First Annual (I hope) Reese Family Reunion

The highlight of the trip to Washington was the First Annual (I hope we do it again) Reese Family Reunion.  My grandma, Erma (Reese) Elmendorf, has one sister, Elsie (Reese) Castle, and two brothers.  Twins, who are both deceased.  My grandmother is 97, her sister is 95.

My mom’s cousin Donna (Castle) Johansen organized a family reunion at her lake house.  It was well attended by her siblings and their families, my grandma, and my mom and us, as well as the daughter of one of my grandma’s brothers. 

I haven’t seem most of these people in over 15 years. 

What with the lake and my children’s love of water, we had a fantastic time.  It was a little cold for my Utah blood, but my mom, being the amazing grandma that she is, got in the water with the kids. 

Eleanor jumped off the dock at least a dozen times.  Getting colder and shakier every time.  Making my mom tread water in the freezing lake until she could summon up the courage to jump, or finally encourage her frozen legs to move, I am not sure which.

Denise and I took Henry out on the boat.  I have such wonderful memories of doing this as a kid.

My cousin Bonnie’s husband had a great time (well, he looked like he was having a great time) playing with the boys.

Me and Bonnie.

I learned that my cousin Tracy is somewhat of a snake charmer.  She helped the boys each hold a small gardener snake her dad found in the bushes.

 

It was truly a memorable day, one I hope to repeat in the near future.

Washington

The kids LOVE Nona and Papa’s house.  My mom set up the pool, a constant attraction for all the kids, especially Eleanor, who more often than not was in her clothes, or no clothes.  Here are a few pictures where she actually managed to get a swimming suit on.

 

We played baseball and soccer and other such things in the yard.

We went to visit friends.  Old friends truly are irreplaceable.  This is Jack and Henry in Adam and Alex’s pool.  They LOVED it.  They begged me to take them back to play with those boys.  So, I did.

Eleanor at Sarah’s house.

This is Miles.  Could you ever get enough of this kid?

But, what I very unfortunately don’t have pictures of is what I did with the bulk of my time in Washington. 

I painted.  My mom, Denise and I painted the dining room, living room, and bedroom in my grandmother’s house.  It was quite a project considering no one had even so much as removed the pictures from the walls in 25 years.

But, we did it (or rather, they did most of it while I was doing these other things), and gram loves it. 

Three cheers for Papa who was on babysitting duty all week!

Oh how I love my family.  How I wish we lived closer.

Steam Train Steam Train

…take me where I wanna go (sing along if you know it- I don’t really, it is something on Playhouse Disney).

Jared was only able to stay in Washington with us for a few days, so we made the most of them.  My dad told us about the steam train that was running on an old bit of track from Chehalis out toward Adna.  We were all for it.

It was the perfect day for a train ride.  We sat inside one of the old passenger cars and stared out the window.

Eleanor let everyone know when she saw a cow, or anything with four legs standing in a pasture, with her loud (and as Jared noted, angry-sounding) “Mooooo!!!”

Jared took Henry up to the front to see the engine in action.  His impression?  A bit too loud.

Heading North

Soon after the 4th of July, loaded to the gills with three kids, a dog, and the dual screen DVD player, we headed north.

After a mere five hours we pulled into Mountain Home, Idaho and stayed with Alissa and Randy.  Even though we arrived in the late evening, we stayed out in the backyard playing on their play set and jumping on the trampoline until dark. 

In the morning we headed out to explore Idaho. 

First stop:  The Gator Pond.  Unfortunately, it was hot, and the gators were snoozing in the shade of the trees that obstructed our view.  But I did see this:

 Henry and cousin Samuel

Here we all are (except Jared who is taking the picture).

After the gators we went in search of some hot springs that innovative entrepreneurs had turned into a swimming pool.  I had planned on taking pictures of the kids going down the big slide, and Jack jumping off the diving board, but honestly, I didn’t even have a second.  Every bit of my energy was consumed trying to keep fearless Eleanor from drowning.

She had no fear.

And no idea what would actually happen if she jumped in the water without me to catch her.  But she tried.  And tried.  And tried again.

She would get out and run along the edge of the pool, then with one wild look at me struggling to keep up, she would plummet into the pool.

I was the one forcing everyone out of the pool.  Time to go I said.  I was too stressed out.