On Thursday, July 12th my Aunt & Cousins headed back to Wyoming after a super fun trip. That same morning Michael and I packed up the trailers and then we headed with the kids down to Oregon for the Jennings Family Reunion.
Last year was our first time attending the Family Reunion and we had a lot of fun. So much so that is when I first started dreaming about us getting a tent trailer. I did not want to have to drive back into town to stay at a hotel and miss out on any of the fun. I wanted to just stay on the family property. It was so awesome to drive up with our trailer knowing that my dream of last year had come true! It wasn't so much fun getting stuck in the driveway though. Hahaha! The van tires just kept spinning and that was my cue to get the kids out and let Michael handle this situation by himself. I figured if anything we were helping by not having as much weight in the van. ;)
No worries....Uncle Bob came over and they figured it out and before long the trailer was parked in it's spot for the long weekend.
The weather was gorgeous! Hot hot hot! Aunt Vicki rented the inflatable slip and slides for the kids again and it did not disappoint!
The kids had a blast going on the slip and slide.
Even some of the older "kids" were enjoying it.
The only downside was the slide / Velcro burn that you could get if the slide wasn't wet enough or if you happened to slide over the exposed Velcro. Ouch!
I feel like the kids basically lived in their bathing suits the whole time.
This is Travis...Michael's cousin Angel's son. Ella and Zeke just fell in love with Travis and his brother Lucas. They were constantly asking where they were. T & L were so awesome with them. So patient and always willing to play with them or listen to what they wanted to talk about. Just all around good guys!
One of the cousins did Ella's hairs while we were sitting around chatting.
Michael's cousins Karynn and Kymm are both gymnasts and our niece Samantha is all about gymnastics as well. They had fun playing around with their skills.
Samantha is so flexible is almost hurts watching her!
We got their on Thursday, but Saturday is the day that most people come out. Cousin Gary was manning the grill for us all. I'm not sure the exact number, but probably around 75.
We always bring our Corn Hole boards with us.
Michael has tons of fun stomping people with his skills!
That lady on the right is Robin...she is married to Aunt Vicki's son named Michael. I swear our family is not original when it comes to names. Anyways Robin is just the best...I love that lady! She is intense and fiercely loyal to those she loves. She is such a rad person and I know that if we lived down there I would honestly see her everyday. When we first got to the property and were having issues getting the trailer up the driveway she came out and told us she'd get Uncle Bob to help us. When I walked around the house she hugged me so tight and told me she was excited to see me. Once the trailer was set up we just started chatting and I think we talked for over an hour. Not just chit chat like real life talk. Robin if you're reading this know you are so super special to me and I can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving! Love you girl!
Michael in his element!
On Saturday afternoon there is a family auction. We all bring things to donate to the auction. Uncle Gary (Yes there is an Uncle Gary and a Cousin Gary) is the auctioneer and he's quite hilarious! All the money goes towards next years family reunion. It's really a great way to raise the money and it's such a fun time filled with laughter. I think we raised over $1000. While Michael was playing Corn Hole we sat in the shade and Ella colored in her new coloring book that we just bought her at the auction.
This is Vreni!
Michael's oldest living uncle is Uncle Orville. Vreni is his grand-daughter. She had never been up for the family reunion before. I heard that she was worried because she didn't know anyone. I will tell you it can be intimidating since there are so many people. Vreni didn't need to worry at all though...she fit right in.
She is currently going to school to be a nurse...I think...something in the medical field. She's super knowledgeable about all things that have to do with the body. She knew names of muscles, ligaments and bones and such. She was very curious about Michael and Zeke's concaved chest. She was also so sweet when Zeke got a sliver...she helped to get it out and best of all she calmed him down. Seriously a super sweetheart! When it came time for her to leave it was so hard. She just fit right in and we didn't want her to go. There were tears in quite a few peoples eyes. She said she's going to come again next year and I hope that's ends up happening because we can't wait to see her again!
We got quite a few things at the auction....Jack got this fun picture!
Cute Zeke man with Daddy!
Michael's brother Steve isn't someone we get to see very often since they live over an hour away from us. Ella Bean was so cute...she just latched on to her Uncle Steve and talked to him forever.
You know he loved it too because he NEVER lets you take his picture.
This was the main gathering area right outside Aunt Vicki & Uncle Bob's house. It's covered and then we expand it with pop up tents to provide more shade. It's so fun to just hang out and catch up with everyone!
Zeke got hauled around by quite a few people. This time it was Travis' turn!
Robin's husband Michael had just recently built this amazing table. We put a tent over it and this was the game table. Lots of Five Crowns & Scat was played around this table.
Here's the view of the trailer from the game table. It was so amazing having it right there. We kept he kids up until 10pm every night and they loved it. Plus that meant when we did go bed around 11 or midnight they were conked out from exhaustion.
Zeke in his happy place!
One of the night we asked Michael (Robin's husband) if he could put up some rope lights so we could keep playing after it got dark. So he hooked us up. Only thing was they were green lights. It was so trippy....because it made the sky and the grass look like they were pink once you walked away from the tent.
One of the nights a few of us climbed the hill on the property to see if we could see the Milky Way, but we could only see the faint outline of it. There was still too much light coming from Portland to see it really well.
On Sunday we packed up and headed home. The end to 12 vacation days for me. It's always hard to go back to work after being off that long! :)
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