2024 :: week 32

August 4

Will & Lauren played their pieces for the MAMA Festival. Will and Lauren played a duet together, and Lauren also played two solo pieces. We had hoped for Will to do solo pieces as well, but he ended up being busier this summer than ever before and did not have enough time to perfect his songs. Both their duet and Lauren's earned superior ratings--good work! That afternoon we drove back to OP.

August 5

Monday was the last time our entire family was at Bluejacket pool together and I made the kids take a pic. I am feeling very sentimental about it. The proximity to the pool was a big selling point for me when we bought our house. My kids and I have spent many summer days at this pool. I used to joke that my parenting style in the summer could be summed up in one work--pool. I've gotten to know many people in the neighborhood sitting on the side of this pool. It has served me well and I hope the city will rebuild. It will be at least a year before the city decides what to do with this site, so I will do my best to advocate.

August 6

 A piece of my heart really did break Tuesday night. About two weeks ago the city announced that at the end of the pool season Bluejacket Pool would be permanently decommissioned. Apparently because it needs too many expensive repairs and the city is moving away from the neighborhood pool model, the city has decided it is time to close. Will worked earlier in the day, but was off before close, and he went with TJ to the Royals game that night (it was the LDS night at the Royals, and they were playing the Red Sox). The city held a "celebration of life" for the pool, by allowing everyone in the community to come to the pool for free after 5pm. Over a thousand people came to the pool that night! The "regulars" agreed that the pool is more fun when it isn't quite so crowded. We stayed in the pool until the very last second, visiting with friends and reminiscing about how much the pool means to our community. Elliott "saved" some water in a reusable water balloon. 

August 7

Miles got his cast off Wednesday! He was very happy about it. All he has to do is wear this brace while he is awake for the next three weeks, but his arm should be good to go. Kids heal so quickly!

August 8

We celebrated Arthur's 6th birthday Thursday and the Staritas are in town! It is especially fun to celebrate a birthdays with extra cousins in town. Will went the the Raider Rally that night. It is very trippy having a child old enough to go to the same high school I did.

August 9

We spent Friday afternoon at Clinton Lake with the cousins. It was chilly, but the only day that worked for everyone, so we made do. We had the beach almost completely to ourselves, which made it pretty easy to keep an eye on the kids. Jake & Jill brought their paddleboards. We brought a bunch of snacks--TJ especially enjoyed the cinnamon & sugar Dot's pretzels--and  tried to fit in some visiting too. 

August 10

Even though we had a busy church-adjacent day, we made time midday to go to Tomahawk while the Staritas are in town. In the morning we went to Ethan Manning's baptism. In the early afternoon we took the kids swimming. After swimming the cousins hung out at my parents' house and ate pizza and watched a movie. TJ and I were busy with the leadership meeting and adult session of Stake Conference. My sisters and parents were gracious to help out so our kids could have fun with the cousins too.

2024 :: week 31

July 28

Post church snuggles. That evening we went to dessert at the Prices, so I baked a blueberry pie in the afternoon. 

July 29

Will finally got to work with Knox again. They haven't gotten to work together as much as they had hoped, so it is always fun when they get to. Monday afternoon I took Lauren thrifting and then Cat & Sally spent the night.

July 30

The Ule boys came over for a few hours Tuesday morning. They left for a few weeks right as we got home from being out of town so it had been awhile since the boys could all play together. Miles and Gabriel had a great time time collecting cicada carcasses around our yard. They found a shocking number! That afternoon I took Will to SMS for the "Raider Roll-Out," where he picked up his laptop and got his school picture taken. Later I went to a parent meeting for marching band. Will should have a fun year!

July 31

Wednesday evening Tony and I went with Stephanie & Spencer to the Jewel/Melissa Ethridge concert at Starlight. We carpooled and listened to Jewel music on the way to prepare. Her set was really good! Joi & Dave were there too, and we stopped and said hello between performers. It was quite hot, but not miserable like I feared. We went for Jewel, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Melissa Ethridge. I forgot she was from Leavenworth and is a big Chiefs fan. She was really engaging interacting with the crowd. I was disappointed when her set got cut a little short because a storm was rolling in. We ended up making it home right around the time it started to absolutely pour rain. 

August 1

Cat & Sally came over, then the girls walked up to the pool. It has been so wonderful having the pool close enough that the kids can walk over and meet up with friends so easily.

August 2

Dinner in the summertime is hard for me. Especially when we have been spending so much time with friends at the pool. I never want to leave to cook!

