One night I was thinking…thinking about how awesome our family is.  I’m sure many other people feel the same way about theirs and maybe I’m a little partial but ours is TRULY an amazing conglomerate of some of the best, funniest, and loving people in this world.  Our generations seem to blend together, we enjoy each others’ company and we all have each others’ back.

As one of the de-facto patriarchs, I felt a need to explore what makes us and our relationships so unique and so special.  Men in our family are simply outnumbered.  Why are we who we are?  How did all these different roads and experiences come together?  Do things just keep getting better as the years go on?  How does everyone else feel?  That led me to “the assignment.”

Now whether everyone in our family remembers their assignment or turns it in on time, that really doesn’t matter.  What I set out to do was to capture the essence of our fun, our experiences and our love.  I wanted to help each other understand what everyone means to everyone else and how important everyone is to each other.  I set out to do this while we things are fresh in our minds and build something that we can share and look back on for generations to come.  I wanted to harness the power of the Internet and collaborate to create a living history for my grandchildren to share with their own grandchildren.

Our annual trip to Knoebels Campground and amusement park in Elysburg, PA is something Chris and I have been doing for at least the past 23 years or so.  What started as a weekend away surrounded by some great people in 7 or 8 tent sites in a cozy little bundle has grown into a sort of family reunion of sorts over the years.  It’s there that this family magic happens and it’s there that we grow together, we share our joy together, build such great memories, and leave looking forward to what lies ahead next year.

So this blog is the assignment, this is the book…this is meant to capture our thoughts and feelings as we continue to glorious journeys both apart and when we get back together.  Just remember, keep the “fun” in dysfunctional cause that’s how we roll!