My mom met us at the airport, and Grandma was Sarah's best friend within seconds. Sarah & Grandma talk on FaceTime almost every day. Sarah was pretty excited to have Grandma in real life.
The morning after we arrived, we went to my grandpa's house to get it ready for our family reunion. This was the first time since we got married that we were able to get all of Kelson's family together. Baker City was a good central place, and Grandpa was kind enough to let us use his house.
Kelson's parents,brother, sister and nieces arrived that afternoon. Sarah was quick to adopt Aunt Jehana as a new friend.
Sarah followed her three cousins around like a little puppy all week. The girls had a great time.
It was unusually rainy for Eastern Oregon during our reunion, so we treasured any sunny hours that we could spend outside. We gathered a bunch of boards for the girls to draw on, and then Kelson cut their designs out with his Dremel.
Uncle Kelson was very popular when he pulled out the bows and arrows. The girls were pretty good archers. The adults got to have their turn later.
Biggest dandelion ever! Make a wish!
Sarah found some arrows. She wasn't interested in shooting them. Instead, she started waving them around and singing Bippidi Boppidi Boo. Magic!
Then there was this one time when Kelson accidentally fired an arrow in to the canoe. Oops.
Don't worry, Kelson was in charge of damage control on his last ship. He was qualified for this situation. He found some epoxy in the shop and fixed the hole.
We took everyone to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and learned about the pioneers. Cold wind!
We went to my Uncle Jerry's house at Medical Springs and swam in the hot spring-fed pool, managing to sneak in between thunder storms. Sarah absolutely loved it. It's like a giant bath tub!
Another morning, we took the (repaired) canoe up the mountain to Anthony Lakes and paddled around. We saw lots of jumping fish and watched an osprey dive into the water.
Beautiful!
Kelson gave all of the girls rides on the lawn mower. That was a very popular activity.
I'm big enough to drive this alone, right?
Kelson's birthday was the day after his parents were leaving, so we celebrated a day early with homemade ice cream and yummy strawberry cupcakes. Sarah enjoyed adding the ice to the ice cream maker.
All of that cranking was worth it!
Sarah usually doesn't like ice cream, but apparently this was extra good.
Kelson always has strawberry pie for his birthday. This year, his sister made yummy cupcakes instead. They definitely satisfied our strawberry craving.
Sarah & Nana
The boys did some shooting. I gave Kelson a rubber band gun for his birthday. The shotguns were necessary for the clay pigeons.
Getting all four of these girls to sit still for a picture was just about impossible.
Attempting to hit targets with a slingshot.
Sling shot shooting is much harder than it looks. We were pretty unsuccessful.
The next day was Kelson's actual birthday. Sarah and I made him a delicious breakfast of a smoothie, breakfast burrito, Riesens, and gummi bears. Sarah couldn't wait for Daddy to wake up so she could share.
We had a relaxing afternoon at the library and the park.
Wee!
We had birthday dinner and ice cream with huckleberries at my parents' house followed by presents. My parents gave Kelson a kit to make his own gummi bears. He was pretty excited. He had a great birthday. We love him so much, and we loved being able to celebrate him with all of our family there.
It was a fun week with Kelson's family. We don't get to spend time with our family often, so we truly treasure the time we do have. Kelson had to go home just after his family left, but I got to spend another couple of weeks with my family. More details to come!
It was a fun week with Kelson's family. We don't get to spend time with our family often, so we truly treasure the time we do have. Kelson had to go home just after his family left, but I got to spend another couple of weeks with my family. More details to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment