Wow, this was a beautiful place to have a reunion! Andy's brother Mike and his wife, Sarah came up with this idea and Andy's parents financed the trip. It was wonderful and we can't thank them enough for sacrificing for the whole family to be together. The weather couldn't have been better - which was amazing considering the typical rain! This picture was taken at the top of Mt. Constitution. The view was unbeatable. On a clear day from this spot, you can see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, the Cascade Mtn. Range, and the Olympic Mtn Range.
The kids had SO much fun playing with all of their cute cousins. The girls were inseparable!
We kept telling the girls not to get too close to the deer, worried that it would run. Apparently there are no predators on the island, so they aren't afraid of anyone? The girls LOVED feeding this little deer all of our animal crackers by hand and giving it lots of love. It was pretty cute!
Another highlight of the trip was riding on the mopeds and scoot cars! It was a blast! Half of us rented them one day on Orcas Island and the other half another day on San Juan Island as we rotated babies.
Kassi was a natural :). Actually, I drove and she kept me company!
The adorable inseparable girl cousins again! This is right by where they enjoyed feeding the ducks over and over again. Andy's parents rented 3 cabins right by each other for us to use - 2 families in each cabin. It was the perfect set up.
I think this peace sign was to keep everyone from fighting over the chocolate - actually, it was probably to keep me away from his stash of chocolate :)!
Jesi tasting her s'more!
We had a hard time not laughing at this little girl and her sad marshmallow roasting hanger ;)! She didn't seem to mind at all.
Drew and Andy ran into this little store called, "Two Drews" and they had to get a picture of that! Too funny! I wonder if they'd be willing to franchise?
Another highlight was whale watching. It was incredible. We spotted huge pods of whales and they were everywhere. One time they swam right under our boat! We got a picture below- you can see it was up close and personal!
This was the other boat with half the family on it! Drew was with G-pa, Jason's family, Mike and baby, and Darren and Cari. Andy and I were on our boat with the rest of our kiddos, Chris' family, and Sarah with her two older girls, and G-ma.
It took me back to those teenage years, watching the movie, "Jaws". But, boy was it amazing!
The girls took naps - they couldn't help falling asleep on the boat with it's constant hum, but had a wonderful time when they were awake!
The boys hanging out with G-ma and G-pa
We couldn't keep this boy off this bike - even when it got dark outside! Showing off his skills :)!
And, we couldn't keep this boy from eating everything he could get his hands on. Those big blue eyes make it so hard to take things away!
This shot turned out kind of neat - wish Drew was in the background too! He was probably riding his bike at the time!
We got this picture taken in front of "Maximus II" and another in front of the attached little boat called, "Minimus II". I thought they should have named them Gluteus Maximus and Minimus to make things more interesting :). It's nice to know I remember the important things from that high school anatomy class! Drew LOVED all the boats!
Another family photo op. You can definitely see the kids personalities in this one. Especially Kassi's - but, really how can you hide that much personality?!?
Grandma was brave and let Drew drive her around the parking lot! I hope I'm that brave in about 6 years. Oh, that is scary!
The above picture is the girlies in front of an English Camp before a dispute in 1859 that placed the San Juan Islands in the territorial United States. How did it start? With someone slaughtering a pig?!? Interesting tidbit, huh?
We just couldn't resist trying on all of these fun things!
Hee hee. The girls are wearing their little souvenirs - sea shell necklaces. Drew got some sunglasses and I'm sure Nathan got something fun too - just not in my memory at the moment.
Hanging out on the ferry with Darren.
Nathan LOVES kisses and snuggling. I hope he outgrows it before he turns 16 or so ;).
The little guys with G-pa. Can't you tell how much they love each other? G-pa got a bee sting on his head and it swelled up under his eye really bad. Didn't help my fear of bees any. Luckily it was the men that got stung and not the little kiddos! Two of Andy's brothers and his Dad all got stung on this trip. There were TONS of bees on the dock where we were getting on the whale watching boats and they REALLY liked the milk in the diaper bag I was holding. I always like to provide everyone with a little free entertainment.
Our little cuddle bug. I really hope he doesn't outgrow this stage soon!
We had some pictures taken after the whale watching excursion. They turned out pretty good considering how tired the kids were. This is my unprofessional professional shot :).
And, we had to document one of the survival methods we used to get through the flight home. We let Nathan stuff himself with some blueberry yogurt things that I thought would be somewhat healthy due to their name and the crazy high price tag - it is amazing what airports can charge for a little pack of something! Let me just say that while they were worth the few minutes of happy baby, there was nothing "natural" about the color of Nathan's diapers for the next 24 hours or so! And, I have to say that after I sat, desperately trying to keep Nathan happy for the first hour and a half or so of the flight, trying to get him to fall asleep, Andy switched with me. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say that IN THE PROCESS of Andy walking from the row behind us to switch with me, he fell asleep!!! How does that happen. Is it a mother thing? Actually, I was just relieved that my exhausted baby was finally sleeping. But, it made a good laugh for Andy and I because I tease him all the time about how the kids are so calm and relaxed around him, whereas I seem to bring out the fussiness. I don't know if it is something I do wrong, or if the kids just expect Mom to fix everything? Got to love it :). Actually, I do, most of the time :).
This is a picture in the shuttle bus at the airport on our way back to our car. We are ready to be home. All in all, it was a wonderful trip and we are so grateful for Andy's parents and all they do to bring the family together - despite the lack of sleep, hours of prep, time and money, etc. that planning a big family trip always brings. The memories are priceless and the relationships that emerge from the time spent together is what keeps our family going strong.
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