MIL: A new kind of family reunion

A few months ago, Freddy made a case for a new kind of family reunion...Instead of the typical reunion with all your siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, he suggested a reunion where a family gets together with both sets of ILs.  That way children get to spend time with both sets of grandparents and the DH and DW both get to enjoy being with their own parents as well as with their ILs.

Well, over the holidays, Hal and I did just that with Alvie, Gigi and her parents.  After 20+ years of living in the great state of Alaska, but where the winters are long and cold...and did I mention long...Hal and I have decided to avoid winter as much as possible.  So, we have become snow birds.  Our winter resting place of choice is San Diego.  I love walks on the beach, the temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold, and there are miles and miles of hiking and biking trails.  In our minds it's a perfectly perfect place to spend 3 months of the year.

Alvie and Gigi thought spending their Christmas break from college in the warmth of southern CA sounded more enjoyable than heading north the gray skies and rain so they joined up down here.  Gigi's parents agreed that blue skies and sunshine sounded more enjoyable then the usual gray cloud cover that hangs over their city and came to San Diego as well.

The newlyweds were great about sharing their time with both sets of parents.  We each had a few days with them on our own, but also spent some time with all of us together.  We all got together for a day at SeaWorld, one evening we went to their hotel so our youngest and a grandson (who lives nearby) could swim in their fancy hotel pool.  Then on New Years Day we met up for the weekly outdoor organ concert in Balboa Park, a visit to Old Town to see the Mormon Battalion Museum, and then we all had dinner together in the RV.  We all ate too much, but enjoyed reflecting on favorite events in 2011 (Gigi and Alvie's wedding being cited by all of us) and talking about our goals for the new year (Gigi, her mom and I all agreed that fitting into our wedding dresses might be a fun to take on together--at least it sounded fun sitting around the dinner table, now it just seems daunting!).  I love asking people what their "theme" song is--what song sound play when they walk into a room and Gigi's parents were good sports about answering it.  Her mom said that she'd like big band marching music to play to announce her arrival--I think it's a great choice for her delightful personality.

The week together passed much too quickly.  I think Freddie might be on to something with his family "reunion" idea.  It was great fun to get to know Gigi's parents better and to see her interactions with them--as well as see Alvie's interactions with them and their's with him.  I think we've become one big happy family and that future get-togethers like this one are in our future.

Would you enjoy a family reunion with your SIL/DIL AND their parents?  What would be the advantages of such a reunion?  Where would the difficulties lie?