crashing a family reunion.

Our new friend, Cody from the grocery store (that’s how he’s entered in our phone), was having a huge
family reunion this weekend. Big, like wedding tents, lights, sound systems,
dance competitions, bounce houses kind of big. And somehow, we got invited. When
we arrived, there was plenty of food left, plenty of kids doing flips in the
bounce house, and plenty of people looking at us like we weren’t family.

Cody has a Maori heritage, so we got to celebrate like the
Maori’s do. (Even back in the day they must have had bounce houses). We had our food
prepared the traditional Maori way, cooked underground in baskets by using
heated rocks from a river where their gods live. This method is called hangi. We had
pork, chicken, kumura, and stuffing. Kasey “didn’t love it” and Brittany said, “I
feel like I ate an entire pack of cigarettes.” I don’t disagree with either of
them.

We were told to try the pavlova, and it didn’t take much
convincing. It is a meringue based dessert covered in strawberries and kiwi.
It was excellent and probably had our weekly allotment of sugar in one serving. Mmm. It was named after the
Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova, after she toured Australia and New Zealand
back in the 1920s. The two countries actually fight over where it originated, since it’s so delicious. It’s served at celebrations and holidays. I look forward to the next
celebration and holiday.