The Best Summer Ever rolls on.
Every year when the out-of-staters return, we have a blast. Those of us who work for others take time off, those of us who are self-employed plan ahead and the more of us there are, the more fun we all have. According to popular legend, families don’t like each other’s company but that has never been my experience. Both sides of our family love to hang out and those few times that we got all the Pivecs and all the Hubbells together were epic.
Just say “South Dakota” to any of them and you’ll get a smile of remembrance and some good stories.
But the Party on the Plains was six years ago. There are a lot more of us now.
Hubbellpalooza has changed over the years. In the 80s, we were very young and just starting out. For most of that decade, my parents only had four grandkids. By the end of the 90s, they had 18.
Now they have 30+ and each one of them will tell you that Grandma Punkin is the best person who ever lived. (Seriously, Mother Theresa and Angelina Jolie shake their heads, wishing they could have done as much and looked as good doing it.)
Those of us who lived out of town always made a point to make sure even their smallest kids knew the names and faces of every other member of the family so when summer rolled around and we all got together for a few weeks, there were no strangers. Most of the cousins could name the family tree before they could list the days of the week or the months of the year. Priorities, people!
Ten years ago, it wasn’t at all unusual for us to be mistaken for a summer camp, or school group on a field trip. There are certain things we liked to do and the kids were always gung-ho and everyone wanted to hang out with each other.
The Older teens could help drive the caravan of Caravans to, say, Minnehaha Falls. The fifteen year olds wanted to hang with the 17 yr olds, the 13 year olds couldn’t be separated from the 15 yr olds, the ten year olds had to do whatever the 13 yr olds were up to, the 7 yr olds would follow the 10 yr olds anywhere and the preschoolers thought the 7 yr olds were the coolest humans in existence. The babies went wherever they were carried and usually couldn’t wait until they could keep up with the preschoolers. This dynamic once led us to bring 17 kids under the age of 18 to the Guthrie theater. The minute we stepped into the lobby, they took off in 17 different directions and the six adults in charge spent the next two hours rounding them back up. I’m proud to say we found them all and the theater did not get wrecked.
Back then, Hubbellpalooza was naturally very kid-centric. We went to the beach, the pool, rented canoes, pontoons, paddle boards and bikes. We went tubing, swimming and sailing. We took hikes down the creek to the river, around the lakes and at the Arboretum. Every year included at least one visit to Lego land. We even went to Valley Fair a few times, back in the ancient past.
Walking around the lake took all day because we stopped at every beach so kids could throw themselves in the water. We took turns hosting dinner to keep my Mom from cooking for that army every day and so the kids could have a shot at showing off their own homes and neighborhoods. Friends frequently tagged along.
We always knew that wouldn’t last forever. The kids grow up. A lot of them went away to school. They got jobs that make it impossible to take a couple of weeks off during the summer. Several are now married. There are great grandchildren mixed in with the grandkids now. Before Tot was born, Babydoll and Babalouie called him "Uncle Baby".
Its actually possible now to do things without a parade of strollers and kids. Three carloads of us went to the Arboretum one day and only four of the entire group were under 30! And it was still fun!! Afterwards, a group of us stopped to pay our respect at Paisley Park and only one of us was under 50. You know what that means? That means no one could prevent us from stopping at Dairy Queen on the way home. Being a grown up rocks.
The kids still all love to hang out with each other, which makes all their parents very happy. Its an event when any of the out of town cousins come back for a visit.
There are still a lot of little kids. MJ’s girls are barely in school yet and Tot can’t even walk. Plus, Babydoll and Babalouie are now in the thick of things.
They’ve finally settled on a name for my Dad. Mom has always been ‘Grandma Punkin’ for all the grandkids but since my grandies have so many Grandpas, a name for Great Grandpa was needed. Simple: they’ve taken to calling him “John G.” which is the short hand the kids use. Babalouie sometimes calls him “Grampa G.” Problem solved!
Punkin and John G. have been married 60 years this summer.
This year’s Hubbellpalooza was centered around celebrating that fact.
60 years and they still laugh over their morning coffee, every day.
That’s how you build a dynasty.