Road Trip 2017: Day 12 - {Big Bear Lake}

This was the first year we've ordered matching shirts for our family reunion. Ray designed them - clean and simple - I like.  Now that Lee had rejoined the living we decided to take a family picture today.  We'd driven passed Boulder Bay Park earlier in the week and thought that would be a pretty spot.  Unfortunately, high noon isn't the best time to take photos, but it is what it is. We were missing Tyrone and his family again and Robyn and Scott's girls didn't end up coming either. 

We decided to find a more beachy beach to spend the afternoon.  We brought one of our paddleboards from home with the intent on using it on the lake.  However, when Justin found out that they charged a $25 daily fee and that it needed to be inspected before we could use it he decided it wasn't worth the hassle.  Bummer, that we hauled that huge bag around with us for two weeks and didn't get to enjoy it at all.  Ray went through the process to get permission to use his raft in the lake and he took a few kids out with him and then Abigail, Caylee and Emily went out alone and gave us some entertainment as they paddled around in circles.

Drew was our only kiddo that got into the lake fully and without hesitation.  That kid is quite fearless in the water.  Jason and Katie played a lot in the water as well, but didn't get fully submerged.  Thankfully, Jayden was out with Drew and happy to keep an eye on him.  Ray was kind enough to tote Katie around the lake on one a tube.  Seriously, having family around to entertain/watch your kids is pretty awesome!

I love that Griffin (almost 20 years old) still wanted to come to the reunion.  He's such a great kid and it was fun to watch him interact fully with all the cousins.  He's taking a break from school to focus on his band.  He brought with him a "backpack guitar" and during the week he played for us around the campfire and took requests tonight as we relaxed inside.  We did our best to support him vocally which was pretty hilarious.  My favorite was we sang along as he played my requested "Hallelujah".