Family reunion

We had a great time at the family reunion. It was great to reconnect with Dan's cousins and get to know them better and their spouses. Almost all of Dan's family was there--just a few were missing.

We all settled in on Thursday night and had our first meal together. Dan's Aunt Elaine volunteered to be in charge of the food so she planned all the meals for our time together and made a huge Costco run. Then at the end we all pitched in to cover the cost of all the food.

Friday morning we had group games and had a great time. It was great to see everyone participate and try to win. Of course, no J***** family reunion would be complete without cheating. If something was not specifically prohibited, it was fair game. So while there was a winner, the team didn't win fair and square. I guess you could say that they were better cheaters than the other teams. And it was all done in good fun. We did a plate skate (and the plates tore much sooner than I had anticipated), a marshmallow toss, a clothespin drop, balloon popping and a creative activity where each team had to use nature and themselves to create something. The ideas they came up with were great and hilarious.

On Saturday we went hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park with Dan's dad and his brother-in-law and kids. We did a six mile hike and the kids did pretty well. We had Natalie in the Kelty and the rest of our kids walked most of the way. I bit the dust twice while hiking and am still bruised from that. Once I landed on my bum while going down an embankment and another time I tripped and landed on a rock right under my kneecap.

The hike we took went out to Mills Lake which was absolutely beautiful. The whole trail was gorgeous. When we got to Mills Lake it started to rain and since it was quite cool, we didn't really want to get wet. We were going to stake out under the trees for awhile but then Dan spotted a large rock leaning against another and we took shelter there. It was great and the kids thought it was really cool. We had a snack while we waited.

Here we are on the shuttle on the way to the trailhead:


Taking a snack break:


A view on the way:


Here we are under the rock waiting out the rain and having a snack:


Mills Lake:

After the rain stopped we headed back allthewhile watching the sky since it looked like it would start pouring any minute and it was thundering quite a bit. The hike back went much faster--of course, it was all downhill--and we did beat the rain.

Darin and Jacob playing hillbilly golf: