Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Wester Reunion 2012

We have been planning this reunion for months and it was so much fun! We were able to get two condo units at Steamboat, Colorado. What a beautiful place! We stayed from August 5th to August 12th. Barry and I stayed in the two bedroom with Ally, Luke, Ava, Kira, and Cole. Everyone else stayed in the three bedroom. It worked out good to have the babies together! Barry and I loved the time we were able to spend with our sweet little grandchildren! They were so fun and I loved waking up to their sweet smiles! Ally and Luke are such a big help...taking their roles as the oldest cousins very seriously!

The first day, we went up to an area that has hiking and bike trails and several mountain lakes. It was the bumpiest road I have ever been on. We laughter so hard as we dodged huge rocks in the road. But, we made it through without any damage... Even Cale and Hailey's Honda minivan climbed like a trooper! We stopped at the first lake. Josh and Luke road their dirt bikes and everyone else hiked and snacked! It was beautiful! Then...I could not believe it, but Anne, Hailey, Cale, and Zack road their bikes down the rocky road! The pictures don't do it justice! After the roughest part, Josh and Anne switched off and he and, Hailey, Cale, and Zack road all the way back down to our condo! Amy wanted to ride but Charlotte didn't cooperate!

The next day, Josh, Cale, Hailey, and Zack went for an early morning ride. At about 6:00, Barry drove them up to Rabbit Ear pass and they took a bike path down. They thought they would be gone a couple of hours but were not back until after lunch! When they got back, they all had a few bruises and scratches. It was tougher than they thought it would be! The rest of us stayed home and swam! That afternoon, we went to the alpine slide. That was so fun!

We went tubing down the river that goes through town. That was so much fun! We spent some time looking around town.

Barry and the boys had so much fun flying their RC planes. It has been so much fun for them to have this hobby in common! There was a great little park nearby for them to fly!

One day, the boys rented a pontoon boat to celebrate Barry's birthday! It was so exciting! The kids made cards for Barry telling him that he was getting his dream to go on a pontoon boat and grill hotdogs! They surrounded him as he looked at each and every card! It was cute! The boating day was awesome! We had a storm come in at the end but that just added to the excitement!

Before we left Denver, we planned and shopped for the entire week of meals! It was so much work but it sure was nice not to have to do that major shopping up there! We ate well and just had to go to the store for a few small things. We were amazed by how much food we consumed!

I made cousin T-shirts for the kids. They seemed to really like them!

We are already talking about our reunion next year! It can get hectic at times with so many people... But it is so worth it! I just hope that we make it a tradition!

I remember when Josh was our only child and I was pregnant with Cale, I wondered how I could love another child as much as I loved Josh! When Cale was born, I loved him so much and it was then that I really understood that their are no limits on love! Having Nick and Zack reaffirmed that! Now that I have so many grandchildren.. I am blown away by the deep love I feel for each and every one of them! You never have too many... And for sure you never have a diminished love and concern for each and every one!

Nick and Dana were not able to make it! We missed them! I am so excited to see Hinckley hanging out with the cousins someday!

I wish I could figure out how to separate pictures and text on this iPad app for blogging! Sorry!