Eden

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom wanted to do a family reunion with my siblings and me and our kids. We found a very nice Airbnb in Eden, UT that sleeps 20 people, so we took it! It was about 15 minutes from Pineview Reservoir where we could use Grandma's kayak and the paddleboards that my siblings own. There was a pool nearby that we could use, as part of the HOA included with the home. The home itself included a hot tub, pool table, ping pong table, ski board, and everything you need in a kitchen. All the adults could sleep as couples in our own rooms and there were enough bunk beds in enough rooms to make the kid arrangements perfect!

We rolled in Orem at my mom's house on Father's Day and headed up to Eden the next afternoon. It was constant entertainment after that between the pool table and other fun games at the home. We found the swimming pool in the neighborhood after longer than we expected, but the kids still had a bit of time to swim before it closed. It only allowed certain numbers of people in the water at a time, so the kids usually swam in different groups like the younger group and the teenage/preteen group while the adults observed and chatted.

My niece, Mariah, had a nasty fall down a waterfall the day before Father's Day. She fell 20 feet down the falls and somehow managed to swim out of the water before being taken down the next fall. She had to go get some MRIs during the beginning of our stay and at the end had another appointment to go to. She got around very well on her crutches and seemed to enjoy the company to keep her mind off things. When my sister had to leave a little early to get back to her nursing job, she took Mariah with her for another appointment. She broke something in her femur and had some injuries in her foot. We're glad we could visit with her!

Other than exercising, cooking/eating, playing, and talking, we swam at the pool and hung out at the lake. We're so glad it worked out with everyone's work schedules! Thanks Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim!

Erik brought his stuffed bear, "Big Jim" all the way out, unbeknownst to us until it was too late. Here they are with Grandpa Jim.

Cousins connecting right away in Grandpa's treehouse.

Comparing heights with Calvin who is 12 1/2. The prediction is that next summer he will be taller than Victoria. 

More height comparisons. Karina is trying to desperately show that she's not much shorter than Natalie! Mariah is taller than us all, but on crutches currently.

Grandma's hammock is another favorite.

View from our place in Eden. 

These boys played games for hours!

More games...

When we finally found the pool, we had to wait so someone could get the key to go in!

Private hot tub at the home.

Private poker table too!

Dan and Derek are training for an Iron Man and Natalie is on the cross country team, so she got up to do a trail run with us. Derek had told me he was going to take me on a 15-mile trail run. I prepared for that, but was happy it was only a little over 10. I don't do much trail running where I live, unless you count running on a dirt road a trail run, but it's not the same as running up the trail of a mountain with rocks and roots. I tripped at least 7 times, and fell all those times! I was not used to looking directly under my feet for things to trip me up! I got a few battle wounds, but it was super fun and not as hard as I thought. That's a good way to have a lot of conversations about what's going on in our country right now....

After our run, Natalie had to prove she could walk a mile in 10 minutes or less. Karissa and Layla rolled and biked by her side to make sure she didn't break into a jog! She earned her $20 when she completed it in just about the right time with just about no jogging ;)

Food! 

Bakers!

More games!

Erik brought his cars and shared them Nik and Izaak. These are the youngest from each family. 

Aunt Missy had some things to take care of and came up a little late. All the kids love to hang with her!

A morning swim with Grandma.

Victoria and Kallie were first on the kayak.

Erik and Izaak

Austin and Peter, the two peas in a pod who were never away from each other!

Jason and I

Erik and Grandma

Layla and Karissa, with Jason for support.

Paddle boarding!

First time!

Austin really enjoyed it!

Karissa and Layla spent a long time out there!

Dancers Victoria and Kallie

Father's Day Adventure

We decided to make a trek out to Utah to see cousins after the final end-of-school-year activities we're over. There weren't actually too many things going on, but I didn't know and I don't want to miss anything, especially after nothing was going on! My mom decided to make a reunion out of it with my siblings and their children in Eden, UT at an Airbnb.

We left after work on Friday, which was the hardest drive, through Chicago, for a 4 hour drive. We drove 10 hours on Saturday and 10 on Sunday, Father's day. Victoria got to drive a couple hours both days. Jason gave her good driving tips for road tripping.

