The time on Thursday morning, June 26, was 10:10 a.m. and I left town headed west to meet my son in Kimble, S.D., to get my granddaughter, Morgan. The first thing Morgan said to me was, “If Great-Grandma Julie were alive she would be going with us — wouldn’t she, Grandma?” (She had remembered her trip with Great-Grandma, Aunt Linda and me to Ohio several years ago.)

We stopped in Sioux Falls and picked up my sister Linda and her granddaughter, Aly, and headed back to Albert Lea. We stayed at our house Thursday evening and left early Friday for Dayton, Ohio. We were going to attend the “First Annual Beck Siblings Family Reunion.” Our mother passed away last year, and at that point we decided we should get together once a year at least and would alternate between Ohio (three siblings living there), Minnesota and South Dakota. My brother offered to have the first one and then with the price of gas and several of our children changing jobs, we were in limbo for several months as to whether we should have it or not. I encouraged them to have it, if we let it go one year, each year we will have excuses that we are either too busy, not enough of us can come or some reason to put it off and that is how families drift apart. So it was agreed that as long as all five of us siblings could make it, we would have it.

We left Albert Lea at 6 a.m., thinking the 5- and 7-year-old little girls would go back to sleep for a few hours. Oh no, they were so excited that they were cousins and were going on vacation together they didn’t fall asleep until we were about an hour from our destination. They laughed, talked and played games, colored pictures and played store, all the while they were in their seats, wearing their seatbelts. They instructed my sister and I that the cooler we had packed with drinks and snacks that sat between their seats, was the snack bar and that we could have any snack we wanted free, but only during their business hours, which was limited to three hours a day.

We arrived in Dayton at 6:30 p.m. our time, 7:30 p.m. their time. We stopped and picked up our sister Sandy and her husband Marty and headed to the Cracker Barrel for supper. When we got back to Sandy and Marty’s, the girls got their baths and we settled in to watch a little television and visit until it was almost midnight.

Saturday we let the girls sleep in as we were deciding what we were taking to the picnic. We had a hot breakfast and then started preparing our food for the event. We packed the van with our part of the food and the six of us headed for the country where my brother lives. It was a beautiful day. We arrived and our younger sister, Deb, her husband, Gary, and their oldest son, Mike and his wife and two children were there already. My brother Larry and his wife Sue had been busy. They had a huge tent in the backyard with tables and chairs in case it rained, a campfire started, surrounded by a glider swing like we had when we were growing up, another swing and chairs and our family rock. A croquet game was set up, a swing hung in the tree, and there was a huge fenced in yard so the kids could run and play. They had grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and had roast pork all ready to go. We waited until my sister Sandy’s son, Greg, and his three children arrived and then we all filled our plates and found places to sit.

We had just finished eating when it started raining. We all moved under the tent and the rain only lasted about 15 minutes. After that the sun came out and it stayed nice the rest of the day. We played croquet, sat and visited and watched the kids play. Later in the day my sister Sandy’s daughter, Jenny and her husband came. We talked about all the backyard picnics we had while we were growing up. (We had a picnic nearly every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day and spent a lot of time on the old glider swing in front of a campfire. My brother made popcorn over the open fire in a cast iron pot and the kids thought that was really great. After we ate the second time it was time to make s’mores and the girls really enjoyed roasting the marshmallows. By this time it was starting to get dark and it was time to catch lightning bugs. My brother has a jukebox in his breezeway and a basement full of records. He retrieved the box of 45s that we had as kids and we took a trip back memory lane. Before long we were all choosing our favorites and laughing and giggling at the memories the songs reminded us of and the evening flew by. We headed out about 10 p.m. as we needed to be on the road the next morning.

Sunday morning we got up at 6 and by 6:45 a.m. (5:45 our time) the car was loaded, we had all eaten breakfast and we were on the road. We arrived in Albert Lea about 6:30 p.m. our time. We ordered a pizza, got our baths, did a few loads of laundry and hit the sack, as Monday would be a very long day. We were up early, picked up my great-granddaughter Ayanna and headed for South Dakota. Ayanna is only 2 1/2 years old and newly potty trained. We made four stops between here and Worthington and thought it might be a very long trip across South Dakota, but after we stopped in Sioux Falls for lunch, the girls all fell asleep and slept for several hours. We arrived at my son’s in Rapid City, S.D., mid-afternoon. We dropped off Morgan and Ayanna and picked up my grandson, Dylan, and headed for Wyoming. We arrived at my nephew’s house about 7:30 in Story, Wyo. This is where Aly’s dad, Todd and his brother, Rich live. Aly has a brother, Sam who is the same age as Dylan. The two boys had a great evening. They were able to shoot their BB guns and play all evening. The next morning we were up at 5 a.m. and headed back to Rapid City. We stopped to see Jeramy at the ShopKo store he is managing and then dropped Dylan off at home and headed for Sioux Falls. We stopped to eat and get gas and then were back on the road again. My brother-in-law Bill had been in Wyoming when we arrived and drove back the same time as we did, so we stopped just off the interstate in Sioux Falls and Linda went on home with him and I continued on to Albert Lea, arriving home about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In six days I drove 3,571.4 miles. And I would do it again in the name of family. The photo of Morgan says it all. She wrote in her thank you to her great-uncle and aunt, “Thank you for the picnic. I liked the marshmallows! Love, Morgan.” The memories that we created for our grandchildren and for ourselves cannot be measured by time or money. They will last for generations to come. This is part of our heritage; this shows that we care for each other and that we will always be there when we are needed, no matter what. It shows the type of upbringing that we had and that family is important and that we have respect for our parents and for each other. We (siblings) know that we can depend on each other, but we want our children and grandchildren to have that security also. It is never too late to start a new family tradition that will help you to continue to treasure your heritage and to share it with the younger generations.

If you want to start your family research, there is no time like now! We have another library lock-in planned for August. Call the museum for details, 373-8003.

You will see many projects taking place in the village as the summer progresses. The shoe shop has been painted and the picnic tables have been treated and sealed. The new foundation under the parsonage will soon be completed. We now have a new roof on the one room school. Thank you to the Retired Teacher’s Association and its members for the donation to cover the cost of the materials and for a crew of volunteers headed up by Bruce Olson that did the roofing. Several weeks ago someone broke into the village and stole the school bell that had been taken off the roof and placed on a cement slab near the school. We would be happy if it were returned and left by the gate. Many school tour groups enjoyed being able to see and ring the bell.

Pat Mulso is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum in Albert Lea.