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.

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.

Independence Day

Thanks to our dear friends and neighbors the Browns, we celebrated the second anniversary of our favorite tradition.  We woke up early early on the morning of the third, piled into the car with our back pack filled with Costco muffins and headed down to Provo for the hot air balloon launch.

Despite the fact that there was no lauch (too windy), it was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed almost being smashed by a giant bottle of coke and visiting with the Careys were were visiting from Denver (not in that order).

Here’s Alex, waiting.

Oliver, waiting…

Jack and Henry, posing.

After they officially called off the launch we headed over to Y mountain.  For those of you not familiar with the Provo area, Y mountain is the place where a group of BYU co-eds hauled rock up quite a distance, shaped them into the letter Y and then painted it white.

With considerably less groaning and complaining than last year, we all hiked the Y.  Alex joined us and demonstrated the true amazing nature of 10 year old boys.  He practically ran up the mountain and didn’t even break a sweat.  He was excellent motivation for the boys.

At the top.

On the way down we all dreamed about what kind of ice cream we would get at the BYU creamery. 

There we met up with the Browns and filled up the small dining area with happy, tired, hikers.

Sledding

Christmas Eve turned out to be a beautiful day in the midst of some terrible Utah inversion.  We took Aunt Denise over to the small sledding hill at the park and had a wonderful time.

Eleanor especially loved it.

The Happiest Place On Earth

So say Jared and Jack. Me and Henry and Eleanor? Not so much.

Henry was entertained for about three hours. Then he was ready to go. I am not sure Eleanor was ever really having a good time. It is really the worst place for 13 month olds. Old enough to walk around and be mobile, but never actually allowed to walk around for fear the throngs of nice people would trample her unintentionally, and the few scary people would cart her off to the inner workings of LA.

Do I sound like I didn’t like Disneyland? Well, I did. I actually loved it. Jared and Jack had such a wonderful time, I couldn’t help but be so glad to be there (thanks mom and dad for the tickets!!).

Jack even got to stay out until 10(!!) riding rides with Daddy. The kid never stopped, he barely even rested, just kept going and going, loving every minute of Disneyland with Daddy.