The most interesting part about driving during corona virus time was that most water fountains we're closed, which was fine with me. I actually brought bottled water so we wouldn't need to. Michigan was getting better, but we don't want to bring anything back from Utah, which is getting worse.

The pools at the hotels were for reservation only and the hotel employees would gather the breakfast for us instead of everyone getting their own.  When we left, we left the key cards in a bowl rather than handing it in.

It was an eye opening experience as to the world around us right now.

While Victoria was driving.

I got to relax in the back seat.

Father's day breakfast at the hotel. Jason got his favorite biscuits and gravy.

A windy rest stop.

Frisbee at the rest stop.

Super friendly prairie dogs.

Celebration!

We're enjoying some times of interaction with friends! I planned a small birthday party for Austin last week, trying to avoid missing friends who might go out of town to visit family or who might be celebrating their 5th-grade graduation, which all of Austin's friends just completed 5th grade. I was also aware that some people may not be ready for a lot of interaction yet. He invited his 5 besties and only 3 were able to come. We had it at Freedom Park, two days after the public parks were opened! It will go down as one of the most memorable birthday parties ever!

Karissa made a Minecraft cake.

There were blue jelly beans in the middle. It was a surprise cake!

She also made these little candy cakes that are a Minecraft thing.

Thunderstorms were predicted for that day, but I kept my eye on the weather. That morning, when it looked like all would be fine, I texted all the parents and told them we were still on for 4:30. Victoria ended up being able to hang with two friends that afternoon, so she didn't end up coming. Karissa brought there friend, Ash, and we went to the park around 3:30 to get a table at the pavilion, in case a lot of people decided to go to the park that day. It was very hot, humid, and sunny, when we arrived. At 4, a rain shower passed through, and then it was sunny again, so we thought we were done with it for a while, though we knew more was coming at some point because of the dark cloud cover in the distance. Sam, Owen, and Kaleb all came around the same time, as it was just starting to darken up and cool down quite a bit. I told all the parents that we would text them or just bring the boys to my house if it got bad, but Sam wasn't going to allowed in the house yet.

They played tag on the playground and infection, some of their favorite games (infection now has new meaning for all of them!) Then they ran over to play World Cup at the soccer nets. As it got darker, I checked the weather and noticed it would start raining in about 5 minutes. It was perfect because they would start getting hungry and Jason was on his way with the pizza. We ran back to the pavilion where they found the water balloons in the cooler and started their balloon fight as Jason was arriving. Nice and wet, they were able to eat their pizza under the pavilion as the wind and the rain suddenly started and got pretty crazy! Jason said it would continue for a while and we had 45 minutes of the party left, so he drove the cars right over to the pavilion, everyone piled all the stuff in the two cars, and we took off. I decided to volunteer to take the 5 boys in my car and Jason took the girls in his. That was an adventure- 5 wet, smelly boys in my car, along with a bunch of sand from the sand pit that stuck to their feet as they ran through it wet! Plus, someone passed gas and they had to roll down the windows- remember, it was raining still. Those boys were dying of laughter and fun, though!

His only "gift" of the party was from Ash. His friends brought gift cards.

Tag

Foot in the middle for Infection.

Water balloon fight!

We finished the party in my front porch with cake, ran over to the open garage just as the rain let up so I could hang the pinata from the basketball hoop, and took turns hitting it when the rain wasn't too bad. Since the pinata was soaking, Austin, who was the first to hit it, knocked it off on the first hit and the rest just took a turn beating it on the ground until it burst. They ate candy and laughed, and shot hoops from the garage and even some in the rain. Sam left a few minutes early, so Owen and Kaleb went inside to play some video games before they left. It was so crazy, but so fun! Those boys hadn't hung out like that in forever and really enjoyed themselves! I'm so glad we got to celebrate Austin that way.

That was Wednesday. On Friday, the last day of school, we went to non-school sponsored "clap out" for the 5th graders. There weren't too many kids there, but it was fun to see some other friends and celebrate their graduation from Miller Elementary school. Someone even brought cookies in baggies to pass out. I don't think Austin felt like he missed out on anything from his end-of-elementary school years. He's so easy to please and everything is so much more appreciated by everyone after all that social distancing.

5th graders waiting to walk down.

Running back through, here comes Austin!

Phew, we made it!