Fun Family Reunion

Warning: a really long post done mostly for posterity's sake-I am making a blog book someday- so skim if you want:)

We had Darin's family reunion in a cute little town called Manzanita at a hotel right on the beach-it was literally across the street from our room. It made me a little nervous about Lanny, but we had a little grassy area out front where the kids loved to play and only had couple scary moments. The kids loved the hotel because they would just go from room to room visiting everyone in the family. We took up all 5 rooms on the bottom and 3 on the top. Most everyone kept the doors open and welcomed the kids roaming around from room to room.

We had lots of fun. We did crafts, played games, talked a lot, ate a lot, and did a couple field trips. One day we even went to the pool. It was nice because they had this big Plexiglas wind protector around it and it was heated. The kids loved that. At the hotel, Jordan was one of the ring leaders and would have the little cousins following her. She was in heaven.

One night the adults played a fun game where we were each given a plastic egg with something inside. We were read a story about the "Right" family and had to pass the egg either left or right as we listened to the story. There was money in the eggs and to my astonishment I was the big winner-I had the egg with the $50.00 bill in it!! Woo Hoo. New camera bag for me:)

We went down the the beach a couple times and it was great-despite the fact that it was cold and windy and the water was sooo cold. I walked in it a little then was done.

Spencer and Lanny on the first day. The were slow to warm up but eventually did get all wet. Our main beach day was the second day. We were meant to have a sand castle contest, but we just played and did some kite flying. Landon lasted about 15 minutes then Darin took him back to the room for a nap. But overall all the little kids really loved it.

Jordan having fun with one oft he cute little cousins, Olivia.
All the kids were so funny because they would roll around in the dunes of dry sand. We finally realized that it was because it the sand was really hot and the were warming up!! Smart!!

Landon's first experience with smores. We were supposed to have a fire on the beach but it was really windy and cold, so we improvised. Thank goodness for ovens. Lanny and Spence loved the smores, but Jordan was traumatized when she bit into it and it was hot and the chocolate dripped on her dolly....oops...

This may seem like a wierd pic to put in, but it has a story. We were doing crafts one day in Darin's Aunt Coleen's room and all of a sudden we hear a "bang" and one of the little girls walked right into the door and bounced off-obviously thinking it was open. She was okay after a minute of comfort then a couple minutes later we heard the same thing, only louder and stronger. This time it was JORDAN!! She practically ran to go back to our room and bounced right off the door onto her bottom. Darin's Aunt decided they needed to tape a piece of paper on the door so the kids would know it was closed! This is Lanny trying to get in.

Spencer and Landon with Papa. Notice the pants and long sleeves. While the rest of the state of Oregon was having a massive heat wave of record numbers, it was downright cold along the coast. We were so thankful that Nana brought us a huge bag of clothes that Darin's sister, Darcie, had left with them so we had lots of extra pants and long sleeves. Poor Landon drown in his, but the were perfect for Spence:)
One of the popular outings we did was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was cool seeing how they made the cheese. We also LOVED the ice cream and "squeaky cheese" as I call it, or commonly known as cheese curds. They were pretty good...almost as good as WI cheese:)

This is how Spencer felt about the whole thing since he was so rudely awoken upon our arrival in Tillamook. He insisted on riding in the stroller the whole time, which luckily Landon didn't mind. Well, actually it was more of a challenge since Landon goes where ever he wants. One time we lost him and Darin's sister just happened to find him coming down the stairs from the second level when she went to buy something. I was a little freaked out, needless to say. You have to watch that kid like a hawk!!! He disappeared a couple of times during our trip, but always turned up close nearby.Two of the little cousins watching cheese being made. It was really interesting to watch how they did it. We all decided that it had to be a very boring job-doing the same thing over and over again.

We had a photo session on the beach after a big family dinner on the last evening of the reunion. It was fun, but windy and the sun wasn't too cooperative. We did get some good shots-here are a few of my favorites.
Our cute family. Landon wasn't too thrilled with the beach and the wind. He has yet to warm up to the beach in general so we have to work on him because Mommy and his big sister would be beach bums if they could....well, not along the cold Oregon Coast!! A few of us wanted to revolt against always going to the West Coast and relocate the reunion to the Outer Banks, but I don't think we had any takers....too bad...they would LOVE it-playing on the beach when it is actually sunny and warm...what a concept:)

All right Westerners, don't get me wrong-I did love the Oregon Coast but I prefer to be at the beach when it is warm- that's all:) Darin's Mom and Dad a.k.a. Nana and Papa...oh, I could say tons about these folks. We love 'em so much and the kids were thrilled to see them. Sure helps when Papa hands the kids 25 one dollar bills and makes them think they're rich!! Thanks for all your love and generosity Nana and Papa-we love you tons!! Nana planned the reunion and did a wonderful job. You can rest for a few years now, Nana!!
Here is Grandma Andrew with her 14 great grandchildren. This is Darin's grandma she is one AMAZING lady. She's 87 and quilts-we have lots of her creations in our house with my favorite being our matching Christmas stockings, still does her visiting teaching every month, did volunteering at a local school-she's just the coolest lady. We were thrilled we could see her, as she had a setback before the trip and probably really should have stayed home to rest. She insisted on coming and we were so happy she did. After the last couple trips out West, Jordan always asks about her-she even asks about her on our Sunday phone calls with Nana and Papa. We love you, Grandma Andrew.
This is Darin's sister, Darcie, and her two boys Caleb and Aiden. We loved seeing and playing with our cousins and hope they can visit us next summer.

We had such a fun time and were so happy to see all our family. Look forward to 2011!!

(East Coast...East Coast....East Coast....East Coast....East Coast.....East Coast.....East Coast.....East Coast)

Okay, maybe my attempt at a subliminal message won't work for the family members in the West, but I won't give up trying!!!