Normal rules and routines are
pretty much thrown out the window when you're traveling, especially when
there's lot of other people involved. Abigail and Carly slept on the main
floor with the Gardner cousins and pretty much went to bed whenever they
wanted. The other three kiddos were in the same room as Justin and I and
went to bed MUCH later than normal. Each family was in charge of three
meals during the week. We ate well. Drew was quite spoiled.
He ate what he wanted and didn't eat what he didn't want. When he wants a
can of lemonade... Grandma gives him a lemonade.
When he wants Aunt Robyn to paint
his toes pink just like she did for Katie - then by golly, he gets himself some
pink toenails - while enjoying a sucker, of course.
A big group of us roamed around
"The Village" later this morning. We popped into a few gift
shops and treated ourselves to some ice-cream just minutes before lunch.
Cause apparently, on vacation, dessert can be had anytime, anywhere.
a Pokémon stop
There was a fun woodcarving of
bears that we were getting pictures in front of. Drew was being a stinker
and didn't want to get in the picture. I told him if he didn't cooperate
he wouldn't get ice-cream. He ignored me and marched right out of our
family picture.
When we were all picking out ice
cream he stood there crying because I was determined to stay true to my
word. His tears didn't last too long, but I also think he had a few
family members show pity on him and sneak him some of their ice cream.
This afternoon was the field games
tournament at the park. There were three events - bocce ball, ladder
ball, and corn holes. Justin and I were assigned as partners (with
Drew). Our first event was ladder ball against Lee and Gina. We
ended up losing by one meager point. I highly suspect we would have won
had we not let Drew throw a few of our tosses.
We take our field games very
seriously
After all was said and done Justin
and I emerged as the corn hole champions, beating Jason and Katie in the finals
(Jason was not at all ok with that).
Caylee and Jayden earned top
rankings in bocce ball.
And Brenda and Mom cleaned it up on
the ladder ball competition.
I think a field games tournament
needs to be an activity at every reunion. It was so much fun. What a fun crew we have!
The teens went back to Boulder Bay later that night and took some fun
pictures.
And then we broke out the s'mores
for our last night together.
I stayed up late with Brenda and
Lee trying to finish up the Snoqualmie Falls puzzle we brought with us. In the wee hours of the morning I
finally conceded and called it a night.
Here are a few of the puzzles we did finish up during the week.
Such a fun week playing games,
exploring Big Bear and enjoying our time together as family. I asked each
family member what their favorite memories of the past week has been and here
are their favorites:
Justin: lawn games
Holly: watching the kids
interact with their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents
Abigail: "park
adventure" with cousins on the last night
Carly: water balloons and
field games
Jason: hiking up to Castle
Rock
Katie: playing games
(especially the ones involving candy)
Drew: football
("soccer")
