Ree Drummond Reunites with Pioneer Woman Crew for the First Time in 2 Years: 'The Crew Is Back!'
Ree Drummond/Instagram
Ree Drummond is celebrating a heartwarming reunion!
On Tuesday, the Pioneer Woman star posted a photo on her Instagram Story with the crew who films her Food Network show, along with her husband Ladd. She shared that this was the first time in over two years that they've seen each other.
"The crew is back!" she wrote on the Story. "First time together since Jan. 2020 🥺."
Stamped with a "Welcome Back!" gif, the photo featured the crew members behind the counter where Drummond films The Pioneer Woman in her lodge on the family's Oklahoma ranch.
In May, Drummond spoke with PEOPLE about how the U.K.-based crew would finally be coming back this summer after being gone the first two years of the pandemic. While they were away, the Drummond kids — Alex, 25, Paige, 22, Bryce, 19, Todd, 18, and foster son Jamar, 18 — all helped film the series.
"It's been an incredible bonding experience for the kids and me," Drummond told PEOPLE. She even got to know Alex's husband, Mauricio Scott, even better as he helped film. "Alex and Mauricio weren't even engaged yet when the pandemic initially hit. And so it was a really great time for us to get to know Mauricio and just kind of have that purpose together during that crazy first few months," she added.
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Alex Drummond Scott/Instagram
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Even though the days of filming as a family officially ended in June, Drummond said that doesn't mean they'll stop making appearances on the show entirely.
"We've all been talking and we kind of want to create a new version of the show that sort of marries the two eras — the kids shooting era and then the original," she said. "So it'll be fun to kind of see where the show goes when my crew comes back."
A huge plus of having her kids film the Food Network hit is that it "allowed me to really take the show in a more off-the-cuff, natural direction," said Drummond, who often talked to her kids and joked around as they taped her cooking.
"It'll be so fun to create a whole new kind of a hybrid show," she said of the possibility of a project involving her kids.
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Earlier this month, Drummond enjoyed a tropical vacation with Ladd as they traveled to Playa del Carmen in Mexico for their friends' wedding.
Drummond posted adorable photos of the pair smiling on the beach. In one picture, she wore a tropical print maxi dress with images of leaves, flowers and bananas and Ladd was dressed in a black short-sleeve button-down and of course, khaki shorts.
"Ladd and I took a quick trip to Mexico for our good friends' wedding," she wrote. "My husband looks good in lorts, doesn't he? (Ladd + Shorts = Lorts.) I bought him some flip flops but he doesn't like things between his toes."
