REUNION

So much happened in the month of August that it will take a few posts to get it all in, as said in the previous post. But I finally have some pictures...beware this is a long post, as most of the probably will be.

I decided to take a wild adventure and independently take the kids across the state to Boise for an extended vacation before school started. We were to go for a family reunion anyway, but I decided to go about 6 days early to help my mom prepare her home and yard for the big event - my parents were in charge this year. The trip over was the longest I think it has ever taken...a 4.5 hour trip turned into a 6.5 hour trip. Lydia is NOT a carseat lover, nor is she a very good traveler...she wanted out of that seat and therefore we stopped every hour for about 15 minutes to get her "stretched" and fed and content for another 40 minutes ;) It was not an incredibly horrible trip-thank goodness for the built in TV/VCR, but not one I think I will venture to do independently again soon.

Jake was able to hitch a ride to the reunion via my brother who went to get him in Pocatello the Wednesday before the reunion started, so the trip home was better...Lydia wanted out of her chair, but it did not require us stopping as frequently...

The reunion was spectacular! My parents planned a lot in 3days and we all enjoyed each other's company and had a BLAST. My parents used to have a small pasture on the south side of their property. My dad recently converted it to a "park". He planted grass and trees along the edges to make for a great grassy field. However, the trees are too premature to bring very much/if any shade, so my dad has this enormous "circus" tent that he put up to cook and eat under. It took quite a bit of men to get the thing together.

Circus tent

Thursday:
Main event: travel to Emmett (at the old church orchard, turned mint and potato farm; funny story, Jake's dad grew up in Emmett and knew this place well, his grandfather oversaw the orchard) - go skeet shooting and have a picnic. I am proud to say that I hit about 90% of the skeets thrown. Jake didn't do too badly himself. And the kids each got to shoot a paint ball gun for target practice. They didn't do to badly either. We had our traditional corn feed and enjoyed homemade icecream-my favorite!!

the crowd waiting to leave for Emmett

Justin and Gunnar teaching gun safety

Kayelynn with paintball gun

Sarah shooting the paintball gun

Bryant concentrating really hard

Aiming for the little "skeet"

Grandpa Ward enjoying the view of posterity

It was a scorcher!

The kids finding refuge in the shade of the haystack; Kayelynn, Conrad, Bryant and Tanner

Getting things ready to launch

Dad and Grandma Ward shooting

Famous corn feed; what you can't see is that all that corn is cooked in a garbage can! YUM!

Friday:

Main event: train ride in the mountains; rafting down the Payette River; dinner along the riverside. By far, this was the most exciting day! The train ride was admittedly a little boring; the train felt as if it were going 5 miles/hr. when in reality it was about 20mph. Since it was the end of summer there wasn't much to look at - it was all dry. However, once we got to the river it was a blast! Mom volunteered to watch Lydia, Sarah and Kayelynn while Jake, Bryant and I floated the river. I have never had the experience and Lydia was to sleep the majority of the time, so I took advantage of the opportunity. The float trip was 2hours and so fun. I thought for sure Bryant would chicken out and scream and cry the whole way (he tends to be a mightly big woos sometimes), but after that first rapid he was hooked!! My grandmother, who is 75, rode with us and she enjoyed every minute of it!! They had professional photographers staged three times down the river and then you can preview and purchase any exciting memories captured. Since we had such a large group they made us a GREAT deal, so I actually have photos from the river, but for some reason they won't post. The dinner was delicious, simple BBQ hamburgers, but it was tasty and the dessert was heavenly-brownies with fresh strawberries and homemade whip cream (I think we were all so hungry anything would taste good, but it was all you can eat, so it was even better).

Famous location

We got shuttled on the bus to the train

Bryant's first bus experience-he thinks this is awesome! (now I know how he is on the bus to/from school)

all of us gathered around the photographer, previewing our rafting photos

My mom and the girls playing by the river while we rafted

Saturday:

We took the day low and slow. We just hung around the house chatting, playing games and relaxing. In the early afternoon we went to a neighbors house and swam for a few hours and came home to a miniature luau. My dad has a friend in the ward that is Hawaiian and he marinated beef, pork and chicken for us to cook. It was heavenly!!! We had some rice and mounds of fruit. Delicious!! We had homemade ice cream again.

Playing a matching game about the cousins

Nature scavenger hunt

Water fun, of course

My little adventurer at the pool-once she went off she wanted to go again and again

Kayelynn and her aunt Danyiel

relaxing in the shade before dinner

little hula girls-Gretchen and Zoe

Luau food-yum!!

We had so much fun. We came home with two days to spare before Bryant and Kayelynn started school. We are still talking about it!

Thank you mom and dad for such a wonderful time! Can't wait for your donut feed in October!