Family Reunions

We had two family reunions at Bear Lake this year. The first one was with the Swift at the end of July. Nathanael and Mary-Anne were in charge of planning it and they did a great job. They found a rental house that was big enough for everyone who wanted to stay in it. Everyone was able to make it except for Isaac and his family and Caleb. That meant that there were 40 of us there. We played a lot of games, went to the beach a couple of times, did some hikes, ate lots of delicious food, and spent a lot of time talking and catching up. It was fun to see everyone, especially those who we do not get to see very much (I think it had been over three years since we had seen Doranda's family - they are living in Japan right now). We can't wait for the next one.

Nathanael and Mary-Anne planned some fun games. This is a game where you try to roll doubles with the dice. If you do roll doubles, then you put on oven mitts and try to unwrap a giant ball of saran wrap. Inside the ball are various toys and treats. This is a picture of the youth game. Rebecca and I had the worst luck with the adult game. Every time we rolled doubles, someone else rolled doubles again before we could even get the gloves on.

The beach was really nice. We were able to drive our cars out onto the beach to section off an area for our group. The sand was great for playing and the water was pretty shallow for a ways so the little children could play in the water on their own. Different families brought paddleboards, canoes, and a giant floating island. We also had bocce, cornhole, and some balls to throw around. The weather was perfect too - not to hot, but just right for swimming and laying out in the sun.

Here is Elliott with Talitha and Lucy.

The hike that we did was beautiful. We walked around a lake up in the mountains. It was a great trail for all of us with some amazing views, wild flowers, and some wild life.

Midway through the reunion Agnes was feeling a little under the weather. Not sure if it was COVID-19 or not, but many at the reunion ended up getting sick and testing positive for COVID-19 after the reunion was over. Agnes was the only one in our family who ended up feeling sick.

Asher and Jonathan looking forward to their raspberry shakes. 

Mary-Anne sent us some pictures that she took. I hope it is okay that I am sharing them here. 

A couple of weeks later we had a reunion with the Little family. It was actually a Meibos family reunion, which is Rebecca's mom's maiden name. There were more than 100 people there and it was Rebecca's parents' turn to organize it all. We stayed at a resort area at the southern part of the lake. Because the rental for the Swift family was at the northern part of the lake, it really felt like two completely different locations. We got to spend a lot of time with Rebecca's parents and siblings as we shared a place within the resort with them. But then, there were several daytime activities with the entire group. Some of our favorite activities were swimming at the pool/hot tub, card games, jet skis, and nine square/cross net. We also really enjoyed the devotional with Grandpa Meibos and Jan and the talent show (although we didn't have a talent to share).  

Somehow I lost all of my pictures from the Meibos reunion, but here are some that others (I think mainly Rebecca's dad) took (I hope they also don't mind that I am posting them here).

Dinner with cousins.

Taking cover from the rain.

Grandpa Meibos and Jan getting ready to share words of wisdom.

Kids relays.

Ready to go on the jet ski. Elliott was the most adventurous on these. He got the fastest and complained the least when we did some more exciting things on it.

Agnes with cousins.

Water trampoline. Mainly used as something to throw people off of.

9 square

All dressed up waiting for the children to chase us around.