(Warning!!! You're about to read the longest blog in the history of blogspot. You may want to stretch your legs and take a break every 15 min.)
We had a great time at the Bates Reunion. We stayed at Camp Ee-Da-How by Cascade Lake. This was Claire's first camping trip and she did great. We had a small dome tent set up to act as storage, but once Elizabeth saw it she decided that she would sleep in it all by herself. I didn't think she would make it, but she did! She woke up the same time we did and told us that she wasn't scared at all and she even turned off her flashlight before she fell asleep. She's so brave!
Our campsite was away from everyone else, but we were thankful because of the lack of noise from the other campers. (We could here the distant cry of several very tired infants.) Claire doesn't do so well when she isn't in her own bed, so we were glad to have a somewhat restful sleep. (During the night the temp. was about 45 degrees so we had to sacrifice a layer of padding for warmth.)
Some of the joys that come with camping are getting incredibly dirty beyond recognition. Notice the footprint? Claire got a little too close to the kids swinging. She didn't cry so it must not have hurt too bad, right?
The best part of a family reunion is time spent with family. Liz, Claire, and cousin Logan are playing in the woods next to our campsite. We also had a great time swimming and playing in the lake.
Garth took Liz and my nephew Gabe out on the lake with the canoe. (Thanks David!!) You can't see her, but Claire is in the other boat with some of her cousins.
This is most of our family waiting for the talent show to begin. The count of those in attendance was about 75. (We missed Loralee and her family!!)
I'm not able to post pictures of every act, (To do so would require a whole new website. :) ) but everyone did a really good job. There are a few videos of the siblings the camera could make out in the dark.
This is my sister Shari displaying her Mexican folk dancing. She and her kids are in a Mexican folk dance group from Nampa, Idaho.
The picture on the left is Ysabel (right) and Leslie (left) doing a Napolean Dynamite skit because they can do whatever they feel like! Goshh! (Ysabel is Napolean and Leslie is Deb.)
On the right is Sam performing exceptional magic tricks with cousins to witness he's for real.
(Left) Melanie and her kids, Tasha and Reagan, singing. Melanie and her family drove all the way from Texas to attend the reunion. (Right) Nancy is playing piano for her two girls, Emma and Madison, with Natalie turning pages. Natalie and her kids braved the drive from Wisconsin! (We missed you Forrest!)
Natalie and Nancy both played the piano really well. I had video footage to prove it, but Claire thought that we needed to hear little voice her instead of the keyboard.
My only brothers keep the laughter coming with their incredible talents and my sister Nettie does a Polynesian dance. Nettie and her family drove up from Arizona.
2 comments:
Fun pictures. We're glad you guys made it to the reunion. Logan had a fun time running around with Lizzy. We definitely need to have a longer reunion next time. There's not nearly enough time to visit with everyone you want to in just 2 days. Thanks for posting my dance....helps me see where I need to improve...which is in a lot of parts. :) Thanks for the birthday wish. I love you too.
Hooray for the Bates reunion! That was so much fun. I don't know why my blog didn't notify me that you had posted that or I would have commented a long time ago. Wow, you even know how to put videos on your blog...you are way more blog-advanced than I am. I'm glad you did. That was so much fun to watch and read what you wrote and see the pictures you guys took. You got some good ones. I didn't realize Elizabeth slept by herself! What a brave girl.
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