The Knox Farm Reunion, 2008

We just went to the Knox family farm this past weekend, in North Carolina for the 250 year reunion of the Knox Farm and relatives (My mom is a Knox). Her father, my granddad, grew up on this farm, working it as did generations before him, and now generations after him continue to do so. It was a dairy farm when I was young, but now the mostly grow grains for feed, and soybeans. It's a beautiful, fascinating place. We even got to tour the old homestead house (left) that my grandfather was raised in. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't work for the first day of the reunion, so I'm going to have to wait for pictures from others. The next day, we had a fish fry at the shed, and a hayride after. This is me and Lillian with my great-aunt and great-uncle, Lois and Robert. Robert resembles my grandfather, John Allen Knox (whom I miss terribly--he passed away last summer), and just turned 95! It was wonderful to see them.















Sullivan was trying to take his turn on the cool tractor, till Luke hopped on and commandeered the pedals. Poor Sully was helpless, despite being in the drivers seat, as Luke took over the steering wheel next. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. (Luke still got called out though). Their cousin James is behind them. They had a fantastic time playing together.











Lillian was so cute--flashing everyone right and left. She's just entered the inevitable skirt-up phase.























This is Lillian with my Aunt Betty, who gave us that lovely dress Lillian is wearing. It's my favorite. Thanks Aunt Betty! I took 3 pictures to try to get Betty with her eyes open, but no joke, they were in the EXACT same position every shot! ;)










There were two wagons on the hay ride--this, obviously--is the one we weren't on, which is why I could take a picture. It's a yearly tradition, and this is the first time in the last 2 years that I've attended that the wagon didn't get a flat tire, inspiring a long and beautiful walk back.





We had such a nice time. The Knox reunion is one of the highlights of my year! It is a lovely place, with kindest, friendliest group of people you've ever met. I'm so proud to be related to them.




And finally, drumroll please, we have . . . . . . . . AMANDA and AMILDA !!!







We see this woman on the hayride, and the more we look at her, the more we think she resembles my mom, on the left. We'd never met her before. Come to find out, she is my mother's 6th cousin who heard about this special reunion and decided to come. Different, but eerily similar. Amanda, Amilda. They hit it off: same tinted glasses, same salt and pepper curly/frizzy hair, similar smiles, similar style of dressing. My mom actually asked her how she did her hair. My mom never asks anyone how they do their hair. Within minutes they were even discussing their mutual love of fanny packs, and how they were both "granola" rather than "eye candy", etc. They set up a meeting in 6 months. Amilda's son, who was also there, lives just one town away from Cameron and I (he and I are 7th cousins I guess), so we may be meeting up with him as well. CRAZY! And here I thought my mom was one of a kind . . . . :)