2010 Kovacs Family Reunion: The Carnival

This year we planned a carnival for the kids (okay, for the adults, too!). Each family was in charge of a booth/game. Definitely a fun evening! So here are the games...

Tim and Heather did a fish pond...

Allyson and Peter did a cupcake walk...

T made his own "music" on Jeremy's vuvuzela (any World Cup watchers will know that famous sound)...

Jeremy and Clytie did balloon darts (bad pics, the sun was in the wrong place!)...

Rob and I did "knock down the Gatorade bottles" :) ...

Can you tell this one of Brock was taken on a much nicer camera than mine?...

Amy {Jake wasn't able to be there for work reasons} did ring toss and bean bag toss...

David and Noel did donuts on a string...

Trevor wasn't too happy when we told him he couldn't use his hands...

But then we let him because he's just too cute (especially with the chocolate 'stache and goatee he has goin' on)...

The adults had to get in on this game...

Jeremy, David and Clytie...
Heather and Amy...

Grandpa, Allyson and me...

Mary Anne (and not Dusty...he did a soccer shootout) did face painting...

Should we be concerned that Brynlee wanted them all over her?

Someone had to paint Mary Anne's face so David stepped up and did his famous Ninja Turtle that he drew ALL the time as a kid...

2010 Kovacs Family Reunion: The House That Tony Built

My brothers have referred to my parents' house as "The House That Tony Built." I think it has something to do a mixture of Yankee Stadium being "The House That Ruth Built" and my brothers playing homerun derby in the backyard and my dad building alot of what is their house today...correct me if I'm wrong?

This year we decided our big project would be to help my dad finish the wall that surrounds the backyard. The wall was started years ago and only one side got done. The rest was still the old wooden fence that would blow down during any rainstorm and was thus held up in many places with wire and whatnot. So the theme of this year's reunion became "The House That Tony Built." After coming up with that idea, we came to the conclusion that not only did this "House" refer to the actual house and property but that we are all a part of the "House" that my dad (and mom!) built.


I designed the shirt after "The Home Depot" logo...


Here's the beginning of the wall...

Making progress...

My dad wouldn't let us work in our reunion shirts so on the day we wore our shirts, we took some work crew pictures...

The crew chief...

The civil engineer. If the wall isn't level, it's all this guy's fault...

Another civil engineer. I fired him, but quickly gave him back his job and I went back to using the "S" tool to make the mortar smooth...

My dad and sister, Amy, finished the rest of the wall after we all had to leave. Here's the *almost* finished product (still some decorative brick to put on top)...

I couldn't end this post without a tribute to my wonderful dad. My dad is the hardest worker I know. It may not have been a quality I enjoyed as a child always having to work in the garden or whatever it was that he had us do but now as an adult, I really appreciate that characteristic and hope that I can pass that on to my children as well. It was a privilege to work by his side. I love you, dad!

2010 Kovacs Family Reunion: Random Activities

All of my siblings arrived in Sierra Vista on Saturday, June 26th (except Mary Anne and family who came from Georgia on July 1st). Some stayed at my parents' house while other stayed at some neighbors' houses. This year we didn't really have a "big adventure" planned like past reunions so most of the time was spent at my parents' house. Some of the activities included:


~Playing in the sandbox...
~A lasso golf tournament...

Okay, so no pics of the tournament but Trevor and Sadie sure had fun playing with the equipment.

~Soccer (watching World Cup games on tv and playing in the backyard)...

~Jumping on the trampoline...

~Going on scorpion hunts led by Uncle Dusty and his blacklight...

~Naptime...

~Swimming at The Cove and a neighbor's house also kept us cool but didn't get documented on the camera...oops! I'm sure someone took pictures...just not me.

~The sandbox treasure hunt, building a wall and a carnival....all of which deserve their own posts.

2010 Kovacs Family Reunion: The Drive Down To AZ

We started the trek down to Arizona for the Kovacs Family Reunion on June 24th. We drove to Draper and stayed the night with Rob's sister (hey it took 2 hours off the trip) and then headed to Mesa on Friday. We stayed the night with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Randy. Their grandkids live right behind them so my cousin Jesse's girls, Kelsi and Kaitlyn, hopped the wall and came to play with our kids. They had lots of fun singing karoake and jumping on the mattresses that were pulled out for them to sleep on. They were sad to leave the next morning and kept asking when they could play with their "new" cousins again :)

On Saturday we headed to Sierra Vista and made a quick stop to see my Grandpa and Grandma Kerby. They are living in an assisted-living type home now since my Grandma fell and broke her hip and shoulder back in October. Even though my grandpa would tell you otherwise, he can no longer care for her. That stubborn ol' cuss....I guess when you live to be 98 years old, you think you are still the boss :) I love my grandparents and it was REALLY hard to see their health declining, especially my grandma. She had fallen the day before and was in alot of pain and couldn't really move or talk even though you could tell she really wanted to. It brought tears to my eyes when she kept saying "I'm so glad you came to visit." It was hard to say goodbye, especially since I didn't know if I would see her again.