Days 16 and 17 Family Time

Day 16- June 22

Family Reunion Day! The kids and I slept in, but Ed and his folks got up much earlier.  It was a pretty day (sunny!), so the gathering could be held on the outside deck. Guests started arriving at noon. It was so nice to see everyone; Ed and I had not been back home for 5 or 6 years. There was quite a spread to graze on throughout the day. At one point, I remembered a similar gathering many years before, but the cousins were much younger (children) and now they are married and have children of their own. Such is life.

There was a fire pit burning, S ’Mores roasted, food, beer, and wines sampled, chess played (by Cameron and Ian), and stories told. Some family members were missing, either living too far away or having other commitments. Hope to see some of them again another time. I don’t know when we’ll make it out to the NW again. We took some photos of those who were able to attend - more memories were made and recorded.

No reason for any formal dinner. We still had the smorgasbord from earlier and the chappatis from yesterday’s dinner. Those of us who stayed here (Ed’s folks, Marshall, and us), enjoyed each other’s company and some of us played Apples to Apples together. It was my lucky night- I won!

Day 17 – June 23

It was so nice knowing that there wasn’t anything special scheduled for the day. I woke up to the sound of rain, rolled over, and slept some more. Ed visited with his parents and brother while the kids and I slept. We slowly got ourselves ready for the day and made a plan to go to Costco for a few things. Marshall drove back to home, Teresea stayed home to relax, and the rest of us went on our outing.

We all had something from the Food Court – the Mocha Freeze is so good. Since we needed to replace Cameron’s suitcase, we went to Goodwill next to see what we could find. We were in luck. We found a replacement that was in pretty good shape. We also found a small pot that didn’t look used, that we could add to our camping supplies. We had only brought one with us, but could have used two on some occasions. We made one last stop at Safeway to pick up some vegetable broth and zucchini for the Peanut Butter Vegetable Soup that I planned on making tomorrow.

After returning we all had some down time. I worked on laundry and checked email. Ed’s mom made rhubarb pie. The kids watched some of their videos and the boys played chess- again.  Pretty soon it was time to prepare dinner. Ed helped his mom prepare the salmon, asparagus, and carrots, Bill made the salad with his special, homemade Italian dressing, and I made the mashed potatoes, the glaze for the carrots, and got the popcorn chicken in the oven for the kids. After the garlic bread was toasted, we enjoyed the meal (delicious!) and the company (priceless!).

Ed and Bill took a drive and the rest of us stayed home and relaxed some more. I worked on some laundry, looked over our plans for our trip home, and caught up on my blog. All the while the rain continues to fall and the house is fairly quiet, everyone in their own space taking advantage of the unscheduled alone time.