Family Fun

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After a brief overnight stint in Toronto and a quick visit with my Aunt and Uncle and friends Shemina and Alex, I made my way to the home of the potato, red dirt, and Anne of Green Gables. My dad picked me up at the airport and despite having to wait for me for over an hour due to a delay on the Toronto end in an airport that makes Edmonton International look like Heathrow, he was in good spirits when I got off, as it’s the first time we’ve seen each other in six months! Surprisingly, he was also in a good mood despite still not having his luggage from his flight five days previous. Funny story about that: Since he had some time to kill, he and his wife, Joan, went to the lost luggage area to see if it had come in. Well, the story that follows is a great way to set the scene for the life of an islander. After quickly determining that my dad’s luggage hadn’t arrived, the baggage claim man thought that they should take a look at the belt. They walk over to the belt, he lets it go around once and says “Nope, not here. I’ll maybe look into it later when I’m less busy.” Okay, so think about it. The guy thought that my dad’s luggage might just be sitting on the belt going around and around FIVE days after he arrived! And, to boot, the flight that had just arrived came from Montreal! Um… does anyone else think that’s hilarious? Oh yeah, the guy also mentioned that he thought he was related to us. Ahhh, good ‘ol genes.

Anyway, back to the family reunion. After a 45 minute drive, we arrived in Montague where the family had rented out cabins, claiming seven of the nine cabins on site. We quickly found the party house and I was reunited with my brother, Rob; sister-in-law, Kim; niece, Mackenzie; and nephews, Parker and Tanner. In addition, I also was reunited with the LeLacheur side. Although it had been over seven months and 18 countries since I’d seen them last, it really wasn’t that bad for the LeLacheurs, as Christmas and weddings are usually the only times we all see each other (and the last wedding was Rob and Kim's...10 years ago!). And, actually, I shouldn’t even say all since it had been at least four or five years since the whole family was all together.

I guess I should backup and explain why we were all huddled together in 30 year old cabins in the middle of PEI in July. Two hundred years ago, the LeLacheurs, along with four other families sailed to Canada from Guernsey Island on a boat called the Neptune. Since 2006 marked the 200th anniversary of the arrival, a reunion was organized for all of the families from the Neptune. And because PEI is so beautiful, we decided it would be great if the whole family went to the reunion and met up with some of our East coast family.

The few nights were just the Edmonton LeLacheurs and we had a great time. The first day I was there, we all went to Charlottetown and boarded the Hippo bus. The Hippo tour bus took us around Charlottetown, pointing our all of the historic buildings (which, for future reference for those planning to take the Hippo, sit on the left side of the bus as everything seems to be on your left), and then, miraculously, took us for a little water cruise. The Hippo used to be a special military vehicle and works on land and on sea. Well, for my 4 and 5 year old nephews and my 7 year old niece, this was the coolest thing around. The only thing cooler was finishing off the tour at Cow's Ice Cream with a scoop of the delicious PEI treat. Cow's, if you aren’t aware, is the highlight of your trip to PEI. No trip would be complete without a visit to the famous creamery that is accompanied by its true cash cow (no pun intended): the retail side, where t-shirts full of intended puns such as “Desperate Cows” and “Nascow”, etc. can be purchased.

After a full day in Charlottetown everyone was ready for some trusty PEI lobster, so we all went our separate ways to prepare for the feast. I was in the lobster car and we were that close to having a lobster dinner without lobster when the lobster farm we went to had sold out (it’s the end of the season). Luckily, Superstore pulled through with twenty lobsters that they even pre-cut too! I hadn’t eaten lobster since I was last in PEI when I was 10, so I decided to give it another go. Now, I was okay with the taste, but, personally, I like chicken better, so I’m not really sold on spending three or four times as much on the little red sea creatures. Plus, Kim and I were both quite disgusted by the large deposits of eggs that we discovered in our lobsters…ewww.

On Saturday, we hung out at the beach for awhile and the kids and my brother built a fantastic sandcastle and sea turtle. Although we all would have rather played in the sand some more, we needed to go get ready for the big Neptune reunion dinner and catch the bus that the family had rented to get us to the rink (oh yes, a rink) in a town 15 minutes away.

