Paisley

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Moonfest

Well Moonfest has come and gone already and I've been meaning to write a little bit about it just for memories sake. But like everything else that isn't super necessary, it got pushed aside, hence my lack of blog post in exactly 1 month! Hopefully my memory will serve me well and I can recall that wonderful weekend 2 weeks ago!

First off, wanna know what Moonfest is? Moonfest is awesome, that's all you need to know. But really, Moonfest is a pretty awesome gathering/party thrown at my Uncle Guire and Aunt Pat's house/property in the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania. I say property because my Uncle, Aunt, and beautiful cousins (Anika and Melina) live on a bajillion acres of land, and I thought I had it made living on my quarter acre in the city (*wink wink*).  This massive amount of space includes multiple ponds, their house, a fully furnished cabin, a pavilion, a 9 hole golf course, a creek, a massive field used for the annual softball game, tons of trails through the woods, and other amazing amenities!
The party hosts - My fun loving Aunt Pat and Uncle Guire! (as pirates!)

Back to the party.. Now this isn't any type of ordinary party. This party is thrown on the full moon weekend in July, typically falling towards the end of the month. The party used to be thrown annually back in the day (this party has been occurring for many, many years, like before I was even a thought), but since everyone's lives have become hectic, kids are growing up, and traveling is expensive Moonfest now occurs every other year. Now the name "Moonfest" does not only relate to a festival thrown because of the full moon. It is also because mooning people is fun, and at moonfest you are guaranteed to catch site of a mooning, isn't it great to know super fun and silly people that enjoy mooning each other?! And there aren't just a few moonings, this isn't just a Webb-family affair, there are about 100 family friends and family (and dogs, we are doggy loving folks so at any time during moonfest there are probably about 5-10 large dogs running around) that come to this get together. People from ALL over the country show up from places like California, Kentucky (us), Ohio (us), Florida, Minnesota, Texas, etc.
A picture of half of the pavilion, just so you can get an idea of the size. 

So, each Moonfest has a theme, on Saturday night (our big dinner night), everyone dresses up for that theme. This year's theme was Pirates of the Moon. The themes are fun and a good way for people to get all silly and creative on each other. OH and another big note about the party, its camping! I LOVE camping, mainly because of moonfest. Everyone finds a piece of property to call their own and then sets up their outdoor home for the weekend. It's wonderful! Some people don't like camping due to the lack of plumbing..alas, this is no issue! My family built an outdoor shower at their house to accomodate the party and their are restroom facilities everywhere!

So what happens at this party besides mooning and dressing up as pirates?! Well, a good amount of the party goers arrive Friday at some point during the day, sets up their stuff, and then gets to helping prepare food, because honestly thats what Webbs do, we surround our get togethers around food! Friday we have a yummy dinner and stay up late having some drinks, or maybe a beer from the locally brewed keg and just enjoy seeing everyone that we haven't seen in a couple years or more (I missed the prior Moonfest due to being in a wedding). Saturday involves more eating, hanging out, maybe some drinking, eating some more, a softball game, and then our big dinner (chicken and grilled corn and a ton of sides and peanut butter pie for dessert!) and a late night of enjoying each other's company some more. Sunday is the day I always hate, knowing that the weekend is coming to a close. More delicious food is made, campsites are torn down and people say their tearful goodbyes, but you are always certain to get millions of hugs as you leave! Moonfest makes me feel good. It makes me feel happy.
All of the Webb cousins minus Ryan and Eric (who had departed prior to pic taking) and Whitney. 
This year's Moonfest was different for me since I was coming from Columbus (michael had to work, surprise, surprise!) and I was going to attempt to drive. LUCKILY Dustin and Christina were going to be driving from Northern Kentucky so on Thursday evening they made their way up to Columbus, through many thunderstorms I might add, to make our journey to PA! Once they arrived we loaded up the Prius, cause come on folks we are gonna save money where we can and not have to buy gas, and headed out on the road! Not leaving Columbus until 7pm, made for a 2 am late arrival but the drive honestly wasn't bad. I drove the first half and Christina drove the second. Dustin stayed up and chatted with me the first half while Christina rested from an early start to her day, but after her nap we were up the rest of the way, chatting, listening to good music, and enjoying each other's company.

