f is for french lick & family.

over the last weekend in june, my mom's side of the family gathered for our annual family reunion. this year's was held in french lick, IN...never heard of it?! me neither... but! it is the hometown of larry bird (sarah: basketball great and boston celtics player in the 80s)... i'll admit, french lick didn't sound very exciting to me and neither did the 6ish hour drive from chicago... however, surprise surprise - it is actually a really beautiful part of southern indiana with rolling hills and lovely lakes.


the whole family stayed at the patoka lakes cabins which while definitely not luxurious had enough room for all of us and the cabins had 2 beds and a kitchen/living room and a great outdoor space where we spent most of our time.


we had several cabins and they looked similar to this - but this is a stock photo from the website... no idea who those lovely folks are...


to be honest, i have no idea what the correct term is to call this adorable girl... she's my cousin's daughter who is 9 and bella had just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels for the first time a few days prior. needless to say she was beyond excited! her brother learned how to ride that very same day!


hanging out on the cabin porch is my aunt anne and her two sons: vinney and chris. chris is the oldest cousin at 45 and i am honestly not sure i've seen him since i was a little kid - like maybe 5 or 6. he lives in az now and vinney lives in seattle. anne is my mom's oldest sister and is bravely fighting a losing battle with cancer.


here are a bunch of family members all hanging out on the front porch. there was a great bench that ran the entire length of the deck and also a table and chairs set.


this is my uncle john and aunt anne - the cakes are to celebrate a variety of events from the summer: birthdays/anniversaries/etc. we are a family of sweet tooths and thus there was no shortage of cake, pie, fudge... well, you get the idea...


one of the main attractions in the town, is the historic train that goes for about a 2 hour ride. this is our entire clan. the only missing people were my grandma and grandpa, but they both passed away 12 years and 5 years ago this july. we've not all been together for as long as i can remember so it was great that we could all come together and give anne a wonderful weekend of family.


this is my uncle tim, aunt rita and cousin erica on the train


my mom (the baby by 10 years), her sister anne (the oldest by 10 years), and anne's partner of close to 30 years, sue.


the siblings: mom, anne, rita and their brother john: alllllllllll aboard! you may have been noticing the matching shirts. oh yes, we had t-shirts for the occasion! john was not in the mood to wear his i guess. which is kind of funny since it was his wife who spearheaded the whole t-shirt campaign!!


my mom and anne (who is where i get my middle name from)... how cute are they in this picture?! do you see the resemblance?!


the cousins - from left: chris, vinney, me, chris (yes, there are two - my grandma used to joking introduce them as her two grandsons, chris, as they were the first grandkids), erica, and my brother andrew.


family pride right there. vinney didn't have a shirt, but he sported the cap with pride.


me and mom being totally silly. still not sure why i'm posting this, but i think it's pretty funny.


me and bella. this is the first time i'd met her and she is beyond adorable. a little shy, but she took a liking to me and me to her. we got along great - esp after she asked how old i was and i told her 32 and she said, really? i thought you were 20! what a great kid :)


this is bella's 5 year old brother, nicholas, and their dad, chris. i hadn't seen chris since his wedding in the mid 90s - unfortunately they are now getting divorced - but he's a great dad and those kids are awesome.


on another day, we visited a rock shop. anne and my mom love rocks. yes, rocks. the outside of the building had been built with all types of rocks and geodes.


this guy's place was amazingly full of rocks from all over the world and while there were so many, they were really well organized. he's been in business for 50 years.


that's his workshop space where he cuts and polishes the rocks and things he finds on his digs.



more and more and everywhere you look there are more and more and more rocks and rock related things


this is the rock guy - his name is merrill hinshaw and this is his daughter who also works in the shop. he was fascinating - he learned everything he knows by doing - no formal education. his daughter is the geologist in the family. he also creates one of a kind jewelry and so i had to come home with a pretty and unique ring!


Named by Lapidary Journal as one of the top ten stone polishers in the nation, the Hinshaws collect rough stones, then cut and polish stones by hand to create a work of art.


this is the west baden springs hotel that was built in 1904 - and was totally restored in the 90s. it's a gorgeous hotel. and unfortunately we did not take part in their spa.


anne and my mom hanging out on a big green chair in the rotunda area.


the inside of that big red dome from the picture above. it really is stunning.


such a beautiful hotel. i had no idea something like this existed in the middle of almost nowhere indiana!

and that, folks, was our family reunion... besides all that there was of course a load of meals and hanging out. i definitely would not recommend french lick for its cuisine as that was practically nonexistent. it was a lovely family filled weekend and my aunt anne said it was the perfect weekend and wished it could go on longer. i'd say that is success!!