Anderson/Skene Reunion

We just returned from a family reunion in Seattle, well, just north of Seattle at Camano Island, with my brother, sister, step-brothers, dad, step-mom, spouses, and lots of nieces and nephews! It was a fun filled 4 days with 36 people, playing, eating and getting to know each other, some for the very first time!

We got there late Saturday night, so we just stayed at Bryan and Gina's house in Seattle. My dad, Mary Lou, two of Bryan's kids greeted us.

Here's Dominick introducing Austin to video games, at 5:30 am! Even though they aren't related by blood, they do resemble each other with those brown eyes. Dominick was a great host!

 Erik with Grandpa Dave. Obviously Erik takes after the Anderson's!

 Uncle Derek was there earlier, so we got to hang out with him and Missy and the kids at the house in the city.

 Later that day, we got settled in a beach house with Aunt Karina and her kids and went to have dinner and play more at Bryan and Gina's beach house on Camano Island. Jason helped Bryan make pasta that night. Sylvie, Bryan's oldest was their diligent assistant.

 Meanwhile, Uncle Dan played with some of the kids on the lawn. Check out that view from their deck! That's the Puget Sound.

 Here's Erik and Kallie (Derek's youngest). BTW, Erik is crawling now after hanging out with some crawling babies who must have taught him the ropes while we were there!

 Karissa's best hang out friends were Francesca (Bryan's) and Mariah (Karina's). She liked them to carry her around.

 Monday morning we took our time getting going at the house we stayed at with Karina's family. Partly because we went to bed late, partly because Karina and I went for a walk and then Dan went for a jog and got lost. Jason went to look for him while Karina was in the shower. Austin seemed interested in where he was going, but went around the house the other way while I was nursing Erik. Suddenly, 22 month-old Peter (the cute red-head below) and 3 year-old Austin, were missing! They had made the long hike up the winding dirt road to the main road. When we couldn't find them after a little while, we knew there was only one place they could be. Luckily Karina's oldest, Andrew, booked it out to the road and found some older men trying to get them out of the street!

This is Peter's big brother, Calvin (4), with the two escape artists.

 Jason, relaxing on the deck before the "big scare".

 The next big group arrived on Monday from Canada. Mary Lou's oldest, Bob and his wife Jennifer, and 5 of their 7. Here's two of the oldest cousins who were at the reunion with the youngest. (Bryanna, Erik, and Bradly).

 We had pizza that day after Terry, Julie, and their two kids came all the way from Seattle!

 The neighbor s had a dog named Tug that Karissa just loved!

 The escape artists with their trains.

 Here's Gina, the "hostess with the mostess", and Karina with baby number 7, ready to come very soon!

 We took family pics. This is Karissa's "rock star" pose.

 Terry, Bob, Karina, Bryan, Me, Kevin, and Derek. The 7 of Dad and Mary Lou's children.

 Here's all the grand kids, minus Ben who sneaked away to play video games, and the two who stayed in Canada.

 On Tuesday we all went to Seattle. Victoria and Natalie were inseparable. I hardly saw Victoria the whole trip, as she and Natalie were off doing their own thing.

 We saw the Space Needle, of course.

 Remember this tongue-tied boy?

 All of us, minus a few, took a tour by land and water on this "Duck". It was pretty fun and all of us got to be together on the bus-type vehicle. There was lots of music and dancing, and a funny driver with lots of weird hats. Victoria and Natalie surprised Grandma Mary Lou by knowing most of the words to the newest, pop songs.

 View of the city from the Duck.

 After the Duck tour and a lot of getting turned around, we made it to Pike's Place Market (where they throw the fish). We didn't actually get to see the fish being thrown. Bad timing and a lot of confusion. The rest of the group minus Grandma, Karina, me, and our youngest ones (all mine except Victoria), went to the Mariners' baseball game. I don't have pictures, but I know they had a great time.

The 4th of July found us with some warmer weather, so we went to the beach to do some kayaking. Austin is with Dominick in the kayak here.

 Victoria and Sylvie

 Austin on some drift wood

 Francesca with Karissa and the drift wood fort.

 We all went for ice cream at a very popular place just off the island. By the time we got there it was close to 6pm and with our crew of 6 vehicles, it took a while to serve us up too! When we got back to the main party house, a few of us made a huge spread of a different variety of tacos, including fish tacos with the tilapia Jason bought at Pike's Market. Here are some of the chefs: Jason, Mary Lou, and Terry.

While that was going on, there was more playing. I think we ate around 9.

This was taken while we were eating dinner. Gorgeous!  

After the sun set, Uncle Kevin and the other brothers put on a fantastic fire works show. I've never seen such big fire works right on the grass in front of me! Austin and Victoria were loving it! The show caught Erik's eye too, but Karissa was inside, afraid of the "booms".

We had a great visit with everyone and were happy that our children actually slept in each day to make up for how late they went to bed each night. Needless to say, we had quite the adjustment to our time when we got back!

Stay tuned for our quick visit to Portland....