August 3

We left Saturday morning to head to St. Louis for the MAMA Festival. Because Will had band camp Thursday and Friday so we weren't able to leave as early as we would have liked. We only had a few hours to do something "fun" in St. Louis, so we decided to go to Grant's Farm. We've never been there before and it was quite the experience. Grant's Farm was originally owned by Ulysses S. Grant, but is now owned and operated by the Busch family (Anheuser-Busch family). It is now home to the Budweiser Clydesdales--they're huge!--and hundreds of animals from all over the world. We rode a tram through deer park and saw lots of cool animals. Then we went to an animal show. Each of the kids got to go on a camel ride, which they said was fun. When we were done at the Farm we met up with the Datus at Imo's Pizza. There wasn't a lot of room to sit down so we went and hung out in the Hagsplund's backyard (where we were stayed for the night). We had fun laughing and talking with the Datus for hours.

2024 :: week 30

July 21

Sister Benedict is always coming up with creative was to conduct singing time. This week she had us put away the chairs and set out blankets so we could "picnic" during the summer.

July 22

Elliott finished his Barnes & Noble summer reading challenge earlier this month and I finally got around to taking him to pick out his free book this week. Of course he chose the Big Nate. Elliott became an avid reader this past school year, which makes me so happy.

July 23

We had a picturesque evening at the Atomic Cowboy Tuesday night. Michelle texted and invited everyone because kids eat free on Tuesdays. We weren't planning to stay too late, but then the trivia started and the adults couldn't say no to that. The kids had a great time running around, playing the outdoor games and getting trucks to honk their horns. It was truly a magical summer night!

July 24

I have been wanting to visit the observation deck at City Hall in KCMO for awhile, but it has limited availability. It is only open Monday through Wednesday from 10-2p when weather permits, seasonally. We tried to go over spring break, but it was not open then. Wednesday the stars finally aligned and we got our change. It was pretty cool to see the city from this vantage point. We could see many landmarks--the KC Temple, Arrowhead and Kaufman Stadium, Union Station, City Market and Children's Mercy. On the way home we had a strange experience. I was driving behind a truck hauling a trailer that was filled with rolls of carpet. It was going slow so I passed it. A few seconds later the rolls of carpet started to roll off the trailer and across traffic. Every vehicle behind us had to stop. It was a little surreal watching it happen in our rearview mirror and having no cars behind us for a bit. I was definitely grateful to be spared damage to our van, and hope the cars behind us fared okay.

July 25

Lauren spent three days this week at a volleyball camp with friends CL, Allie, Ella, Cat & Brena. She had a good time playing volleyball and spending time with her friends. Thursday Miles, Elliott and I met the Allreds at the zoo and had a great time. It was quite hot and the boys had fun running through the misters placed around the zoo to help people cool off.

July 26

I love going to the pool in the evening. Elliott and his friends spent the evening walking around

July 27

Saturday night Will and Lauren had their pre-MAMA festival recital. Will and Lauren played a duet and Lauren also had a solo piece. Will was gone for too much of the month to do a solo piece as well. 

2024 :: week 29

July 14

Will only got to sleep in his bed two nights before heading off on High Adventure. This year our ward went to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. They left early Monday morning, but loaded up their gear Sunday evening to save time. Tony made smashburgers for dinner to eat with the Gessells.

July 15

We had a really fun week with the Gessells. Lauren did a theatre camp with her friend Brena, so she was busy most days from 10-2pm, but she joined us the in late afternoon and evenings. Monday was pool day! We went to Young's Pool right at noon and swam and jumped off the diving boards and used the big slides there. After a few hours we went home and rested for a bit. Many games were played--Eye Found It!, Sleeping Queens, indoor baseball, How Well Do You Know Your Family, etc. Then we went to Tomahawk. I picked up some Costco Pizzas for dinner and we swam until the pool closed. 

July 16

We were all feeling a little tired, so we had a slow morning. Tuesday we celebrated Alicia's birthday! We went to Union Station and saw Despicable Me 4, which exceeded my expectations. My favorite part was when all the villains started to sing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."  Then we walked along the skybridge and visited the Daniel Tiger exhibit at Crown Center. We all had a fun time at the exhibit! Daniel Tiger is one of my favorite PBS kids show. On the way home we stopped at the original Joe's KC for dinner. The food was delicious, and it was pleasant enough to eat outside. We went home and had ice cream for dessert and to celebrate Alicia.

