Bringin' in the New Year with the Rhodes Family

On New Year's Eve night, my entire family met up in Owatonna to visit our long-time family friends, the Rhodes family. My parents and Lonnie and Sue Rhodes all attended college together at Minnesota Bible College (now Crossroads College) and have remained good friends since. Our two families all got together at least once or twice a year for as long as I can remember growing up. There are many memories my family shares with the Rhodes family with the most memorable for me being sinking a motor boat with all ten of us in it in the middle of Long Lake up near Park Rapids while my dad and Lonnie got stung dozens of times by bees that had built a hive in the front of the boat and had apparently became aggravated midway through our boat trip.

While our parents still get together at least once or twice a year, the entire families had only gotten together once since us kids left for college; and that was exactly four years ago. Lonnie and Sue's oldest, Philip, in now 35 years old and is married to Brynn; and they have three kids (Maya 10, Xander 4, and David 2) and have recently moved to Owatonna and are living in Lonnie and Sue's old house. Lonnie and Sue's middle child, Kirsten, is now 30 years old and has just recently moved in with them after living out in California. Lonnie and Sue's youngest, Peter, is now 27 years old and is married to Nicole; and they live in Owatonna as well. With all of them living in Owatonna and having three houses, they were able to host our family overnight. It was really good to catch up, reminisce, and play games against each other. There was even talk about having family t-shirts and a traveling trophy in the years to come for the family who will win the most points in all of the games that will be played. In the picture below, Brynn is waiting for the women to get a clue in Catch Phrase (actually, I think the women beat the men in Catch Phrase two games to one).

After many games were played and after bringing in the New Year, Aimee and I rode with Peter, Nicole, and Kirsten back to Peter and Nicole's house. We stayed up another hour or so talking some more but mostly watching Penelope play with their dog Piper. Penelope had a good time trying to get Piper to play tug of war with her, but Piper was not so fond of Penelope taking her toys out of their bin and spreading them out all over the place. All of Piper's toys have names, and the toy Penelope is playing with in the picture below is named Big Nuts (a squirrel).

On New Year's morning, Sue had reserved the gym at the bank where she works in Owatonna; and all of us except my brother Brad and my dad (they went to Phil and Brynn's house and watched Iowa win the Outback Bowl...GO HAWKS!) went and played some floor hockey followed by some 4-on-4 basketball and then Lightning. In the picture below, Aimee is facing off against Maya in the center with Brynn and I behind them near the windows, my brother Chris to the right of us near the windows, Kirsten as the goalie, Nicole to the right of her, and Lonnie facing the center.

In the picture below, Lauren (Maya's friend) is dribbling while Nicole and Lonnie are guarding her. Peter is barely visible in the white shirt behind Nicole, Chris is also barely visible in the green shirt behind Nicole, Mom is in the yellow shirt, Philip is in the gray shirt, and Brynn is in the maroon shirt waiting for a pass as she was wide open.

After the games at the gym, we headed back to Lonnie and Sue's house for more fun, food, and games before everyone headed back to their homes on New Year's night.