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.