There was a Holte reunion planned for the August long weekend, so on Thursday, August 2nd we packed up the boys and hopped on a (extremely early) WestJet flight to Saskatoon. We arrived at Norm & Diane Janzen's house at noon, just in time for a rollkuchen feast! Along with Norm & Diane, Curt, Michelle and their boys were there, along with Rachel, my sisters, my parents and Mr. & Mrs. B.
My boys enjoying their first tastes of rollkuchen and watermelon.
I think they quite enjoyed it, as they should! One-quarter of their background is German Mennonite.
I am quite dissappointed that I got absolutely no pictures of the other people that were there that day, or my gracious hosts, Norm & Diane.
We stayed the night at the Janzens, and the next morning left for the Town of Wadena, Saskatchewan, a very small town near the old family farm that was celebrating their 100th birthday with a town home-coming. That, along with the fact that my Grandmother (on the Holte side) is turning 90 years old this year, were the reasons a family reunion was planned. It was great timing since the last reunion was in 2006 when Ronan was a baby, and not everyone made it to that one. At this reunion there were four cousins that we hadn't met yet, and there were cousins, aunts and uncles, that had not yet met Latham and Finnian.
Before we left the city we made a stop at my old alma-mater - The University of Saskatchewan (Master's degree, 2005). It was very surreal being back in the halls that I spent so much of my life in, and not only that, but taking my children there as well.
The home-coming festivities started with a town pancake breakfast, which was served by the mayors of Wadena, SK and Wadena, Minnesota. A quick history lesson - 100 years ago Wadena, SK was founded by a bunch of people that had left Wadena, MN - including my great-grandfather. Anyways, at the pancake breakfast was where all of the family met up. The majority of the families were dry camping on the old Hendon school grounds, but there were also a few families that were in nearby hotels. Collin, the boys and I stayed in the Blue Willow Inn that the boys absoltely loved since our beds were in a loft.
Ronan and my cousin's son, Evan, were instant best friends. They are only six weeks apart in age, so they had all the same little boys interests and were two peas in a pod for the time we were there.
After the pancake breakfast was the home-coming parade! We stationed ourselves on Main Street, across from the Town Hall. An old-time band was playing, and we had the best area for watching the parade. Especially since we were also right infront of the Royal Bank, which was giving out free root beer floats, balloons and face painting.
The RCMP and the (super old) Majorette.
The blonde woman in the convertible is Pamela Wallin (famous Canadian newscaster and current senator). She is from Wadena, and they named a street after her.
The kids got a kick out of the old men on little scooters.
The twins, Samantha and Stephanie with the boys cousins watching the parade.
Fun old time car in the parade.
That evening was a dinner and dance at the local curling rink. Ronan and Evan had a great time dancing with their cousins.
Latham declared he was tired and promptly fell asleep on two chairs pushed up against a wall. He slept soundly throughout the loud music.
Note the name tag he's wearing. Although at one point in the day he had his own name tag on, after dinner someone noticed that he was now wearing a tag that read "Larry Barabonoff". He knows that his name starts with an "L" so he must've assumed that it was his tag and put in on. We called him Larry Barabonoff the rest of the weekend.
Ronan and I dancing.
Left to right: Corey Holte, Collin McLoughlin and Neil Kostyk
Ronan with Stephanie and Samantha.
The dance concluded with fireworks in the nearby park. It was a fun-filled day!