July 17

We had a full day Thursday. In the morning we went to the splash pad at Roe Park. After some quiet time we headed to Science City. Yesterday when we were at Union Station to watch the movie we saw that Science City had a "beat the heat" deal for $5 admission after 3pm. We spent two hours fitting in as much as we could. Afterwards we rode the streetcar to the City Market where we met Tony and Lauren for dinner at Pigwich. It felt a little wrong to go to Will's favorite restaurant without him, but needs must. We were lucky that it was nice enough to dine al fresco most of the time the Gessells were in town. The Gessells bought some specialty sodas at the KC Soda Shop. They found a root beer called "Brigham's Brew," they had to get for Brigham. We walked to the bridge and admired the view, then picked up Betty Rae's ice cream for dessert and then headed home. We had such a fun time with the Gessells! They left early Thursday morning to head home.

July 18

Stevie and the crew put the finishing touches on our deck this week. They stained the privacy wall and hung up the patio lights. Now all we need to do is buy some patio furniture! It is so much bigger and prettier than our old deck!

July 19

Friday we went to Deanna Rose with Kendall. With the Gessells gone, Will in Minnesota and Lauren at theatre camp all day the house was too quiet. We had fun playing with the animals, feeding goats, playing on the playgrounds and eating ice cream. On the way home the kids even convinced me to stop and get ice cream. That evening while we were at Lauren's performance Will arrived home from Minnesota. 

July 20

This week Lauren and Brena were in the Lenexa Rec Production of "Robin Hood." She was one of the Merry Men. There were several friends from our ward and stake in the production as well, including Crew C., who was also one of the Merry Men. The girls had a fun time and did a great job in the performances. Charlotte brought Cat and Sally to watch them too.

2024 :: week 28

July 7

We played a few rounds of Sushi Go after the younger kids went to bed Sunday evening. I enjoy playing games with the family, it's a good way to connect and spend time together. 

July 8

Elliott played in his final game of the "spring" season Monday. He missed a few games while we were out West, so we were grateful he got to play in their playoff game. They did not win, but they played hard. The Huskies were the only exclusively second grade team in the league--most of the teams were comprised mostly of third graders. Elliott got frustrated that the other team got a lot of hits off his pitches, but he was throwing mostly strikes. 

July 9

Will spent the week at FSY on the Mizzou campus in Columbia, Missouri. Most of the teachers in our ward attended this session. He roomed with Adrian, Jude roomed with Darius, Caleb roomed with Elliott Wright and Isom was randomly assigned a roommate that he actually already knew. Will liked the food at the food court--he ate a lot of burgers and fries and drank a lot of Dr. Pepper. His group was called "Joyful Souls," and was made of mostly kids from the St. Louis area. He liked talking smack about how the Royals are better than the Cardinals, and the Royals conveniently swept the Cards that week. Most days they had two classes before lunch and two classes after, though one afternoon there was talent show. There were two dances--Tuesday and Friday nights. Another night was a music night. One night they had a game night, played missionary tag and got pizza. Every night they had R&R--reflect and review--where they shared what they learned that day with their company.

July 10

At Elliott's ball game Miles complained that his arm really hurt. When he didn't want to play catch we knew something was really up. Tuesday morning I took Miles to an urgent care to get an x-ray. I felt validated when the PA told me it didn't look broken, but an x-ray would give me peace of mind, and then after looking at the x-ray she immediately said he had a buckle fracture. She made Miles a temporary cast and sent us to a clinic that specializes in casting kids. Wednesday morning I took Miles to get his official cast. Of course we paid the $30 upgrade for a waterproof cast. He has to wear this cast for 6 weeks, then a brace for 2 additional weeks after that.

July 11

I took Lauren, Elliott and Miles blueberry picking Thursday morning. We had a fun time, but it was getting hot again and didn't stay as long as I expected. I am having a hard time with the fact that we won't be able to do all our summer traditions all together every summer. I am happy that my kids are growing up, becoming increasingly independent, and doing lots of things. But it is also bittersweet for me.

July 12

We have spent a lot of time at the pool this week. The boys have been spending a lot of time with the Svezias and Warrens, Lauren with the Hagmans, and me chatting with my friends. We are really going to miss this pool next season.

July 13

Will has been dying to buy a scooter. I wasn't super excited about it, but after talking to a few parents of his friends that own scooters we decided to let him get one. It arrived while he was at FSY. He got home early Saturday morning and had to work at the pool that afternoon. As soon as he was off he went for his inaugural ride on his scooter. (We got helmets for him and all passengers to wear the next week). The Gessells late Saturday for a few days of fun!

