Getting Closer

Time is getting closer and we are now less than three months away from the reunion. Yvonne and I have been busy, but wanted to share with you our most recent news regarding our gathering.

First of all, we have 40 people committed to attending the reunion at this point. Eleven of them are Bulgarian kiddos! If you intend to come and we don’t have you in our head count yet, please let us know. As plans get more specific, it’s important for us to have an accurate number of attendees.

Secondly, we have been crunching the numbers and trying to figure out how to pay for the weekend’s events and have decided that we need to charge a small fee. It will be $10 per person under 12 years old and $15 per person over 12 years old. This fee will pay for two group breakfasts at the shared camp site, all the activities and prizes for the children as well as a reunion t-shirt for each attendee. Please contact Yvonne via email to find out the best way to pay this fee and to let her know of the shirt sizes you need.

We’ll keep you posted as more plans shape up.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and waiting moms out there! You are awesome!

Reservations Update

Just like Yvonne, I want to encourage everyone to make reservations for the reunion. It would help us greatly in the planning to know which families are committed to attending and to begin getting a head count. For anyone not interested in camping, I called some lodging options this morning and got the following information:

Hueston Woods Lodge & Family Cabins 5201 Lodge Road, College Corner, Ohio 45003 513.664.3500 Fax: 513.523.1522 (Front Desk) http://www.huestonwoodsstateparklodge.com/

They have 7 double rooms, 4 king rooms and 5 family cabins left to be booked directly on the park property. Starting at $139.

Comfort Inn 5056 College Corner Pike, Oxford, OH (513) 524-0114 http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-oxford-ohio-OH538

They have 24 rooms left starting at $159.‎

Best Western Sycamore Inn 6 E Sycamore, Oxford, OH (513) 523-0000 http://www.bestwestern.com/

They have 50 rooms open starting at $122.

Baymont Inn & Suites 5190 College Corner Pike, Oxford, OH (513) 523-2722 http://www.baymontinns.com/Baymont/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=70233

They have 60 rooms left starting at $90.

Holiday Inn Hotel Oxford 75 South Main St, Oxford, OH (513) 524-2002 http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/oxford/oxhoh/hoteldetail

They have 21 suites left starting at $164.95.

Butler Inn Oxford 5235 College Corner Pike, Oxford, OH (513) 523-6306 ‎

I called and had a strange experience that makes me wonder if this number has been reassigned and the hotel is out of business. I may have woken up some poor MU student really early. Try to book at your own peril ;).

Oxford Inn 5399 College Corner Road, Oxford, OH (513) 523-1880 ‎

I called this place and got a generic message on an answering machine. No indication that this is a hotel, so you’re on your own with this one.

Marcum Conference Center & Miami Inn 351 North Fisher Drive, Oxford, OH (513) 529-6911 ‎ http://www.hdg.muohio.edu/marcum/

This seems to be a historic property located on a corner of the beautiful Miami University campus. They have rooms starting at $89 according to the online reservations system. As I was making my calls early, I didn’t talk to a person, but you can do so here: 513-529-2104 or 513-529-6911.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS-RSVP

Please place a Comment if you have reserved a room in the Lodge, another local Hotel or a Hueston Woods Cabin.  If there are great deals please also put that in your comments section... I know families are looking!  We will make a few phone calls and see what we can come up with as well.

Lodge Link:    https://www.huestonwoodsstateparklodge.com

GROUP SITE RESERVED C25

I wanted to let everyone know that MY reservations are made... now get up, grab your credit card and reserve your campsite... I don't want to be the only one camping out! I have received a few confirmations for the lodge or cabins, but I would love it if some of the camping families could book and ensure we lock down the area for our reunion.  I would love to be able to limit the vehicle traffic so our little ones could ride bikes to the cross road and then through the loop and we could essentially block cars coming in to check it out... I hope.  :)

I have reserved C25 and C26; however, since I have not camped in this park before I am reserving by proximity to the play area and restrooms for our group site.  This is why I chose C25 as our group site.  I chose C26 for my camping site so that I can set up the coffee for everyone who crawls out of their tents and needs a good cup of java in the morning!  Yes, coffee pots are on my DO NOT LEAVE HOME WITHOUT list... maybe I can even see about some Bulgarian coffee/Turkish coffee before then... yum, that is definitely something I miss from my trips to Bulgaria!

I would love if each family that reserves a campsite would respond with what site they will be on.  This way if you have made a special friend along the way maybe you will want to camp near them.  Looking forward to seeing this section of the camp ground fill up.  Remember you Southern campers... when the Mid-West warms up everyone immediately begins to think of camping trips... this weekend is supposed to hit 60 up here... lets grab our sites before they begin to fill up!!!

Use this link: RESERVE HUESTON WOODS CAMPSITE


Thanks everyone,

Yvonne

Tentative Reunion Schedule

Yvonne and I have come up with a tentative schedule for our weekend reunion. As always, your feedback and ideas are appreciated:

FRIDAY

6:00 pm: family meet & greet, activities for the children (musical chairs, decorate your reunion shirt, etc.), campfire

SATURDAY

9:00 am: shared breakfast for all families
10:00 am to noon: cultural activities (probably age appropriate scavenger hunts), possible Q&A session for parents by parents if there’s interest
12:00 – 4:00 pm: free time for all families to have lunch, explore the park, take a nap, etc.
4:00 – 5:00pm: cultural activities (probably a Bulgarian dance/song lesson)
5:00 pm: shared potluck picnic, campfire with stories and songs

SUNDAY

9:30 am: shared breakfast for all families

Ready, Set... Put on your "Thinking Caps"!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please take some time this week to brain storm and submit ideas for fun activities for our picnic weekend.  Please denote applicable age group.  Please keep in mind total cost and time allotted for activity and provide cost estimate with your post.   One more challenge is to see if you can incorporate Bulgaria into your activity.  We want the activity posted either way… so put your thinking caps on and get posting!!! 

Ø  Group #1:        Adults

Ø  Group #2:       14-18 years old

Ø  Group #3:       11-13 years old

Ø  Group #4:       6-10 years old

Ø  Group #5:        4-6 years old

Ø  Group #6:       1-3 years old

International Women's Day

When I was a little girl growing up in East Germany, we were always looking forward to March 8, International Women’s Day, an event that gave us a special opportunity to express our appreciation for all the women in our lives from moms to teachers to neighbors. We always made cards and crafts and often performed programs at school for female audiences, including our homeroom’s Patenbrigade (sponsor brigade?) which happened to be the OR nurses of the local hospital.

In many countries around the world today, IWD remains an unofficial holiday to celebrate women. Bulgaria is one of these countries where the day is called Ден на жената. The event is popular enough that the local Bulgarian and Russian groups in my area are having a joined IWD party next weekend.

If you’d like to learn more about IWD, you can get started here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day.