family reunion 2007 part 1

(Kai putting up a tent for the first time!)

We just returned from this year's family reunion! It was so fun!!!
The kids and I arrived on Tuesday to spend a day with my parents before everyone else arrived. We arrived late in the day. I didn't have anybody waiting on me to be ready and I didn't have to meet anyone so I decided to wake up at a normal time (6:00) exercise, pack the car (the UHAUL was already packed)and relax as I was getting ready for our trip. Funny thing, it stressed me out more than the usual hurricane that occurs in our house as we are getting ready for a trip! (I mentioned above that we arrived late in the day) Anyway, lesson learned. you can't fight nature. I like to be up and on the road and I think I always arrange to meet people so that my dear sweet Alex has a time line he has to stick to (he being the opposite of me when it comes to what relaxes him when we are planning road trips!)

Mt. Hood Village was a really great place to stay. It was very peaceful on the days before it filled up for the weekend and I loved camping in the woods with my kids. Well...let's say I loved "camping" in the woods with my kids. We rented a cabin with a bathroom and a shower (I was not expecting much so I was blown away with how comfortable and wonderful our cabin was with its mini refrigerator, toilet, shower, tv and vcr-which was random) My parents had an RV site (they started camping there on Sunday). On their RV site we put up a tent for the kids and our "camping kitchen" yes, the cabelas and it was everything that I hoped it would be and more! So we slept in the cabin every night (in the world's most comfortable bed thanks to Alex's foam pads that I was silently complaining about because they took up so much room which didn't matter anyway because we had a UHAUL...good thing after 10 years I've learned to keep my mouth shut about those kinds of things, mainly because I've hung myself so many times!)and then walked every morning to the campsite for breakfast/morning hanging out time (my favorite!). Then Kai would ride his bike to the cabin and Maya and Recee and I would walk back to get ready and then we would drive our car down to the campsite for the day. (Kai would ride his bike back to the RV site and I would follow him in my car.) Then at night, Kai would sleep in the tent and Maya found a special place in my mom and dad's rv: the "throne". When It was time for me to "retire" I transferred them back the cabin. (Wow, that sounds easy but Kai was so dead tired that the first night I tried this, my mom had to hold onto his upper half, while I carried his lower half!) It was a great arrangement. (the whole transferring thing got a little old by Saturday, mainly due to the fact that I was a little tired by that point)