Below is general information for the 2021 Sommerer Family Reunion. If you are looking for the rest of the information on the reunion, there is a start page and pages for general information, reservations, schedules, and meals. If you have questions after reading these posts, please feel free to ask your question below in the comments.
When is the 2021 Sommerer Family Reunion?
We hope that you will be able to join us for all or part of the weekend: Friday, July 2 through Sunday, July 4 at Heit’s Point on the beautiful Lake of the Ozark’s. Note some rooms are available on Thursday, July 4th in the afternoon. Check with Christina to see if any are still available.
What’s new this year?
- No reservations before May 18th! Seriously, don’t bother Christina until after Tax Season. Normally you can contact her as soon as you see this post. This year is different.
- After two years of experimenting with two meals on Saturday, we are going back to three meals on Saturday. If you are interested, you can read about that decision on the meal page. I fully expect we will decide to change this again next year.
- Church will be at 10:00am instead of 11:00am for the second year. This should help people who need to get on the road get to church and should hurt people who want to sleep late get to church. I’m guessing the same people will get to church as always.
- There will be a pandemic going on, so we will follow any protocols that Heit’s Point has in place. But everyone over 15 will be vaccinated by then, and nearly everything we do is outside, so we feel good about having the reunion. We’ll have hand sanitizer at the start of the food lines, because we’ll be sharing the same serving utensils, and we’ll ask Steve about having church outside.
- Bring your old family movies and we will show them in the pavilion after it gets dark (more details below).
- Family reunion information is now 7% funnier. Please read everything so you don’t feel silly when you ask a question and the answer is, “It’s on the website.”
- Christina will be there, so, despite anything Peter might say to the contrary, Peter is no longer in charge of everything,
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 overnight?
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 reservation page 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 May 18th. Do not ask Christina any non-tax-related questions before that date.
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 June 1st. If you need to add additional people to the meals after June 1st but before June 14th, please e-mail or text Christina. If you are adding additional people for meals after June 14th, please contact Jim Sommerer, Courtney Knipp and Whitni Upton 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 older family members to be able to enjoy a room in the Spitz Center if that is their desire. We will reserve the main floor rooms for the same nights as they had last year for each of them. If you would like different accommodations, please let Christina know right away.
Can I get the same lodging that I had last year?
Yes, if you are quick enough. We are reverting back to the original game plan for reservations for anyone other than our oldest family members. FIRST COME FIRST SERVED.
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, Christina probably did not get it and you should contact her again at either 636.485.1369 or cmrowland22772@yahoo.com or leave a comment on the lodging page.
Can I check in on Thursday, July 1st?
Probably. Heit’s Point is hosting camps and other reunions during the week of July 4 (before our reunion), some rooms may be able to check in after 3:00 pm on Thursday. Please let Christina know if you would like to check in on the Thursday, the 1st when you make your reservation and she will see if your room will be available. The Gospel Hostel will not be available until Friday.
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 9:45 am. Church starts at 10:00. Be sure to get your bill from Christina on Saturday. Note that we will need everyone’s help to make sure the pavilion is clean and ready before we all take off (see schedule). Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.
Can I stay an extra day, checking out on Monday?
Probably. Heit’s Point is hosting camps and other reunions during the week after July 4, but some rooms may be available through Monday. Please let Christina know if you would like to check out on Monday the 5th when you make your reservation and she will see if your room will be available. The Gospel Hostel and Blunk House will not be available Monday.
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 office. Checkout time is 9:45 Sunday.
Note: Per Mark, Heit’s Point is waiving the 6% “replacement fee” added to the cost of each reservation.
How do we pay for everything else?
There will be a free-will offering to cover the costs of meat for our group meals on Saturday & Sunday, any of the incidentals that we all use, and the Pavilion & Spitz Center use fees.
How big an offering should I 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. We have poor college students in our family and people who are reasonably well off in our family. We have families of 1 and families of 12. If you’re in a position to pay more, you should do so. If you can’t afford to pay anything at all, that’s okay too; just take something out of Aunt Naomi’s purse and give that.
What is happening with Lunch?
We’ll do it like we did last reunion with everyone bringing something from the list. Let Lloyd know what you want to bring, and he will add your name after the item. The signup sheet is at the bottom of the meal page.
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 – Tie Dye
- Aunt Lillian (Sis)’s Family – Green (but they always wear red, white and blue)
- 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 (can someone buy them yellow shirts that are not fluorescent?)
- Aunt Naomi’s Family – Medium Dark Grey
- 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 Lloyd and he may post them on the family website : Lloyd@LloydAndLauren.com or you can e-mail them to Christina and she may include them in her 2021 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? Home Run Derby? 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. Sam is taking care of this, so if you don’t see a posted schedule, take it up with him.
Will the Schedule be accurate?
No. Sommerers are really not much for schedules. Let’s 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 really left this up in the air.
Will there be babies?
At the end of the last family reunion, someone requested that we have more babies at the reunion next year. I realize it’s a little too late now, but suggest you start working on it for next year.
Is there going to be Karaoke?
First of all, I had no idea that you all were so into Karaoke. You were surprisingly unanimous in your desire to do a little karaoke next year at the reunion. It was equally surprising to me just how many of you had karaoke machines, so I imagine there will be several available. I will bring a projector and screen for the old family movies on Friday night. I don’t know if that’s useful for your Karaoke setups or not. I’m just offering.
Is Lloyd going to bring a 17 foot long family tree?
If he doesn’t putz out, he plans on having a big ol’ family tree with lots of errors on it that you can help correct.
What’s this about old family movies?
There were a number of you who said that you would like everyone to be able to see the videos that Aunt Naomi (I think) brought to the reunion. We will make sure that we can show them at the pavilion next year. My dad said something about editing out the part about Grandma’s hysterectomy at the meeting after church, but I didn’t see the video and couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. We’ll show them at the Pavillion on Friday night after it gets dark and might have an encore on Saturday if there is interest. Bring your old home movies (family reunion, weddings, holidays, or whatever) on VHS, DVD, USB, SD Card, or iPhone and we’ll project them.
Will Lloyd Jr. be as snippy at this reunion?
No, Christina and Sam & Rachel will once again be at the family reunion, and will tell people what to do in the pleasant and compelling manner with which we have become accustom. We’re going to call it a fluke that they were all missing from the reunion during the same year and blame that on Lloyd being a little snippy at everyone at one point or another during the weekend.
What’s next?
Feel free to post any question or comments below. If you are looking for the rest of the information on the reunion, there is a start page and pages for general information, reservations, schedules, and meals.
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