Hipwell Family Reunion – Part Three

My personal family still eats off of plates my family made at family reunions when I was growing up.  Some have just our names on it, but others have my actual drawings on them. I think it is such a fun memento, but it would have cost me hundreds of dollars to replicate so I had to knicks the idea.  A friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook recently of t-shirts her kids created with sandpaper and crayons.  I bought all the supplies not quite knowing if it would actually work.  On Monday morning the kids worked on their designs. Katie's shirt was the first I put to the test and thankfully, it turned out just as intended. Everyone seemed to enjoy the activity and have something personal to take home.

Another popular activity for the kids was playing on various gaming devices.  We brought our DS for the long drive, but the kids didn’t use them during the reunion.  Jason enjoyed watching the other kids play though.

My brother Lee is an avid outdoorsman.  He volunteered to take any interested kids on an overnight backpacking trip.  Abigail was really excited to go.   Monday morning Lee made sure the kids had all the equipment they would need.  We borrowed a backpack from our friends that worked out perfectly for Abigail.  The backpackers left the cabin shortly after lunch and didn't return til the following afternoon. 

Packed up and ready to go!

Back at the cabin things were MUCH quieter without all those tweens and teens.  Justin and I watched a movie with Brenda, Robyn, and Cammy after preparing a simple dinner.  I loved that there was always someone willing to hold Drew or help Katie if she needed something.  Here Robyn is entertaining Drew with a little Baby Einstein on her iPad while Justin and I got dinner ready.

It was so fun to watch Katie and Brooklyn together.  Besides church Katie doesn’t get a lot of interaction with kids her age.  She loved Brooklyn the moment they met.  Brooklyn would walk into a room and Katie would run to her with open arms.  I love that they had each other to play with all week!

Apparently the backpackers hiked about a mile and a half along the river near Mesa Falls and then set up camp.  Lee packed in hot dogs and s'mores for the night and each of the kids packed a small and easy breakfast.  The kids were all excited and stinky when they returned to the cabin while the adult campers seemed to be exhausted.  I'm so grateful that Lee was willing to take on all those kiddos and let them get a small taste of something he is so passionate about.  Abigail has already talked to him about wanting to do it again at the next reunion.

We had just enough time after the campers got back on Tuesday to head down to the lake for a few hours before our evening plans.  Justin and I were able to sneak out on the two person kayak for a little while and both Katie and Jason went out on the kayaks with Justin as well.  The lake was so low that Justin and Jason were able to make it across the lake.

After showers we all headed to Mack's Inn for the Cowboys & Petticoats dinner show.  Most of the kids wore their reunion shirts but unfortunately I never did get a picture of all the kids wearing their creations.  I did get this little gem…

Can you see Fox’s determination in the middle?

The show was lots of fun and I loved looking down our long table and seeing so many of my family members.  

Abigail was singled out during the show by one of the actors when he asked for her number. Oh my, she was embarrassed! But I think she also loved it.  I'm sure before I know it boys really will be calling on her.

Abigail’s admirer on the left

Hipwell Family Reunion – Part Two

I failed to mention that both my Mom and I brought jars full of candy to the reunion.  This was something we always had at our Ikhaml family reunions growing up.  The person with the closest guess to the actual number of candies wins the jar.  I remember winning a jar of runts at a reunion when I was in high school or college – I thought it was awesome and rationed those runts for many, many months.  The kids kept bugging us to hand out the jars early so my Mom decided that if someone guessed the exact number she would award them their jar.  On Saturday evening, after the talent show, Kaitlyn won the jar of bananas slices and Katie and Kingston tied for the jar full of gummy oranges.  Yes, Katie age 3 and Kingston age 1 (with a little help from their Dads) guessed the exact number.  Katie was so proud and didn’t let her jar out of her sight – here she is with her winnings Sunday morning before giving half to Kingston.

On Sunday morning we attended a sacrament only branch at Mack's Inn.  There were enough members to fill the entire chapel, overflow, and a huge a-frame next door.  Justin took this picture of the A-frame after the meeting.  Val actually helped build the A-frame years ago.

After lunch Lee took pictures of the family.

That afternoon we all caravanned to Mesa falls.  Abigail and Carly rode with cousins so Justin and I had Jason, Katie, and Drew with us.  It took us a little longer than everyone else to get out the door and we never quite caught up.  Anyone that knows me knows I hate being late so I felt frustrated and as a result I was low on patience.  When we finally got to the upper falls Drew was hungry and poopy, the kids needed sunscreen, it was hot and Katie initially didn't want to walk all the stairs... Didn't make for the most fun outing, but still glad we went.

Upper Mesa Falls

We got to the lower falls just as the rest of the family was leaving.

Don’t let those smiles on their faces fool you

Yep, Drew was there too

The parking lot was cleared when we returned after taking a few pictures.  ** Note the cargo carrier on top of the van.  We’ve maxed out our van with little people so this was a total lifesaver on this trip and we got an awesome deal from a friend in the ward – we will never travel without it!

Back at the cabin there was always a puzzle on the kitchen table that people were working on.  Brenda and Cammy were the diehards, but a few others stepped in here and there throughout the week.  

My Mom asked me to come to the reunion with a few activities planned for the kids. Sunday afternoon we broke out Hipwell Family Bingo.  Simple, classic and a surprisingly fun game for everyone.  The prizes I'd picked up at the dollar store were a big hit too.

