Once we arrived in Ammon, we were busy with all kinds of plans. My sister painstakingly planned out the whole thing...meals, snacks, activities, even downtime, and the whole thing was great because of it. She even had welcome baskets for everyone when they arrived! Wow! Day 1 was Bear World. This place is great...a unique, tourist-y stop with little rides for the kiddies, a petting zoo (loved it), a gift shop, and lots of BEARS. We drove through (with windows up most of the time...it's the rule), looking in awe at beautiful bears lumbering around, sleeping in the shade, staring back...you name it. It was so cool! There were a few other animals to check out, but the bears are the main event. The cubs were a highlight...we couldn't stop watching those cute little furballs! Adorable.
My sister's back yard is amazing....lots of grass and lots of space, so my parents rented a blowup water slide for the event. The big boys aka dads couldn't help but join in, tipping the odds greatly in their favor. They sprayed the kids incessantly while standing in the unlimited supply of water at their feet...not so fair, but the kids didn't notice and loved every second of it, running around spraying each other and the occasional unarmed daddy.
On one of the days, everyone geared up for a 'short' bikeride to a park for a picnic. My boys are not avid bikeriders, nor are they adept. Asher can ride, but not well, and Beckett could do it, but chooses to crash right away every time, so he opted for training wheels for this endeavor. We were quite a sight...all twenty-two of us with helmets and bikes. It was a cooler day which was nice and, amazingly we all made it okay after our SIX mile journey to the park. Not a problem for the adults, but some of our smaller buddies pedaled their little hearts out to make it the whole way! Then there was the return trip...equally as successful, thank goodness. I did hear about a few very close calls for Asher, who was further ahead of where I was riding (bringing up the tail end with the training wheel kids), but my guess is there were angels holding him up on some of those crazy spots for which I was grateful!
The 4th of July was smack in the middle of the reunion. In the morning, many of us went out for the 5k walk/run in town. Usually for things like this we have a stroller to put the boys into the second they think they're done. They both said they wanted to run it, so off we went! Asher and Corey kept on going, but after about 2 blocks, Beckett was tired. I tried to get him to walk fast, or at some points to walk at all. It was tough times trying to get through and make it to the finish line, but we finally did it...something like 45 minutes later. I still can't believe we finished at all! That night we all went out to get a spot near the river for the big show. It was great! We were all exhausted by the end of that day though, and the kids were real troopers.
We played games, made cotton candy, cooked meals, ate meals, played outside, roasted marshmallows, talked, laughed, ate yummy ice cream at a local dairy, played ultimate frisbee, rode bikes, watched the kids hanging out together, and had a great time. I'm so glad we have families and I'm glad my parents and sibs think it's worth the effort of getting together. Love you all and thanks for another memorable reunion!
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