Wonderful Washington

We ended the summer with a bang: a Temus family reunion in Washington. It was great to see Alex again (he recently returned from a two year mission for our church). I also got to meet a nephew for the first time and play some much needed catch-up with the rest. As with all family reunions there were some stressful parts and times when we didn't quite see eye-to-eye, but looking back the things I remember most are the joyous times spent together.

Mom, Sarah, and Alex have been busy creating a "children's garden" and it was a HUGE hit, especially with Charlie. You see they included dinosaurs, complete with a cement cave and (dormant) volcano (hand crafted by Alex). It is no secret (see Utah trip post) that Charlie is obsessed with dinosaurs.

Grandma was in heaven.

Alex playing with Charlie, reading books to Jane, and Keith and Dad prepping for the morning's fishing (the salmon were running).

A family reunion in August wouldn't be complete without a trip up to the fire look-out on Mt. Fremont. It is a long standing family tradition. And that gal in the red hat is Jessica; Joe's girlfriend. She was gutsy enough to spend almost two full weeks with us. That is a long time to spend with the entire boyfriend's family. She is still dating him though so it must not have been too terribly bad.

Charlie approved of her pretty much since the moment he met her.

You always know you are getting close when you pass under the man face rock. Do you see the face?
Charlie made it all the way! I was impressed, especially since we didn't put any pressure on him to go the entire distance. He did get a little help from Grandpa though (see a couple pictures back).

This view is one of the things I look forward to most on this hike. I just can't get enough of it. You can see how dry it has been this year from this picture. Especially compared to past years.

Grant got creative with filling up his cup at a ward function Mom and Sarah hosted while we were there.

Family in the kitchen. Good times.

The strawberry patch was another HUGE hit with the grand kids.

Ian and Cheryl are long time friends that were spending the summer in their 5th-wheel in our backyard. It was so fun to have them there! Cheryl took several pictures in this post and all of the ones in the previous one. They are simply great people. Oh, and they have a dog which Jane is cautiously very interested in these days. It took a bit of arm twisting... ;) but Ian took me on his new toy: his trike.

It was so great to have space for the kids to roam!

The "official" family reunion (when everyone was together) was when we spent a few days camping and playing at Dash Point. It was a bit stressful getting everything organized to take such a big group camping but when we got there it was tons of fun. Fishing, boating, big campground all to ourselves, outdoor movies after dark (thank you Darren), good times.

Charlie's first time fishing. He got pretty sad when he found out that it is more fishing and not too much catching.

Keith and I took the kayak for an hour or so while others watched our littles. It was like a mini date. A very fun mini date.

While we were there we took a short drive to the zoo where Charlie, Jessica, and I all took our very first camel ride.

Trying to re-create "baby fuseball" from the Dust Bowl reunion. We had limited success.

Relaxing/recovering back at home.

Feeding the cows. Jane was upset for about two weeks after returning to Fargo that we had neither "moo moos" or "beawwies (berries)."

Keith and I talk often about how blessed we each are to have the "in-laws" we do, and how wonderful it is for our kids to have the grandparents and extended support system that they do on both sides. It was great to be able to visit both sides this summer.  I love you guys!