Family Reunion

This year the Acor Reunion was in Eastern Idaho in Swan Valley at an old ski resort turned into summer camp.  On the weekends they rent the cabin out to groups.  So we stayed Friday and Saturday nights.  Stacy was over the reunion this year and did a great job!

The cousins were all excited to hang out with each other again.  They started where they left off last time they were together.  Tanner really missed Dakota, but didn't mind being with all the girls most of the time.  

 The first night we all had dinner together and the kids played hide and go seek.  Then we set up the projector for a movie.  We also started a fire to warm up, which surprisingly was not too smokey in the lodge once the movie was over, we all went to bed and one last log was put on the fire.  It was soooo smokey.  We couldn't sleep upstairs in the main room, so we crashed the kids area and bunked with them, hung up a blanket in the doorway to block the smoke and opened the window.  It was better, but just as we fell asleep Jaxson woke up dancing having to go to the bathroom.  Barry couldn't open his eyes, because he needs drops since his surgery to open them after sleeping, so he got my groggy attention.  We were pretty far from the bathroom, so I decided that because we were right next to a window without a screen I would hold him close to the window and let him go out the window.  I held him up but then realized as he was sitting on my leg that it was too late, he had already gone while he was dancing on the floor.  It ended up being a pretty restless night.  The next morning after breakfast I went to the car to take a much needed nap.

Barry found a critter trap and had to use it!  He caught two ground squirrels with Cheetos as the bait. Stacy planned some fun Minute to Win It games.  We divided into three teams, the Gators, Team Awesomeness, and the Stallions (all the adults).  

 Later that day we went fishing.

 After fishing we went to the Square Ice Cream Store.

Cam flipping burgers!

 We were so glad that newly engaged Justin and Kinley were able to make it for the reunion.  It was fun to get to know her better.  These two played hide and go seek with the kids and kept them entertained.  Tanner, Cassidy and Rebecca were a little disappointed that Justin and Kinley gave up looking for them when they had a "really good" hiding spot in the dumpster.

 The Idaho Fish and Game would come by the creek and check on the fish.  Everyone was interested in watching what they were doing.

The second night was much better, no smoke, lots of sleep.  The next day was Fathers Day and also happened to be my birthday.  We cleaned up the lodge and went to Idaho Falls for a little stop.   Barry and DeAnn made me a nice birthday dinner and cake.  I really appreciated it!
It was great to spend some time reconnecting with the Acors!

McCall, Idaho

Uncle Lynn bid for a one week stay at this cabin in McCall at Tanner's scout auction and he won!  Lucky for us he invited us to stay at the cabin too.    

It was such a great cabin and all of the kids kept themselves busy and happy!  

In the yard around the cabin was a little meadow with lots of dandelions.  We made all the girls crowns and there was still enough for them to have a bouquet to hold.  Some of them made bracelets as well.

The rest of the evening was spent grilling pizza and the kids hiked and explored the area and created costumes from leaves, sticks, bark, flowers, and moss.  They were very creative (I don't have the pictures uploaded yet to show) and they even had names associated with their costumes: Kendra was Mother Nature, Porter was the Barren of Branches, Kara was the Ruler of Rocks, Micah was King of the Creatures, Tanner was Guardian of the Grasses, Peyton was Royal River.

Of course s'mores were necessary that night!

 The following day we headed to Payette Lake for a little swimming and playing.  We worked hard on the music video that we needed to finish too.

 Kara was digging and found clay which she collected and they all began to make clay pots which kept them very busy.

Ice Cream Alley after swimming sure hit the spot.  I love the little boys blue eyes!  Later that day Barry and Seneca took Tanner, Kara, Micah and Porter to Skunk Lake to go fishing.  They met Lynn and his dad there and caught a lot of fish.  They also brought a lot of fish back to the cabin, so Seneca smoked them in the campfire and apparently they were delicious!

On Friday we went for a drive up further into the mountains.  Uncle Lynn knew of a place called Crystal Mountain.  The kids were thrilled to be able to ride for some of the time in the back of Uncle Lynn's truck.

 We had lunch at the base of where we would hike to the top.  It was amazing to see so many crystals.

 Jaxson liked hiking in the snow when ever he could.

