Holloway House

The 2006 Report

Holloway 2006

By Gretchen

For many of us, our family reunion at Holloway is the highlight of our summer. We in the Taylor Ten generation appreciate that our children have grown up knowing their cousins and extended family because of these wonderful annual gatherings. And now that benefit extends into the next generation.

This summer, no fewer than 67 family members came for at least part of the reunion week to enjoy the festivities. Although the “official” picture shows only nine of the original Taylors, Gretchen wants everyone to remember that she really was there, just not at the time the picture was taken. So, for Grandma and others who like to keep track of the numbers: All of the Taylor Ten were there with spouses, plus 28 from the grandchildren generation (including spouses) and 20 great-grands. A memorable picture from the week shows Grandma surrounded by 19 of her great-grandchildren, sitting on the merry-go-round at the park. Now, THAT is tradition!

For the third summer, we enjoyed catered meals under a big tent most evenings, with shish kabobs being a particular favorite. Non-catered meals included a “Thanksgiving feast” ordered from Boston Market and the traditional pizza night (with 13 large pizzas consumed in short order).

The cookout at the park was another great event, with much thanks to the grillers from the M2T2W club! The softball game that afternoon had some new young participants this year, proving that the athletic genes that skipped some of us are alive and well in the youngest generation! Jonathan Ummel really knows what to do with a bat!

This reunion week was one of the hottest in memory, so the beach was well utilized. The best part about it was that the water was also the warmest in memory! When have we ever been able to play in the water, or even just sit in the shallows and talk, for hours on end? Everyone enjoyed it! The other fun water event of the week was the traditional ski day at Pine Lake--along with the usual malfunctioning of one of the jet skis which put it out of commission! Many thanks to Tim for his captaining of the ski boat for most of the day. And a round of applause for Taylor, who got up on skis for the first time! Unfortunately, one day of rain late in the week caused the cancellation of a planned pool day at the Worcesters’ in Grand Rapids. Something to look forward to next year!

In addition to the water fun, other favorite activities of the week included the bonfire and fireworks on the beach, Captain Mike’s (even if they do slow down the go-carts more each year!), several evenings of volleyball, the always-favorite Scrabble competitions, jigsaw puzzles, and a couple evenings of cross-generational games in the living room. (Grandma fooled everyone when she turned out to be the secret Mafia person!) Our worship times on both Sun. mornings were also memorable, with Chris sharing a message from the Word the first week, and several of the young children acting out the story of Ruth and Boaz the second week.

Once again, with memories of the reunion fresh in our minds, we all want to thank Grandma (and Grandpa, in absentia) for providing this wonderful place where family togetherness abounds and where traditions are now being passed down to another generation.

More pictures

Let's have some 2006 photos!

Great week at Holloway 2006--one of the hottest in recent years! One of the fun things about this picture is that a generation ago the parents of these children gathered on this very same merryground wearing their Taylor reunion shirts for a very similar photo!

A Few more photos from 2005

Taylor Reunion 2005

Janet's 2005 Report, written Thursday, August 11, 2005 For those of you who weren't able to be with us, I thought you might enjoy some "snapshots" of our week. I didn't arrive until late Monday evening (the 1st) and so missed Captain Mike's, Pizza Night and the Bonfire and Fireworks. I guess some of us didn't know this was being billed as the BIG weekend. Oh well, next year. I missed Michal and Ben and Stephanie. But others came back for round two: Jon and Linnea, Keri and Joel, Preston and Heather were in and out as she and the kids were also doing their Maranatha week at the same time. Of the Taylor Ten, we were all there at various times except Maryl and Tim and Becky. Total was 53. During the middle of the week our numbers were down and at one evening (catered!) meal, we were "only" 17! After Tara and Baby Schae left, there were only two littles and that was Jonathan and Nathan Ummel. Sometimes in the living room at the Big House it was almost quiet as people were reading, working on the Butterfly puzzle (a huge colorful butterfly without borders that now hangs on the wall in the little porch room) or playing Scrabble. By the way for all of you who avidly follow the Taylor Scrabble trends: this year there were several games where someone with a low score ended the game with a seven letter word and suddenly came in first! Was it G'ma who got an 8 letter word on two triples? And was it John who got three 7 letters in one game? Picture some of us sitting around the outside tables under the canopy talking after one of our dinners. (Yes, the catered meals were very good again this year and made for great lunch leftovers, though the refried beans finally had to be thrown out the last day.) We were talking about what we'd put on The Plate this year. What was new? The Kayak (thanks to Heather and Archie for bringing this latest addition to our boat collection.) And the Sunfish sailboat got its second season. Marty and Art sailed it for several hours down to New Buffalo (or was in Bridgman?) and back. The Lake was warmer than usual this year and we did a First Annual All Adult Night swim. Then there was the Almost Cancelled M2T2W picnic at the park. Not sure I got this right, but Marty started razzing Bob who was announcing there wouldn't be one this year. Oh, the guilt just flew! How can they even think of NOT having this? And slowly but surely as the pressure mounted, the guys changed their mind (we knew they would) and a great time was had by all. Thanks guys! And yes, the humidity and heat were both very high this year, and yes we all sweated a lot! Maybe that's why there was less volleyball this year. Back to the sitting around discussing The Plates. Stephen (or someone) asked how this tradition had gotten started. So I ran and got the Michigan scrapbook and read the piece I'd written many years ago. It started when we needed a head-count one time for dinner. And it got hung up on a nail in the kitchen and there it stayed until someone noticed it two years later and ...well you get the picture. We brought all the Plates out and started reading them. And shared some wonderful laughter and memories. And realized that too many of them all sounded the same. So this year you'll notice the Plate has more DETAILS to jog our memories for years from now. A few renters have even added their own plates to the pile One was just a few weeks ago and they used it to give a tribute for Grandpa. That was a tender moment. All week it had seemed like our numbers wre so small, but when we really started counting up who had been coming and going it surprised us. After last year, I guess anything seemed small. A HUGE thank you to Bob and Gretchen who coordinated the whole Michigan House week. They had to scramble a few days before everyone arrived to get two new rentals as the two that had been lined up suddenly fell through. But the whole week just flowed. Of course we were all missing Grandpa. Not seeing him enjoying his family gathered about. Our 2nd weekend's Sunday morning worship time was a teary time. Mark led us in singing hymns (Yes, all of Grandpa's favorites) and our tears began with "Safely Through Another Week", "What a Friend We have in Jesus" and others. And then (Grandpa-like), we went around and shared things we were thankful for or ways we had grown. Grandma commented to me later that she hadn't cried like that since the beginning when Dad passed away. Mark read to all of us the Chapel Talk he had given at Tyndale last month where he shared with the Tyndale Family more about Grandpa's death and the Heritage he left behind for all of us.