After recent severe weather and flooding, it can definitely cause problems for folks trying to see their relatives. But one family meets every year to celebrate their reunion for an entire week. All the way down to Gordon, Wisconsin, the Wachowski celebrate their family reunion. three simple words. Fishing, fun and family.

Dan Wachowski, says his family have been coming up to their cabins in Gordon since 1949. He says the weather hasn’t always been the best, but the family makes the most of it.

“We had a tornado come through one year, take out my uncle’s van. We’ve had it sunny, where everybody’s swimming, hardly a lot of fishing. Other times it’s a gentle rain where everybody’s just out constantly fishing. So it’s all over the place. But we always find a way to have a great time,” Wachowski said. “There was bigger groups who’ve had as many as 60 up here and probably as few as in the 20s. Right now it’s been normally around that 35 to 50 range and it’s been a blast.”

Most family reunions might happen once every few years, and even then it’s for a day or maybe a weekend. So what do the younger generations of the Wachowski family think about the weeklong reunion? How do they spend their time with all their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents?

Leslie, Maddox and Charlie all had their own ideas about what makes the weeklong Wachowski Family reunion special.

“It’s about going fishing and seeing my friends and family,” Maddox said. “I like going to Hayward so I can go get candy and go get new shirts,” Leslie said. “I like coming here because it’s fun to be able to see other people that I don’t really get to see as much. It’s a lot of fun just like for a little week getaway, you know?” Charlie added.

Dan says the severe weather caused the family to pause their fishing for their family fish fry. While they waited for the weather to clear up they hid in the boat house until 2am playing games. He says at the end of the day the Wachowski reunion is about family, fun and fishing.

“It’s all about the fishing, it seems, but it’s really the memories get mixed in with the fishing. So like the little ones, when they’re first starting to catch bluegill, they’ll go up to the whiteboard and start ticking every time they catch one. Year after year and it’s like, they know where they need to go. It’s like migrating birds almost. We know where to come back to for, to find our happy spot.”

Also for other tips on how to plan a family reunion you can read more here. For other stories happening in Northwestern Wisconsin you can read more here.