Family Reunion #2

On Friday we drove to Fish Lake for a reunion with some of Two Fish's cousins and Aunts and Uncles on his Father's side of the family.  Two Fish hadn't seen many of them for twenty years or more.  Two Fish's brother M and his daughter came into town and we all caravan-ed together.  We made a stop in the town my mother in law grew up in and saw the graves of her parents and the house she grew up in.   It was a beautiful drive and New Fish is getting much better at riding in the car for long periods of time.  We may make a traveler out of her yet!  We had to lift our feet every time we went over a cattle guard (didn't everyone do that as a kid?) and the girls thought it was hilarious. 

  We stayed at the Frying Pan camp ground and it was such a beautiful area.  The group site was huge.  There was plenty of room for everyone and the stars were breath-taking.  We had a big potluck family dinner with pulled pork sandwiches on Friday night.  After dark Two Fish and his cousins all recounted memories of their grandparents and fun things they did growing up. Two Fish doesn't remember his grandmother but he has good memories of going to visit his grandpa.  He is the youngest of the cousins so I think he liked hearing about his grandparents from the older kids' perspectives. I loved hearing about all of their fishing trips and his grandpa's dry sense of humor.  My favorite was hearing about their memories of the love their grandparents had for eachother and seeing them holding hands and singing love songs together.  I like having that legacy of a happy marriage.

The kids made some glow stick necklaces and were hanging around the campsite Friday night.  Red Fish really liked this cousins' hat so she asked him if she could take a picture with him.  I thought it was pretty cute.

On Saturday we had a big pancake breakfast and set out to enjoy the mountains.

New Fish dipping her toes, Red Fish being dipped with Aunt G and her puppies in the background.

Two Fish's cousins and brothers built a dam in one of the creeks in the Seven mile creek area.  They used to build dams together every summer when they went to visit their grandfather.  The kids had a good time watching them and dipping their toes in the freezing water.

 In all, there were over sixty people at the reunion.  We didn't get a total group picture but this was pretty close.

 We really enjoyed being around all of the family and getting to know people.  It was a really fun trip.

 All of the grandkids plus a second (third? I don't really know how that all works) cousin.  Getting a picture of them all together once a year has become one of my goals.  It often takes a lot of coaxing/threatening.

 One of Two Fish's cousins brought some horses for the kids to ride.  My girls were in heaven.  New Fish rode with her cousin "Wuva" and seemed to really enjoy herself.  Red Fish rode two horses and a mule and didn't want to get off.  She has always really loved animals.  The bigger the animal, the better.

The best news of the trip was that the girls ACTUALLY SLEPT.  It felt like a small miracle.  The weather was quite cold because we were at over 9,000 feet but it didn't seem to affect them at all.  They stayed bundled in their sleeping bags and there was no sonic scream, contrary to the warnings we gave everyone ahead of time.  I left this trip feeling like an actual human being instead of a giant stress ball.  It was our best camping attempt yet.  There may be hope for the future!

Traveling with the kids has been super stressful for me this year.  I love taking them places with us and I love being with them but sometimes it doesn't actually feel like a vacation.  I think I've been needing a bit more of an actual break on vacation or maybe just a reduction of the stress of every day life.  Maybe next year I will plan a trip with Two Fish by ourselves so we can have some real time together.  Maybe the trips with the girls won't seem quite so hard if I get my "vacation" and then get to travel with the family the rest of the time.  Or maybe my husband just needs to take me on a date... :)