The kids created their own cards choosing from a list of family reunionish words I put together

That evening Ty was in charge of building a fire for s'mores.  The kids enjoyed the treat though Katie thought they were too sticky and instead preferred to eat the chocolate and gram crackers separately.

That night several of the girls (and Uncle Alan) entertained us with the "cup song"… so fun!

Hipwell Family Reunion – Part One

We recently returned from spending a week with my family.  Just a few days after we returned I got a text from my little brother (Is there a point in life when you can’t call a younger brother “little”?) giving me a hard time about not posting pictures on the blog yet.  I took over 1200 pictures so it will take me some time to sort through them to find gems like this one…

I’m not sure how many posts it will take to get through everything, but this here lengthy post basically just gets me through day one of the reunion so for the few of you that care… have patience.

My Mom rented a cabin in Island Park, Idaho for seven nights.  We had all 32 family members there though not everyone was able to be there the whole time.  The cabin had 7 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a huge loft for all the girl cousins, and a second family room downstairs for the boys to take over.  

We broke up the drive into two days and spent our first night in Missoula, Montana. When we arrived in Missoula dinner was first on my agenda.  We have some friends that travel to Montana often to visit family and have talked about eating at The Staggering Ox for years. This was our chance to check it out.  It was a 20 minute drive from our hotel, but we've traveled longer in search of good food and were not disappointed in this instance.  The uniqueness of the food alone was worth it.  We ate club foot sandwiches, a few potato dishes, and "guts" (the hollowed out centers of the sandwiches).  

I remember anytime we traveled growing up that it was important to me that anyplace we stayed needed to have a swimming pool and shopping.  The shopping actually surprises me now because I don't like to shop; however, my kids feel having a swimming pool is crucial and they could hardly wait to enjoy it.  

I found these two pictures on Justin’s phone:

We were the first to arrive at the cabin in Island Park the following afternoon, just minutes before we were officially allowed to take possession.  The cleaning crew was just finishing up.  My Mom and Val weren't too far behind and we enjoyed a quiet evening with them while we waited for the others to arrive later that night.  The anticipation of the arrival of family members was incredibly high.  We got word that Ty's family would be the first to arrive.  Every time we saw a car driving up the dirt road the kids would run outside, if the car turned down our road Jason and Katie would start jumping up and down and waving their hands high in the air.  Katie was SO excited to see her cousin Brooklyn who is only two weeks younger than her.  That scene repeated for over an hour.  It turned out that Ty decided to go out to eat before driving to the cabin.  By 11pm everyone had arrived. Obviously none of the kids were getting to bed anytime soon.  It's been nearly 3 years since my kids have seen most of their cousins.  I was concerned that in those 3 years some of the older cousins would have out grown their connection, particularly in Abigail’s case where there are four girl cousins two years older than her.  Thankfully, that wasn't at all the case and the girls were inseparable all week.  The kids stayed up til midnight pretty much every night.  We had a bunk bed in our room so thankfully Jason, Katie, and Drew were able to go to bed earlier.

Val lived in Island Park at some point growing up so he was familiar with the area and wanted to show us a good time by renting a boat on Saturday.  Justin and Val picked up the boat first thing that morning and immediately started taking kids tubing.  

Our Captain

Justin was on the boat with Jason and Abigail when they went:

I was on the boat with my three oldest nieces and nephew plus Liz and Ashley who were so entertaining to watch out on the tube.  When it was my turn Lexy joined me on the tube.  It was lots of fun and worth the beating my thighs took from slapping against the water. 

Those that weren’t on the boat played on the beach.  The beach was a far cry from the Hawaiian beaches my kids most recently vacationed, but the kids didn’t mind the green water and rocky shores.  Robyn brought her kayaks and the cabin had a two person kayak as well.  Ray brought his raft and we had a few tubes to add to the fun.

Abigail, Caylee, and Emily relaxing on the beach

Jason wasn’t a fan of the muddy shores – see him trying to walk on his heels so he wouldn’t get mud squished between his toes?

He seemed to spend most of the afternoon getting rides around the lake with various relatives.

After lunch it was time for waterskiing.   Abigail was the only one in our family to give it a try and no shocker that she got up on her very first attempt.  Thankfully my brother Lee was on the boat and was able to snap a few pictures for us (hopefully we’ll get those soon).

This is Drew’s future buddy Kingston – he’s so stinkin’ adorable.

Brooklyn and her Daddy

Aunt Robyn gave Kingston a ride while he waited for his turn

Drew spent the afternoon hanging out at the cabin with Justin.

Between activities and meals the kids played lots of games.  This is what it’s all about for me – the cousins hanging out, laughing, and creating memories together.

After dinner we had our first ever Hipwell family talent show.  It was my brother Ray's idea and his family didn't disappoint.  They taped glow sticks to themselves, turned out the lights and performed a synchronized dance to Dynamite by Taio Cruz.  It was awesome!  

Brenda's family did a funny little skit, but the rest of us were lame and didn't put anything together (though we vow to do better in 2015!)  We were able to convince our oldest niece, Kaitlyn, who happens to be a talented actress to perform "the cup song". She has a beautiful voice and I couldn't help but get a little choked up as she sang the words "you're gonna miss me when I'm gone". She turns 18 this fall and like all these kids, she is growing up way too fast. She’ll be off on her own before we know it and even has plans to be on a mission during the next reunion.  

For adult entertainment we spent a few evenings playing Texas Hold Em'.  The first evening was Justin surprised everyone by holding everyone's chips at the end of the night.  Beginners luck held strong when we introduced Cammy to the game on a different night and she cleaned it up.