick has his train club modeled after the Toledo Walhonding Valley & Ohio line. We met up with Sabrina, Andrew, Olivia, Jackson and baby Karis (who drove all the way from Austin, TX to attend this reunion!). Outside the club ...Sabrina and Karis DanielleAndrew and Olivia
(isn't her smile so beautiful ?)Jackson was really excited about these trains!
And look at Olivia! I think she likes them too! Some of the layout ...

It's usually very fun to visit with Uncle Rick over at the Club, but he wasn't there! He had to teach a class of some sort, so I went back to the hotel with Sabrina and clan to get some sleep. Mr. Jones stayed at the Club for a few hours more and THEN Uncle Rick showed up.

On Saturday, we decided to take a hike over across the river to see a little bit of Roscoe Village. They were having a Civil War re-enactment and Andrew, being a Civil War buff, was interested in seeing some of that. This is where the Muskingum, Walhonding and Tuscarawas
Rivers all kind of come together ...
(Try saying that combination of names together! Ouch!)

We crossed the bridge over the river(s) and looked around Roscoe Village for awhile.

Andrew and Jackson had their picture
taken with two of the Civil War guys.
The kids thought ice cream would be just the thing ...
Sabrina and Olivia discussing the pros and cons
of having ice cream at 9:00 in the morning ...

Andrew listening to Abraham Lincoln give a speech.
Olivia and I escaped into a gift shop!

As a boy, Mr. Jones lived on Maple Street behind what is now Roscoe Village. It did not exist as a Historic Village when he was growing up. In fact, it was said that he grew up on the "wrong side of the river", meaning the "poor" side. Now it is just the opposite! This is now the classy side of town!

It was finally time to go to Shoemaker's Farm for the reunion. What a beautiful day and great location! It was "our turn" to host the reunion. What do I mean? It was the family of Robert Jones' turn to host the party! Robert Jones is Mr. Jones' dad. He was the oldest of six children. So there was Robert (Bob) and Marjorie, Mildred and Barney, Kenny and Francis, Mary and Chuck, Jim and Anita, and then there was William who died in infancy. Each of the families take turns hosting the reunion. So it hadn't been our turn in five years. The last few times it has been our turn, we have picked Shoemaker's Farm as the location. Here are some pictures!

There is a picnic area with a pavilion at the back

of the property, and it has everything needed

for a good time!

And it is a really beautiful place!

Olivia climbing a tree ...
I remember Sabrina liking to do the same ...

What a great tire swing !

Jackson attached himself to this digger truck

and we really weren't sure we were going to be able to pry

him off of it to go home ...

Aunt Kathy, Aunt Peg, Mr. Jones, Aunt Anita

There was a ton of good food -- too much!

There was an old graveyard on a hill overlooking

the picnic area -- not very well taken care of --

some of these markers were 200 years old!

There were many games of bean bags --
(thanks to cousin Lynn).

Olivia was very accurate with her tosses!

Some of the little kids noticed these birds

nesting above the light in the pavilion --

they were chattering like crazy at us!

Shoemaker's Farm is abundant with flowers ...

We had gathered to eat lunch at 1:00 and by about 5:00 everyone was ready to be on their way. We'd had such a nice afternoon. It was great to see family again. And it was so refreshing to be out in the country -- the air is so wonderful and the land just stretches on and on and on. When I was a young girl, my family would go to Canada, a bit north of Toronto to visit my mom's aunt and cousin -- a little place outside of Barry, Ontario -- I loved to visit there ... and I never got over my thrill of seeing all that land stretching out before me!

Our small part of the family were invited to Aunt Kathy's afterwards so that Sabrina could see their new home in the woods ...

Their homestead campfire --

Uncle Dan says the deer come this close to the house!

Their house is smack dab in the middle of the woods!

We were really hoping that Nathan would be home. He couldn't attend the reunion because he is working 10-hour days and had to work Saturday. Sabrina had not seen Nathan in ten years. They were born on the very same day in August, eight years apart! Look at how happy these cousins are to see each other!

And what did Nathan say?

"Hi, shorty!"

We hung out for just a little while at Aunt Kathy's, but we were headed up the road to Marion to spend the night ... so we said our goodbyes for another year. I really do think that family should get together for more than just an annual reunion, don't you? And I didn't do very well taking pictures of all the extended family. I'm sure Mr. Jones did a better job. I have no picture to show you of Grandma Theda, and she looked so good too! I don't have a picture of Uncle Rick or Aunt Diane either ... well, another year, another reunion ... I have about a million pictures of trains to show you next -- trains in Marion and trains in Findlay ... so stay tuned!