Well, let me just describe the scene. After rushing to get everyone showered and changed and into our matching shirts (oh yes, matching shirts), we loaded onto the bus and didn’t think our ½ hour tardiness was that bad. Well, we pull up and were quickly told by a guy who had come out for a smoke that everyone was finished eating! So, we all piled out with our tails between our legs and walk into the rink to find no tables available and a very pathetic looking buffet. You would think, in the land of lobster, they could come up with something a bit better than salad, chicken, and potatoes! Anyway, our family raced to the buffet as it appeared the caterers were ready to pack up and found seats by the stage. We surveyed the room and noticed that not only were we late, not only were we the only family in matching shirts, but that we were the only family with members under the age of 60. I’m pretty sure some of the original Neptune settlers were hanging out that night. This is when it became quite funny. First, we were eating in a small town hockey rink that was decorated with blue tarps. Second, we had nowhere to sit. Third, most of these people weren’t our relatives, so just thought we were crazy. Fourth, we all had matching shirts. Fifth, we were the only family drinking (it was a “dry” event, but my family had the foresight to load the bus with booze). And, sixth, my brother was scheduled to be part of the entertainment, which we immediately knew would not go over well in a rink full of wrinkles. Despite the awkwardness of the whole situation, our family made the most of it. We embraced our crazy side and urged my brother to get up there after a very talented fiddler and old Guernsey dancers.

After Rob’s interpretive dance of how the settlers came to PEI and a few other inappropriate jokes, he launched into singing the Wild West Show with my Uncles Ted and Ken. Now, if you’re not familiar with the song, the premise is basically that the Wild West Show is filled with animals with interesting pieces of anatomy (e.g. The Ohno bird whose testicles were longer than its legs and would screech “Oh-no, oh-no” every time it landed). Yup, that kind of humour. Well, despite the roars from the front of the audience (being our family since we had no where else to sit!), the rest of the audience was not so impressed. I looked around and saw a number of jaws drop when they finally put the song together. Well, that made us laugh more, so I’m pretty sure we were labeled "The Inappropriate Alberta LeLacheurs". Luckily, right after Rob finished, the family was ushered onto the bus promptly at 9:30 p.m. as we learned that we were out of alcohol and the liquor store, which was 20 minutes away, closed at 10 p.m.

Although the reunion was not quite what we had envisioned, we will never forget it. The family still had a great time and actually kept the party going at a little small town bar for the rest of the evening. I will no go into details of the rest of the night to spare the family from embarrassment 😉

The next day actually ended up being more like the family reunion we had envisioned as we went to an East coast relative’s cabin and snacked on mussels and clam chowder for the afternoon (okay, I didn’t, but you get the picture). This visit was after a very painful tour of a lighthouse that actually was the first lighthouse to receive the call from the Titanic. Why painful, you ask? Well, imagine 15 hung over adults (it was days like these that I love not drinking) cramming themselves into a lighthouse in 30 degree weather. Not so fun.

All-in-all, I had a great weekend with the family. I was so happy I could spend some time with my niece and nephews before I head off on my next adventure. The highlights of my time with them was hearing that my nephew Tanner yelled out in his sleep, “Look: Potato farm!” and my nephew Parker asking another little kid, “Have you seen brown dirt before?” and, when the other little kid confirmed that he had indeed seen brown dirt, Parker responded, “Oh, then you must be from Alberta!” Kids!

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Photos

Those Crazy LeLacheurs
My Aunty Sharon at her best ;)

Enjoying the Hippo
Kim and Tanner enjoy the sites of Charlottetown (but not really since we were on the right side ;)

Blowing Bubbles with the Big Guy
Tanner and Great Uncle Ted enjoy some bubble time.

Comments

[Barbara]

LeLacheurs
Hi I was sorry I couldn't attend the family renunon 2006 on PEI. Could anyone tell me if any thing new or anything old was talked about. I'm a Lelacheur descendant thru William and Elizabeth Sencabaugh LeLacheurs son William who stayed in Rhode Island when the parents went to Iowa. William married Christina Catherine MacKinnon, LeLacheur.Who had Jessie Christine LeLacheur in Rhode Island and moved to Nova Scotia and married my grandfather William Henry Luddington. I grew up with jessie her sister and brother. I found their graves and have pictures of the headstones of some. I would love to find out about the twins one girl one boy who died of Cholera as infants in that family. Does anyone know? Thanks, I have info will share, Thanks Barb