2024 :: week 27

June 30

Tina sent this picture and text from the cabin Sunday morning. "Walking around Silver Lake this morning. Much easier than yesterday--it's flat!" On Saturday they hiked to Lake Mary, which was a much longer and steeper. Elliott reports that while they were on the hikes they played "murder mysteries" where one person would make up a story and the other kids would guess elements of the story. Derek was particularly good at coming up with stories. The cabin is owned by Tina's sister Liz, but it used to owned by Gram Bennett (Tina's grandma). Tina would visit this same cabin with her grandmother and cousins when she was a child. At the cabin the kids played basketball with the indoor mini-hoop, Disney Lorcana (card game), and created funny stories about the old toys. They walked down to the creek and tried play with water guns that ended up being junk so they ended up trying to skip rocks. Each of the kids brought a movie to watch--Elliott took Little Rascals. While Elliott was living his best life at cousin camp the rest of us Johns spent the day driving home. It was a long day. Because of midwestern storms google maps told us some roads would be closed due to flooding, and to take the southern I-70 route home. This was a mistake. The traffic got very congested as we drove through Colorado and we passed through several storms across western Kansas. Meanwhile I-80 never closed. We stayed up very late the night before we left visiting with Meredith, so we got a late start and didn't arrive home until almost 2am.

July 1

We were excited to see that our deck was nearly complete when we got home! There are a few finishing touches, but it is now usable. There are a few It is a bit bigger than our old deck, and is made of composite material--no sanding and refinishing every few years to keep it looking nice.

July 2

Tony took Will, Jude & Adrian to the Royals game Tuesday night. It ended up being a marathon of a game due to a 2+ hour rain delay. Only the die hard fans stayed through the delay, and Tony and the boys can be counted in that group. Their diligence was rewarded twofold--they got to move down and sit very close and also they got vouchers to use at a future Royals game. The Royals did end up losing, but our boys had a fun time. There has been a lot of rain this week.

July 3

I didn't take many pictures Wednesday because we were still recovering from the trip. Miles has been a bit bored without Elliott to play with him. The big kids have been busy too. Both Will & Lauren had piano lessons, and Will worked at the pool. After weeks of cousin time, spending his day with mostly me was a bit of a letdown.

July 4

The happiest moment of our day was seeing Elliott walk off the plane! Tina said we could have Elliott fly home early July 4 before they headed up to Malad with the Maxfields and Matt, or a few days later after they come home. We decided we wanted Elliott back in time to spend the 4th with us. Anthony and I drove to airport to pick him up, but I went into the airport alone to pick him up while Anthony waited at the cell phone lot. Cousin Camp 2024 was the loudest, silliest, most self-entertained group ever--Adelaide, Millie, Derek, Nolan, Elliott &Brigham--and Elliott had a wonderful time. On the drive home we peppered him from questions about his time at cousin camp. He said his favorite memory was when Papa let him order an adult sized meal from Chick-fil-A (I usually make him get a kid's meal). In the afternoon we went to the pool for a bit. Then Uncle Matt put on a fireworks show in the parking lot of the pool. Due to the storms earlier in the week the city postponed the fireworks show to the evening. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the kids had fun playing at the park after. The saddest moment of the day was when Miles fell off the playground at the park and hurt his arm very bad. It wasn't obviously broken, but was very tender to the touch.

July 5

Friday night we watched the fireworks at the golf course, per tradition. It was a little strange having the display the night after the 4th, but since it was Friday it worked out well. Earlier in the day I worked on getting the garage organized. I ordered new shelves that better use the space and Tony put them together for me. Between getting back to real life after our trip and then Tony getting both Thursday and Friday off of work, almost every day has felt like a Saturday.

     

July 6

Now that Will is mowing lawns like crazy our lawn mower is getting a lot of use. I bought a lawn mower tune up kit from Home Depot and TJ replaced the filter and changed the oil. It was surprisingly easy, though we initially put in too much oil and had to dump some out which was tricky.

2024 :: week 26

June 23

Sunday LMC families members began to leave Bennington. The Wilsons left in the morning and the Allreds after church. In the early evening Pepaw gave us a "family history tour" of Bennington and surrounding area. We drove past the Maple and Buttercup Fields where my dad owns land and stopped to see the area where my Grandma Crane was born 1917. We drove up into the beautiful Pine Canyon and walked to the Red Fern bus and to an overlook with a gorgeous view of the valley. We visited the cabin my grandpa built to homestead the land in the 1930s. We visited the Bennington cemetery and found the graves of my dad's paternal grandparents, parents and siblings that have passed, as well as his maternal grandfather and Miles Franklin Weaver--my great-great grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Idella (my middle name comes from her). Anthony and I loved all the family history, and hope our kids will remember what we saw too.