 We were hiking on a rock bed of crystals.  The kids and adults collected many!

 Jax thought this one would be nice to take home.

 This was the view from the top of the mountain, just beautiful!

 Here is the whole crew of happy hikers.

 Later we went back to Payette Lake and let the kids play in the splash pad there.

We finally finished our Belcher Family Music Video "Good Time" that we started back at Thanksgiving.  It was fun project to work on together!

Jump Creek

So after taking the long, round about way to get there we went hiking at Jump Creek.  It was only about a quarter mile to hike into the little waterfall, but everyone enjoyed it!

 Crossing the creek was one of the best parts and only two of the six of us got our feet wet.

In the upper left corner of this picture under the tree branch was a rattle snake.  Luckily that was the only one we saw on the hike.

 Tanner and Kendra were the only ones brave enough to get into that ice cold water all the way.  Tanner swam out to touch the waterfall and then back as quickly as he could.  Kara got in only to her thigh and that was numbing enough for her.

Kara's in the Double Digits Now!

Kara turned 10!  It was a great Memorial Day/Birthday.  We spent the day at the water park, which wasn't Kara's first choice, but it's what we did because we bought season passes.  She ended up having a good time hanging out with mostly Tanner and Dad.  

Kara's idea of a good time was going to Wahooz (an arcade, with some rides and lazer tag), which is fun, and because it was her birthday we went. She told us that she just wanted to spend time in the arcade.  We granted her wish and gave her a $5 card.  She immediately went to the "gambling" machine to spend all of her money and she wasn't alone, Barry and Tanner were right beside her.
  This all stems back to Kendra's Birthday in March when we went to Wahooz.  We bought passes that included all the attractions and we also each got a $5 card to use in the arcade. Good. Clean. Fun.  Well Barry, Tanner and Kara found this machine that has all kinds of electronic gadgets that you can win, its kind of a lock and key system.  You place the key and if you place it just right so it can go through the hole you win the prize, but if you are off even just by a hair the key doesn't go through. Well after using $10 from their cards Barry miraculously wins an ipod shuffle, it was great, until they thought they should go after the mini ipad....it only cost them $10 to get the ipod surely they could win the ipad too.  Forty dollars later they decided to stop trying, even though they were so close.  Thank goodness they stopped while they were a few dollars ahead.    Kara was banking on spending the entire day trying to win another prize, this is why we went to the water park.  They spent $30 this time with nothing to show for it.

 We ended our adventures with donuts from Krispy Kremes and singing "Happy Birthday" at Erin's house.   Later we went swimming at their neighborhood pool.

 Sure Love that Spunky Girl!

Neighborhood Kids Triathlon

Summer is here!  To kick it off I organized a neighborhood kids triathlon.  We had about 40 kids ages 2-15 participate.  It turned out pretty well for my first go at it and all the kids worked really hard and did a great job!  

Jaxson ran across the little pool and rode his bike down the sidewalk then ran to the finish line.  

His age group was so cute, it didn't matter if they were the first or last to cross the finish line, each one had a huge smile and they were thrilled to receive their medals!

 Kendra swam to one side of the pool and then got out when she was supposed to swim back the the other side so she had to get back in and swim to the others side but she had olivia pulling on her so she couldn't get ahead. Kendra started crying. I had to calm her down so she cold bike. Kendra passed olivia on her bike lap around the neighborhood on the bike. There were no problems there and then with the running Kendy didn't see the path clearly and went the wrong way a couple of times, this made her a little frustrated. She got passed by a a couple of girls and she started walking and sobbing. She was worried that she wouldn't get a medal. She had Charlotte coming from behind so I told her she better run to the finish line. She ran and finished third. She was still crying uncontrollably that the race was too long and hard. I had to remind her that it was hard but she finished and did a great job! Her time was 5:47.

 Kara had a flawless race and had to swim two lengths of the pool. She smoked her compition. Bike four times around the neighborhood (1 mile) and ran a lap around the field. She did great and came in first! Her time was 9:21

 Tanner had to swim four lengths of the pool. He was strong and then biked 8 laps around the neighborhood (2mi) then run 1 mile. He did great! He got 1st with a time of 16:47