Finally catching up . . .

The last time I posted anything of worth we were just getting ready to go to my parents for a family reunion of sorts. We had 22 people staying in my parents house, but it was worth every minute. We were able to spend time with all my brothers and their families, plus my grandmother and 2 aunts! Thanks to Laura who spent hours cooking we had meals ready to go at a moments notice and family photos taken on the beach by the Narrows. (Plus she already did the hard part and put them in a collage form so all I have to do is post them! She's AWESOME!! Thanks, Laura!!!!!)

We had a great time playing games! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as watching my family play Quelf. We played Idiot, my mom, aunt and SIL Sarah spent their nights playing Nertz. I had a great game of basketball with Ariana, Eli and my brothers. All the kids had a great time running and jumping on the trampoline. Tom, Anthony, Jonathan, and I stayed up too late most nights playing Rainbow Six, it's slightly addictive. Then we spent a night or two with Rockband, which was fun to have everyone else join us.
We spent one day at Mt. Rainier, which was beautiful and crowded. I don't think I've ever been there with that many people. The kids had a great time playing in the snow. We enjoyed a short hike and Ashley kept asking when we'd get to the top. Apparently our short hike wasn't sufficient for her!



Tom, Anthony, Laura and I snuck the mustang out of the garage for a joy ride, there's nothing that brings back memories like sneaking a car out of the garage and starting it when it's on the street!! The funniest part of that was our aunt standing in the doorway yelling "go, go" encouraging us to take it with my mom standing in the window shaking her finger at us. You'd think we were all teenagers again. We did find that the mustang can pick up pretty good on a straight shot, takes a curve real smoothe, and has a great stereo system!
I also took my grandma for a joy ride in it. We had my aunt and SIL with us and pulled up to a cute little sports car with a driver revving her engine in that "I've got a really cool car" sort of way, and MY Grandmother turns to me and says "You can take her" so we pulled out of the light with a quick rev and grandma was right, we could with very little effort!
Laura and I took our kids to the playground at my old elementary school, which was open so I gave my kids a tour and let them go up on the "poop deck" of the library. The school library has the hull of a ship as it's office with a deck up top for kids who are quietly reading. It was something to look forward to as a small child and having the librarian tap you on the shoulder so you could go up there. Being up there brought back a lot of memories, but mostly I noticed how much smaller it looks when you're significantly taller.

Grandma took a day to teach Makenna how to embroider and now I'm commited to make a 99 block quilt with her name and designs. However, I can't think of anything better than watching my grandmother and my daughter head to head, conspiring and learning.

It was a fantastic family reunion with my family.
When we left we went to Tri-cities for Rob's side and we spent the day at the park with Uncle Gary's boat. The kids greatly enjoyed going on the tube behind the boat and riding in the boat as it sped along the river. I spent more time on the boat than the kids, but we did go down to the waterfront to play and cool off before going back to Aunt Donna's to sleep. It was fun to be with everyone, but a quick trip so it was hard to walk away feeling like I hadn't really caught up with everyone. There's always next time!!