This has been the summer of family. One of the main reasons Tom and I wanted to move back West was so we could be closer to family. (Though we were sad to be moving farther from his sisters.) I don’t think I’ve had this much family interaction since I lived at home, and it’s been wonderful! We had what’s becoming our annual Pete’s Summer Bash the first week of August. All of my siblings, but one, brought their kids to our folk’s and we had a party. I felt like this was one of our more successful family get-togethers. It might have been because Tom was with me, and my kids were remarkably well behaved so I wasn’t feeling as haggard as usual, but by and large I felt like we did a better job of balancing things. Meals were simpler, activities more varied, and I thought us sibs did a better job of getting involved with the kids. (Sometimes because we see each other so rarely we fall into the trap of staying inside and talking much of the time.)
Favorite memories:
Moxee 5k-
In keeping with our long held Moses Lake SpringFest Fun Run tradition, we all ran/walked Moxee’s 5k. As I mentioned earlier Scotland was a champ- running a good portion of the first two miles. I taught him to just call out “Walk!” when he needed. At one point after the two mile mark he asked me if I would “take him” (His way of saying carry me.) I told him to run a little bit more and that then I would give him a piggy bike until we caught up with the stroller crew. I told him “It’s good to push yourself past what you think you can do, so you can get faster and stronger.” He thought about it for a bit, and then said “I’ve already pushed myself!” Agreeing, I picked him up.
Dantzi took care of Anders during the parade- not even complaining when a huge blow-out left her with poop all over her shirt! What a saint.
Nertz and Scum with the “older nieces and nephews.”
One of my favorite college memories was our weekend nertz and cookie-eating ritual at the Huffs. In hopes of bringing the fun alive in my own family, I brought a bunch of cards up and taught my younger sisters and oldest nieces. They really took to it and we had a bunch of fun playing together. (Sabina even made chocolate chip cookies one night to make it all complete.)
Team African Star- Rhyse came up with the name.
I got paired with these two cuties for the little kid scavenger hunt. Rhyse was our fearless leader. My favorite was running down the hill trying to avoid the sprinklers- all of us laughing!
What’s a family reunion with tons of kids without pony rides. Seriously, I felt like I was at a carnival! Chief, the pony, was such a champ taking us all up and down their private lane. I loved hearing the kids woop and squeal as he broke out into a trot.
By a stroke of Divine goodness Tom got a three day weekend and got to come down to join us for part of the reunion. It was SO fun to have him there. When he was back at work the next week they were talking about their weekends and he got to say: “I spent the weekend with my wife’s family in Yakima and got to see my 6 month old son start crawling, and my 3 year old son swim 10 feet all by himself!” They all cooed.
Our traditional talent show turned dance party!
family run
girls’ morning yoga
acrobatic display
Wild bunnies
Bonding with his Aunt Sabina
Anders and Miles- future best buds!
Anders had his first “camping” experience while we were there. We tented it one night. Scotland was a champ and slept soundly the whole night. Anders. . . was another story, he was up several times- mostly due to a bought of diarrhea. Regardless, we were happy to break in Tom’s new Father’s Day tent.