Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - FInal Thoughts and Trip Home

I am very slow finishing the last post for this trip.  We have been home over a week.

The four remaining members of the Cole family at Sequoyah Lodge headed home after eating one last heart attack breakfast before driving north to Kansas.  I was delighted that we had Dominic to drop off in Pittsburg.  I always like to see where he lives.  I thought this house was much nicer than the previous one.  There are 4 fellows who live here and there are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  Dominic's is actually an add-on to the house.  Not even attached so to get to the kitchen he has to go outside.  It's only about 2 steps but could be cold in winter.  His room is like a small studio minus kitchen.  He has a separate bathroom, a sleeping area, a study area, and an area to relax and watch TV and play video games.  Very nice.  This house is also very close to the campus.  A much better location than the last house.  This is good as his trusty jeep (older than he is) is not quite as trusty as it used to be.

 

After unloading his things, we ate lunch at Jo's Gyros which I thought was really tasty.  Tried to get into Pittsburg's number one eating establishment, The Mall Deli.  There was a line out the door. Maybe next time and I certainly was not disappointed with Jo's.  Food was good, prepared quickly, and reasonably priced.

Then it was on to Lawrence.  Dropped Seth at home.  We unloaded our vehicle and then off to get our dog, Boz.  He is always so glad to see us.  His antics are almost embarrassing but it does make one feel good. 

The Oklahoma trip was good as usual.  Both Seth and Hannah mentioned that this was the best one yet.  I think their kids are just the right age for this environment.  I also believe that the short float trip was the real highlight.  In 2018 that will be arranged so they can float for a longer period of time. Who knows, I might even float along.  

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Horse riding, pool time, getting ready to leave

Today is the last day at Sequoyah Lodge.  In the morning all of the kids and grandkids went horseback riding.  This is a ride where the horses know where to go without riders.  The little ones love it.  The older ones complain about getting sore.  One of my grandchildren told me in advance that this was her favorite thing to do at this reunion.  We couldn't miss it.

My daughter-in-law and her two youngest headed to Antioch, Illinois, shortly after the horse ride was complete.  The kids did get a chance to play in the pool while she was packing the car.  I think she was hoping the kids would nap along the way.  She was first heading to St. Louis to visit with a friend and spend the night.  The next morning it would be on to Antioch for another family reunion.  They will head to Lawrence on Sunday.

The rest of the group spent quite a bit of time at the pool and recreation room for board games, shuffle board, pool table, and crafts.  It was nice and cool inside.  Have I mentioned it has been extremely hot and humid since we have arrived? That's the way we want it to be while we are here.  Unfortunately, it looks like we are going home to the same kind of weather.

Hannah and family were leaving after supper.  We headed into Wagoner for an early supper at Les Fuentes Mexican Restaurant.  We eat here every reunion.  Food is excellent and the service is great.  I would highly recommend.

After eating, the Davids headed north and the final four of us headed back to The Lodge for a slow evening.

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Tram, Float trip, and dinner at the cabin

Once again, slow start to our day.  Short walk through the woods and back to The Lodge for breakfast.  Afterward, a meeting was held for 2018 reunion when my sister and I will be in charge.  We do have some issues as the state of Oklahoma has decided that no arrangements can be made more than a year in advance.  Well, that makes things tough as we come every other year.  But we have gathered requests for room assignments for everybody. We are hoping that it isn't too difficult to do this over the phone in 2017.  Oklahoma changes its mind every year as to how these things can be done.  Oh well, on to our day.

There were arrangements for our group to have a tram ride through the park.  The main attraction is the stop at the nature center towards the end of the trip.  In the past, the tram would run once or twice every day.  Now they only run Thursday thru Sunday.  Budget cuts.  Here are some snapshots at the nature center.

Petting a goat

Trail head near the center

Grandchildren on the tram

On the tram.  Lodge in the background.

Outside the cabana.  

Our children and grandchildren did a short float trip down the Illinois river this afternoon.  James and I didn't go with them.  I think they really enjoyed it and next reunion we will definitely work this into our activities.  They had to take a very short float trip to return in time for the hot dog and braut supper at my niece and families' cabin.

The next two photos are from the float trip down the Illinois River.

Obvious where the food is.

Dessert

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 Boating and family meal

As is usual with our family vacations, we have a number of things that we always do.  One is boating.  This year we rented a pontoon for an afternoon.  It was big enough so that all of us could join in the fun.  The sun was shining and it was hot.  Perfect day of fun.

Making sure nothing gets caught on the motor.

Enjoying the sun.

Water feels good!

Diving off the side of the boat

All the Ball relatives gather around five each day for happy hour.  Today we met in our room.  We are on the first floor and the room's patio happens to be in the shade at this time of day.  It is nice to be able to visit with everybody.  Even the kids are having a good time.  Not sure our bed will ever be the same.

 If you look carefully, there are 10 of the Ball great grandchildren on the bed.  

Visiting outside our room.

The Ball Sisters

The four Ball grandchildren.

Good time for visiting.

This is also the day that the entire Cox clan gathers for supper.  One of my cousins told me that there are over 100 of us in attendance.  It does seem like a smaller group than usual.  When and if I get a final number, I will post that.  Each branch of the family wears a different color of shirt although the design on the shirt is the same.  The final photo today is the Cole family.

Oklahoma Cox Family Reunion - 2016 - Arrival Day

Once again the Cox clan has landed at The Lodge in Oklahoma Sequoyah State Park.  Of course, the last time we were here The Lodge was named Western Hills Guest Ranch.  Since we were here last there has been a major remodeling.  As we were leaving in 2014, they were starting to tear things out. It is much nicer than before but I am terribly disappointed that the bathtub was not replaced.  Also, there is still no wireless in the lodge rooms.  Only in the main rooms of the lobby area.  Oh well, I did want to spend a lot of time in that pool.

I am delighted that the entire Cole family is here.  I am so glad that our oldest grandson was able to come.  I do worry that he might get bored so we will see how things go.  We were the last to arrive as we timed our departure to pick up pizzas at Pizza Port on our way in.  Ordered 9 pizzas an hour before we were to arrive at the Pizza Port.  Told me it would be two hours.  Decided to chance it.
To our surprise the pizzas were ready 15 minutes after we arrived.  Not bad for what we were told. Pretty good pizzas.  This is the 3rd time we have picked up from the location.  The restaurant at The Lodge has been notoriously slow on Sunday evenings and this solves that problem.  Our family and the Oliver family (23 of us) gathered at Hannah and Jim's cabana for supper.  A great location as we could sit outside (in the extreme heat) and enjoy our meal.

I didn't take very many photos yesterday.  Here are a couple.  Will try to do better today.

The 3-year-olds.

 Relaxing near the pool.