Day 2 - Family Time

After we rushed back to the hotel, after our trip to the ocean, we got ready and headed over to the Philly Diner. My Aunt Judi made reservations there for all of us and we took up what used to be the entire back room of the diner. The reason the diner is so special to us is because we used to go there at least once a week when I was little. It was Grandma and Grandpa's favorite place to go. Once Grandma got too sick to cook, we'd go there every single night. After Grandma passed, Grandpa continued going there and became quite a staple of that restaurant. We had to go back there together to remember our times there with them. The diner has changed a lot from when we were there last - which was right after Grandpa's memorial service in 2000. I wish I had taken a picture of the outside of it, because the diner is still there, but they've attached a HUGE sports bar to it! The Flyers were playing that night, so it got pretty loud in there at times. :-) Dad and Uncle Carl quite enjoyed watching them play and cheered right along with them.



We had 4 full tables in that section and filled them up! This is my cousin Phil and part of his family with his dad, my Uncle Alan.





This is my Uncle Alan's wife, Aunt Judi. She's my dad's oldest sister and really was the go between for us and the Runnemede crowd as we planned this trip. That's her daughter to her right, Becky, and all of her family.




This is my dad, his oldest sister Judi, and his younger brother Carl. I hadn't seen my Uncle Carl since Grandpa's funeral in 2000. It was SOOO good to see him! He gave me the biggest hug ever! And, not once, but TWICE! Love you, Uncle Carl!!

This is a little bit of the outside of the diner. They had this old car out there and the kids all wanted to see it, so hey, photo op, right?! We took advantage. :-)

After the pizza we had at lunch, we really shouldn't have ordered anything, especially when a kids-sized hot dog is this big!!! Livie couldn't believe she had so much food! Again, we almost died from eating so much! And, that was really just day one. Imagine eating like that for 4 days!

When we finished up, we all went back to the house. Guess I should explain about the house. The pastor of Mt Calvary doesn't live at the parsonage, so the church got it ready for us to stay there. My cousins Becky and Phil and their families, as well as Em, Jeff, and Kendalyn, all stayed there for the 3 nights we were there. The rest of the time, it became a gathering place for all of us. Just being back in that house brought back so many memories of our times there. Noah curled up with Uncle Alan on the steps as we got everyone gathered for the group shot.

Pete set up our camera on a chair, on a basket, and got the timer set and got this great shot of all of us! I think there was about 40 of us Drexlers there this weekend. My dad's other sister Debbie and her family were unable to be there, sadly, as well as my cousin Carl Joe and Cyndi and her family. But, the rest of us were and we had a great time together!

Another great picture was this one of all the great-grandkids (with the exception of the 8 that weren't able to be there). What a testament to the love of my grandparents to see such a great family, born from them. The family has expanded and grown and still, all these years later, are able to come together in love to celebrate the life of the church that was so much a part of their lives. Their great-grandchildren playing on the steps of their house and running on the sidewalk to the church. Really was a special time for all of us.

I told you before that Madie really loved having girls her own age to play with! This is Grace, Annie, and Rachel. Annie and Madie are only about 5 weeks apart in age, so they all a lot of fun together.

Judi brought all of her scrapbooks with her, so we gathered around the table, while the kids played outside, and got to look through all the old pictures of our family. We spent a couple hours before all the "old people" left, then Micah and I dropped the spouses and kids off at the hotel and came back to chat with our cousins until about midnight that night. Thank goodness church wasn't until 11am the next morning!!

Here's a short video of the group gathered to look at the photo albums. :-) We're a noisy lot, aren't we?!