Reunion 2015 (General Information)

Below is general information for the 2015 Sommerer Family Reunion.  If you are looking for the rest of the information on the reunion, You can click here. If you have questions after reading these posts, please feel free to call Christina at 636.485.1369, email her at cmrowland22772@yahoo.com or post your question below.

When is the 2015 Sommerer Family Reunion?

We hope that you will be able to join us for all or part of the weekend: Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5 at Heit’s Point on the beautiful Lake of the Ozark’s. Note that you can arrive on Thursday, July 2nd in the afternoon for any of the sleeping accommodations except the Blunk House.

Where is the rest of the information about the reunion?

Below are the general frequently asked questions (and a few answers) about the 2015 Sommerer Family Reunion.  If you are looking for the rest of the information on the reunion, You can click here.

Will I get a letter about this in the mail?

No! Now that Uncle Lloyd is retired from the Postal Service, we no longer feel like we have send letters to everyone.  If you have someone in your family group who needs this information and does not have access to email or the Sommerer Family website, please contact them and assist them with reservations, questions and so forth. Feel free to just print these pages out and send them to them if you want.

Do I need to make a reservation if I don’t plan on staying at Heit’s Point?

Yes. This worked out much better than how we’ve done it in the past. In the past it has been hard to get an accurate count of how many people would be present for meals because we were using the list of people who were staying at Heit’s Point. We are now asking for “reservations” from everyone whether or not you will be staying the night at Heit’s Point.

How do I make reservations for the reunion?

All reservations should be made through Christina unless you want to stay in a camp facility that is not part of our reserved  Sommerer lodging (one that is not listed on the reservations post). On the Lodging Information post is a registration form to assist you in this process.  You will need to have: arrival date, desired lodging location, number of nights staying, number of people staying, and number of people to include for group meals. You can make your reservation in the comments on that page or by contacting Christina.

When can I make reservations?

>Reservations will begin April 24, 2015 for the Spitz Center and May 1, 2015 for everything else.

Please make sure your reservation is as complete as possible before you submit it (i.e. check with your kids to see if they are dating someone who they might bring with them). All reservations should be made as early as possible and no later than Sunday, May 31.  If you need to add additional people to the meals after May 31th but before June 20th, please contact Christina.  If you are adding additional people for meals after June 20th, please contact Jim Sommerer, Courtney Knipp, Shawn Baker and Whitni Sommerer as they will all be purchasing food for this event. (that means contact each of them, not just one of them)

What’s this crazy business with older family members and the Spitz Center?

We want our oldest family members to be able to enjoy a room in the Spitz Center if that is their desire. So we’re going to have lodging for the Spitz Center be on an age basis rather than first come, first served. Anyone who wants a room in the Spitz Center has a week to send in their reservation. After that time, we will reserve their rooms based on age. After that, anyone else can reserve any remaining rooms in the Spitz Center just like normal.

Did you get my reservation information?

Check the reservations page first.  Your name should be after the room you want if it was reserved for you.  If you do not see your name on a room within 24 hours, I probably did not get it and you should contact me again at either 636.485.1369 or cmrowland22772@yahoo.com or leave a comment on the lodging page.

Can I check in on Thursday?

Yes, unless you are staying at the Blunk House. Heit’s Point is hosting camps during the week for June 30 (before our reunion), but the only lodging that they will be using on Thursday is the Blunk House.

What time can I check in on Friday?

Rooms should be available for check-in  around 3:00 pm. 

What time do I need to check out on Sunday?

Check out on Sunday is at 10:45 am (church is at 11:00am).  Be sure to get your bill from Christina on Saturday before you check out. There is a camp scheduled for Sunday so we will need everyone’s help to make sure the pavilion is clean and ready for the campers after breakfast (see schedule).  Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

Who/How do I pay for my reservation?

