Broadbent Family Reunion

I was going to try and chronicle all the friends we spent time with in Houston, but it got too exhausting.  Also, we remembered our camera sometimes and other times we didn't.  So I am just going to focus our time in Texas on the Broadbent family reunion in San Antonio.

The grandchildren:

special thanks to Kalina for the managing the photo shoot

Grandma was very popular.

The activities ranged from the more social:

 to the more cerebral:

 to the more athletic:

Helaman took advantage of the low rim to dunk at will.

To the touristy:

If you are looking for higher quality pictures, you might check Kalina's blog or Christina's or Jen's blogs.

But if you are looking for the actual breakdown of what happened, you have come to the right place.  Some observations:

- Broadbent family reunions have historically (dating back to the first one in my memory - 1987) been about food and games.  The amount of food at the reunion was amazing - particularly the desserts.  There was probably at least a 1:1 ratio of regular food to desserts.  It was at once delightful and terrifying.

- Broadbent boys have carried on the tradition of being very competitive.  Usually we have a chess tournament (pictured above).  This year I took the title, though Mark was a formidable competitor.  I plan to put in some practice games before next reunion so the next time it isn't so touch and go.

- Another competitive sport was basketball.  This one is not really my comparative advantage, so I didn't play as much, but Jeffrey sure enjoyed playing.  The low rim and broken backboard added exciting elements to the game.

- Swimming emerged as a competitive sport.  Lots of laps, but we didn't really work on distance, which could have added another dimension.  I don't remember who came out on top, but it was not me.

- Fortunately, there was a 5k scheduled nearby on the last day of the reunion.  After some high jinks with the GPS (this was apparently a new address) we found the race and settled in.  There were only about 200 people in the race.  I started out in front, but Mark reeled me in and brought me back.  Mark won the race, with me in second.  Out of official finishers, I finished 26th with a time of 25:23.  I was hoping for a little faster time, but it was not too bad. Steve and Kalina rolled in with Clark a bit later, and Phil and Jen also finished.  7 Broadbents in the race all told.

- Of course the old standbys of Monopoly and Acquire were on the table.  It took some convincing to do another game of Monopoly, but for old times sake I played.  I think we (narrowly) avoided any hard feelings. 

- There was also a variety of low level competitions: guess the candies in the jar (Kalina I believe took this one), a Book of Mormon quiz with multiple correct answers (lead to strife and contention) and a Broadbent family names jumble.

- There were goats to feed.  No competition involved, just thought it was worth mentioning.

- We watched the Mavericks take out the Lakers in the playoffs, which no one can object to since no one likes the Lakers.

Everyone had a good time.  We stretched that poor house to its seams with our growing numbers.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for organizing and for everyone else for coming!

Gumper is around here somewhere!