When we arrived at my family's house obviously everyone was pased out, we found a place to lie down on the floor and did the same! Friday morning came really fast once everyone else in the house was rising pretty early. Dustin and I were both up by 8 and surprised to find that my Dad had already made it to PA. That morning I consumed a ridiculous amount of bacon. This isn't ordinary bacon. The bacon from my aunt and uncles town is fresh from the meat plant which is right next to their house. Something about this bacon is ridiculously heavenly, its crispy, yet melts in your mouth. Can I keep talking about the bacon?!

After breakfast Anika and I were recruited to drive to Elmira, NY to pick up some folks from the airport. Side note, Anika asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding that weekend while we were out there, so exciting!! We allowed extra time cause a tornado had swept through the town the night before. While we were out I commissioned Dustin and Christina to set up camp near the creek. While out we made a Walmart stop to buy a crap ton of milk, butter, toilet paper, and drink mixers. You know, the essentials. Since we were out for so long we had to stop for lunch. The town my cousin is from is tiny, itty bitty. So we had limited choices but they were delish! AND the restaurant had ice cream, I ordered the small birthday cake flavor which approximately a gallon's worth of ice cream and immediately went into a food coma. This girl cannot meter her ice cream intake, I think the communication from the stomach to the brain is broken when i eat ice cream.
Me and Anika hanging out
Anywho, we arrived back at Moonfest and got to see some more of  the people that had arrived. Hugs and more hugs ensued. While we were gone Ryan (my brother) had arrived too, I knew the weekend was about to get crazy!! A lot of fun was had that evening. I played it cool cause I didn't want to feel icky on the big day, Saturday. but lots of fun and talking was had,  I face planted onto my air mattress around 2am and slept soundly until about 8 am.

Breakfast Saturday morning was exceptional. French toast made on the massive outdoor grills, MORE bacon. AND super fresh delicious fruit! Drooling on computer just thinking about it. YUM!Not really sure what took place between breakfast and early afternoon. I think a bunch of lounging, chatting, and snacking occurred. But before I knew it, it was softball game time! One of my favorite moonfest events!
Got to finally chill with this little guy, my cousin Ian's son, Graham ! He's precious!
This is how our game works. Basically it's the old folks versus the youngins. And typically the old folks win. This year we split up those under 25 and those over 40 and then divided up the inbetweeners. The youngins took the field first and immediately got creamed by the old folks. yes they are all our parents but they are all pretty good at softball and smacking that ball way out into the outfield at fast speeds. Once the young folk batted it was pretty obvious that we were going to get killed. After a few innings a trade was made. Some older folks were sent to the young team and then myself and an 11 year old were traded to the oldies. I actually started performing once switched to this team and made a few outs and made it on base once. In the end the old folks won.
Softball spectators

The old guys team
the young folks (notice there are 4 women on our team *liz not pictured*, old men had none)

Cousin Eric beating a softball to death. 

Some pretty cool spectators (Ryan and Alycia!)
 After the game it was time to prepare for dinner festivities. Everyone started changing into their pirate apparel. everyone was slicking on dark black eyeliner and fake tattoos, It was amusing watching some of the men put on eyeliner. I will let the pictures do the talking about the evening.
Part of my piratey family!
This is the people getting creative part...you get it? Pirates...seaman?!
Sweet Mikaela
The original Webb girl cousins
awesome collage
Cousin Nora and her boyfriend Mitch!
      
Alycia (cousin's wife, so basically cousin) and me

That night was another late night, maybe 3 am and crashing face first in the dark onto my air mattress again. It was awesome getting to hang out with all my cousins and friends for such a long period of time, I just didn't want to go to bed! Morning came quickly though and I felt good still even with the lack of sleep. Another delicious breakfast was consumed and then came the denial. The denial of leaving Moonfest of course. I began acting like we didn't need to pack up our tent. People were slowly trickling out.  I should have chained myself to the pavilion and refused to leave. but after lunch at around 2 Dustin and Christina pulled me out of Moonvalley kicking and screaming. The whole 7+ hour trip home I was already reminiscing about the weekend. 

And there's my Moonfest 2012.

Yes, some of this means nothing to most of you. But this get together is very important to me and I wouldn't change a thing about it for all the money in the world . 

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