Payment is not necessary until the reunion weekend, at which time you will receive a “bill” from Christina.  Please wait until you have received this “bill” before paying Heit’s Point.  They will not have the necessary information to take your payment without this “bill”. “Bills” will be handed out after dinner on Saturday.  If you need to leave earlier, please see Christina. You can pay your bill at the Spitz Center. Checkout time is 10:45 Sunday (church is at 11:00). We are cleaning the pavilion before church this year.

Note:  As in years past, there is a 6% “replacement fee” added to the cost of each reservation.  We will figure this into your bills once you have made reservations.  (This is a fee to replace items as they wear out on the premises)

How do we pay for everything else? 

There will be a free-will offering to cover the costs of group breakfasts on Saturday & Sunday, the meat on Saturday evening, and the Pavilion use fees of $150.

How much should you give?

Enough that you feel a little bit smug about how much you gave is probably about right. We have $5.00, $10.00, $20.00 and $100.00 bills in the donation bucket. But we have people donating for one person and people donating for a dozen. We have poor college students in our family and people who are reasonably well off in our family. If you’re in a position to pay more, you can do so. If you can’t afford to pay anything at all, that’s okay too; just take something out of Aunt Bea’s purse.

What is happening with Breakfast?

It was decided at the meeting after church last year that we would be having breakfast at the pavilion on Saturday & Sunday morning.  The young adults in the family will be organizing breakfast on Saturday & Sunday but they will need some help preparing it, so everyone is encouraged to be up at the pavilion at 7am on Saturday & Sunday morning to have fun cooking together! For more information, see the meal information post.

How much food should I bring to the reunion?

Basically, for every potluck meal you should bring enough to feed your family. It’s okay to just bring your world famous pasta salad, but you should bring enough so that everyone in your family would be full if that’s all they eat. You can, of course, bring more than one thing. In that case you would not have to bring as much of each. For more information, see the meal information post.

Will there be lines on both sides of the tables for meals?

Yes! That is such a good idea. If you see someone setting food tables up against a wall, explain to them that we’re not doing that anymore. There’s no reason it should take 30 minutes to go through a line.

What should I wear for the family picture?

We will be using the same colored shirts again this year, so dust off your shirts! You can change your family’s color if you want, but make sure it’s not too close to another color. However, we will not be standing in family groups… Our photographer likes it better if we mix it up, so be prepared to move if there are too many people of the same color around you.

• Aunt Elizabeth’s Family – Purple
• Aunt Lillian (Sis)’s Family – Green
• Uncle Bud’s Family – White
• Uncle Felix’s Family – Black
• Aunt Margie’s Family – Orange
• Uncle Vernon’s Family – Pink
• Aunt Beatrice’s Family – Lavender
• Uncle Mahlon’s Family – Teal
• Aunt Cleo’s Family – Periwinkle Blue
• Aunt Theresa (Lolly)’s Family – Yellow
• Aunt Naomi’s Family – Light Blue – Cruise Shirts
• Uncle Lloyd’s Family – Red Hawaiian Shirts

What should I do with all the pictures I took at the family reunion?

Upload your pictures to www.flickr.com and “tag” them with “sommererfamilywebsite” to have them pull into the family website home page. Or you can email them to my brother and he may post them on the family website : Lloyd@LloydAndLauren.com or you can e-mail them to me and I may include them in my 2013 scrap book: cmrowland22772@yahoo.com

Are we going to sing, play softball, play cards, play volleyball, swim, eat, drink, be merry?

Yes.

When is the Softball Game? Talent Show? Sunday Service? and so forth…

We have a schedule page this year that has that information. If we’re really on the ball, we’ll also have the schedule up at the reunion.

Will the Schedule be accurate? 

No. Sommerers are really not much for schedules. Lets just say that it will be as accurate as possible.

Will there be a signup sheet for the talent show?

Will there be a talent show? If there is, the signup sheet will be at the pavilion. It might be there now. We might not have time on the years when we don’t have a three day weekend. We really left this up in the air.

What next?

Feel free to post any question or comments below. Then check out the  meal information, reservation information, and schedule.