June 24

Monday morning we stopped at the Butch Cassidy Museum at the Bank of Montpelier. The Bank of Montpelier was established in 1891 as the first chartered bank in Idaho and became famous after Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang robbed the bank on August 13, 1896. It is the only bank in the United States that was robbed by these infamous outlaws that is still standing.  The old building was restored to reflect the 1890s time frame and original elements and artifacts were preserved, though not in the same layout. The museum docent was very knowledgeable, though he seemed to be a big fan of "hearsay." The kids were good sports and agreed to pose for this picture. After the museum we headed down to American Fork. We made a pit stop in Logan and picked up In-n-Out for lunch. We agreed the burgers were pretty good, but the fries were just okay. We arrived at Nana & Papas around 3pm. That evening around 8:45 we walked to their neighbors home to witness moonflowers bloom. They were fascinating to watch!

June 25

Tuesday afternoon the Toms hosted our family and the Allreds for pizza and water fun. The Toms have an awesome blow up water slide and pool the kids enjoyed using. The adults visited on their patio while the kids cooled off and played. We feasted on Costco pizza, fruit and veggies. Then Trevor got out their snow cone machine and treated us all to dessert. Will helped grind the ice. It was great catching up with the Toms since we don't get to sese them as often. Madeline was born since our last visit to Utah seven months ago. She is very alert and happy, but rumor has it she isn't a great sleeper. While some of the younger kids were taking turns jumping on the trampoline in their basement Trevor let Elliott and Miles use his workout equipment. He coached Elliott and Miles on their form as they attempted to do sit-ups at an incline. 

June 26

Tuesday evening the Maxfields arrived from Oregon! Since none of our kids had ever been to Salt Lake, and it is shrinking at a concerning rate, we decided to drive up to Great Salt Lake State Park and float in it at least once. We were warned that there were a lot of bugs, and there--gnats!--and that because the water was so salty it would really hurt if it splashed in your eyes--it did! But everyone in the John family (besides Miles) successfully floated. The Maxfields floated as well. After our quick visit the the lake we drove the the Cottonwood Heights pool. We visited the pool back in 2022 after cousin camp and had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. 

June 27

Thursday was a very Harvey Fletcher themed BYU day. First we hiked the Y. Apparently Elliott told his Maxfield cousins that he had hiked the Y, and they were bummed they had never done it. Turns out Elliott had never done it either. When we hiked the Y back in 2016 with Will & Lauren, Elliott stayed back with Carly. How is the Y connected to Harvey Fletcher? Before the Y was originally whitewashed on the mountain in 1906, Harvey was one of three BYU students in the Junior Class that surveyed the letters "B," "Y," and "U," on the side of the mountain. When class members assembled to begin the letters, they started with the "Y" to keep it centered. Students stood approximately 8 feet apart and created a human chain carrying buckets of lime, sand and rocks to construct the letters.  It took hours to create! Because it took so long the students never completed the other letters. I can testify that it is a very steep incline and not for the faint of heart.  When we hiked the ~1 mile trail Wednesday morning it really pushed me. Will called me when he was sitting on the Y and it took me another 15 minutes to get there.  After the hike we met Doug and Tina for lunch at the Creamery on 9th. After lunch Tina arranged for us to visit the anechoic chamber Harvey Fletcher built at BYU when he was a professor in the 1960s (after he retired from Bell Labs). It is inside the Eyring Science Center, so we walked across campus and marveled at what has changed and what hasn't. An anechoic chamber is used to study sounds. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room are covered in acoustical wedges that are held in place metal grates. When you walk into the room you walk on a wire floor that is several feet above the actual floor of the room. Being in the room is a lot like wearing noise cancelling headphones. We were in there for a few minutes and my ears adjusted to the muffled sound, but as soon as we walked out the cacophony of noises hit me. The BYU professor that gave us the tour is married to a friend that also grew up in the Lenexa Stake. We found Nana's name on the wall, listed with other BYU physics students throughout the years. After the tour we walked to the BYU Library and the enjoyed the hand-on Lego exhibit.

