Family Reunion

I am still on a high from spending the week end with my Tempel cousins, and other family members and friends.

Saturday, October 11, we drove from Blue Earth MN to New Prague MN. We took Highway 169 most of the way and it was like being home. This was the highway I learned to drive on! It goes through my home town of Winnebago. We looked for some of the old landmarks – the creamery, the canning plant, the water tower, the restaurant I used to work at, even my house – they were all gone! But there is a nice museum in my Uncle Rob’s old general store.

When I got to New Prague I met eight of my high school class mates and their mates at the Fish Tale Grill across from our hotel for lunch. What fun it was to catch up and reminisce. I had not seen some of them since high school graduation. We all had wonderful, sad, and entertaining stories to tell. 

 


It was hard to say good bye, but I still had 3 more days of renewing friendships. In the evening we went to my cousin, Debbie Hanzel’s house, for pizza, conversation, and finalizing plans for the next day.

On Sunday, some of us gathered at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church for 10:30 mass. Then almost sixty cousins of the first to the fourth generations gathered in the parish hall to enjoy food, conversation, and sharing our life experiences. After a group picture and a short memorial service for our deceased relatives, we sat in a circle and asked questions about family history. The answers were so interesting and we learned a lot about our parents, their siblings, and their parents.

After cleaning up the parish hall some of us retired to the home of David Bruzek to debrief, while many others headed for their homes.

On Monday, a small group headed for the home of cousin, Larry Tempel, in Savage MN. Liz and Larry treated us to a delicious breakfast and showed us around their town home which had been extensively customized by Larry. He also shared his recorders with us. What talented and musical people we Tempels are!

Then we headed for Milwaukee to spend time with my brother, Allen, and my sister, Dee. It was pouring rain during the drive, but we still enjoyed a couple of stops for food and shopping.

Dee had to fly back to Florida on Tuesday. Don and I spent the day with Allen, working on family history, touring around Milwaukee, and visiting his daughter, Amy’s family. We had breakfast at the North Avenue Grill, where 2 of his daughters work and dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant – yum, yum!