Family Hotel Party

Last night we attended a Schifeling family party downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn where of course Dick and Iris have their upper floor apartment. Todd's brother and his family was in town for a visit which was the reason for getting their family together. Katie and Todd and the kids are staying at the hotel for a few days along with Jeremy and his family. A couple of Todd's aunts and uncles and cousins were also in town for the get together and they have some other events planned for today and tomorrow. The out of town guests will all be leaving on Monday and Katie and Todd will be coming back to our house at that time and staying with us another week.

The dinner party was in a hotel conference room on the third floor overlooking Lafayette Square. We were there from a little after 5pm until shortly before 8pm. We had a very nice time there and spent a lot of it keeping Henry, Clara and Violet busy. We did have many interesting conversations too. 

There were a some odd moments. Jeremy and his family were not there for the dinner party even though the event was put together because he was in town. Apparently his parents didn't discuss the party situation with him and he did not want to attend because of his recent health problems which had impacted his immune system. That was certainly a very good reason not to attend a crowded dinner party in a hotel conference room with people you had not been in contact with for several years. We ourselves had some reservations about potentially squeezing into a small room with a lot of people but fortunately the room was large and well ventilated. 

The food was typical hotel food. OK but not great. There was some nice wine but the beer selection was shockingly bland. Some nice local craft beer options would have been nice especially since there were several nearby breweries. Typical hotel beers... Budweiser, Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue, Heineken, Bud Light, Blue Light and some Labatt NA. I had some red wine and then a Labatt Blue which was my first one in many years.

Another thing I thought was a little strange was having this large family gathering  and then nobody was taking any photos to document the event. Everyone had a camera in their phone but no one seemed to think it would be a good idea to take some pictures. I thought about it but I didn't want to be the nonfamily member going around snapping photos of everyone. Now perhaps there will be some photo taking at their other events this weekend but last night was certainly a very good opportunity to document their dinner party. Then again because Jeremy and his family did show up then the gettogether was moot. Why take pictures if the guests of honor were not there. Who knows. One can never fully understand other family dynamics.