June 28

Thursday Elliott headed to Liz's cabin with Nana, Papa and the cousin camp crew. The rest of us went to the water park formerly known as Seven Peaks--Splash Summit--in Provo. Carly and her family had been at a family reunion with Daniel's side of the family until Thursday evening. Will, Lauren and Elliott were anxious to spend time with Sadie, Elise and Grant (Elliot and Millie were at cousin camp). Anthony and I got season passes to Seven Peaks in both 2006 and 2007, so it felt a little like coming home for us. We spent most of our time in the tadpole area with Miles, while Lauren and Will went down the various slides with cousins. We floated through the lazy river a few times for old times' sake. We stayed until closing, then headed to the Nielson's for dinner. We got Costco pizzas for the kids and ordered Costa Vida for the adults. It was such a gorgeous evening we hung out on the back porch after dinner. Will and Sadie challenged Anthony and Carly to an epic game of pickleball. The John adults do not go easy on their kids, and the kids will be better competitors for it, though they didn't seem to pleased in real time.

June 29

We were all pretty tired Saturday. I wanted us to have a relaxing day because we would be driving the entire way home the next day. I did some cleaning and prepping for the trip. Anthony, Meredith, Carly and kids went up to Harvey Park and played a lot of pickleball. That evening we got the kids Chick-fil-A and then the adults got tacos at Holy Taco in Orem. We finished the night with s'mores in the Nielson's backyard, visiting while the kids jumped on the trampoline, played "ghosts in the graveyard," and games of pickleball and pick-up basketball. I made the kids go to bed around 11pm while Anthony and I finished packing. We probably stayed up too late visiting with Meredith (considering we had a 17 hours drive ahead of us), but the late night chats with siblings are one of the most important parts of getting together. We had a great week in Utah!

2024 :: week 25

June 16

Happy Father's Day to Anthony! He's a great dad and our kids are lucky to have him. We had a relatively simple day. I made breakfast casserole. The primary kids sang in Sacrament Meeting. That evening we had a potluck dinner of Hawaiian Haystacks with the local Cranes.

June 17

The John men were pretty excited that the Celtics won the NBA Finals Monday night. We let Elliott stay up late to witness "history." 

June 18

Will is assigned either the "cashier" or "rover" at work. He prefers to be cashier. The rover takes out the trash, sweeps, picks up trash, walks the perimeter to make sure the grounds are clean, etc. Whenever I see him walking around I think in my head "they see me rovin', they hatin'," to the tune of Chamillionaire's Ridin'.

June 19

This week was Elliott's turn for baseball camp and it was hot! Several of Elliott's friends participated, including Elliott G who got sick from the heat. We carpooled with Townes and Cole. Dave was extra nice and got the boys some Gatorades on the way home.

June 20

We left early Wednesday morning to visit family out west. We decided to drive through Colorado and  sneak in a Rockies baseball game. The game started at 1:10pm, so it was hot, hot, hot in the sun. We bought tickets in the bleachers that had no shade. After the first inning (where we saw Shohei Otani hit a lead off home run on the first at bat). We ended up moving to a row of purple seats in the upper deck that were in the shade. The single purple row is located at 5,280 feet above sea level, or a "mile high." After the game we went to our hotel, swam and ate some pizza. We were disappointed with how bumpy the Colorado roads were. As soon as we hit state line, the roads got significantly worse.

June 21

Friday morning we hit the road for Bennington. It took us about 8 uneventful hours. When we got to Bennington we set up camp up Maple Canyon at Camp Bare Toes. We set up two tents for our family, with Will, Lauren and Elliott in one tent and Miles with Anthony and me. The kids had fun exploring with their cousins and second cousins. The Allreds and Wilsons also came out for the reunion, though both of them had been in Bennington for a few days. For dinner we had a weenie roast and s'mores. Then people told stories, recited poems or told jokes around the campfire. 

June 22

I had such a great time at the reunion! It was so good to see family that we don't get to see very often, and it was fun to see my kids explore with their cousins the same places I enjoyed exploring as a child with my cousins. We survived the night camping, even though the ground was rocky and pretty uncomfortable. We went on the beautiful hike up the canyon to the rocks. In the afternoon the kids went on the stick pony hike and participated in the egg drop. In the evening we ate a dinner of sloppy joe sandwiches (my first time going when they did not serve lamb cooked in the dutch oven) and potluck sides. Uncle Melvin's homemade root beer and Aunt Norene's fudge were my favorites, as always. After dinner was the program, where each family does a skit. Our family had all the kids being loud around my dad as he sleeps totally unbothered. Then someone whispered, "While Pepaw is asleep let's throw away the 13 year old ketchup," and he instantly wakes up and says in a grumpy voice, "who's talking about my ketchup?!"