Scanlon Reunion in Donnelly

We finally made it back to the Scanlon reunion!  Spence and I have wanted to go every single year, but with our two kids being born in July and Grandma and Poppa's anniversary celebration in between, we haven't been able to go since we were first married.  We started off the trip squished into the Scanlon's pilot, but it was worth it to save on gas money and be with family.  I attempted to do a paper for one of my classes, and then I got carsick from the computer screen.  We played our ridiculously pointless game that Spence and I love.  It's pretty simple.  You just yell out brand names or company names you see on billboards, buildings, or signs of any kind.  Since there were very few of these in that stretch of Idaho, we also yelled out road signs.  The point is to yell it out before the other person.  You'd be surprised how much fun it is though.  When we stopped for food Spence went and bought season 5 of Psych.  This is seriously our new favorite show for so many reasons.  If you've never seen it, or have seen an episode here or there, watch it from the beginning and I bet you'll be hooked by the third or fourth episode.  Unfortunately for us the 6th season doesn't start until the Fall, grrr!  Back to the reunion, Lizzie was great in the car, Daniel not so much.  He was happy as a clam once he got out of the car though.  Anyone know why clams are happy?  Spence's aunt and uncle have a timeshare cabin up at Donnelly/Cascade Lake.  It's right on the water.  The view is absolutely amazing.  We went hiking, tubing, canoeing, and just had a great time with everyone.  Dealing with kids' bedtimes and Daniel's recent clinginess to me wasn't great, but Grandma and Grandpa were awesome at helping.  Daniel was getting so attached to Rory.  He must really have magic cause when it was nap time he took Daniel from me and within a few minutes he was out.  Grandma always has such great ideas to keep kids entertained.  She brought out cool watercolors, but they were pencils.  It sounded like you draw with the pencils and then paint over it with water.  Even the boys got into it.  Lizzie's favorite activity of the trip, throwing rocks/dirt/weeds off the dock into the water followed by a close second, seeing the dead fish.  She had to check and make sure where the dead fish was every time.  With how cautious she normally is I was surprised she liked the boat and canoe so much.  She liked tubing, but didn't want to do it again either so I'm not real sure on that one.  I'm thinking she liked it and was nervous both.  Spence and I love boating!  That's definitely one of our future goals is to have a boat at some point.  Being yanked around on the tube is so fun!  I would love to try wakeboarding and the other water sports.  We definitely had some casualties from the tubing.  Spence even a week later is still sore in his muscles and from the sunburn he got.  He's such a stubborn guy.  He held on until his muscles failed him, which is why he's still sore. :) I had a different casualty.  I was sore and had a sunburn too, but not nearly as bad as everyone else.  No my casualty was my swimsuit.  Spence's cousin Joe was driving the boat.  I don't think there was ever a pause in the taunting coming from the tube so Joe started trying to throw Spence hard.  I of course was the innocent sharer of the tube.  I love going fast too though so I can't complain.  We hit just the right wave.  I went flying across the water, picture a skipping rock and you should have the idea.  When I finally stopped I tried to readjust my swimsuit so I could climb up to the tube or boat.  I had a wedgie that was stuck clear up into my lifejacket!  I could not stop laughing!  The elastic around the edge of my suit had ripped apart!  Luckily it still covered me enough,  but that was the end of my tubing day.  We had such yummy food too.  Aunt Cheri's ice cream was oh so delicious.  I have got to get her recipe.  She even forgot the vanilla on some and it still tasted amazing!  Lexi and Kristine made fajitas one night with awesome chocolate cake.  Rory and Deanna made Chinese the next night.  I loved it!  I'll get the  recipes and post them on my recipe blog.  We had a great time seeing family.  I loved getting to know some of the extended family better.  We definitely made some great memories.

Lizzie and Grandpa headed out to the lake.

Lizzie loved the dock probably as much as she would have loved the sand had there been any.  The lake was super high.

This is how deep the water was where it normally would have been beach.

Daniel loved playing with Athena.  She's so easygoing she didn't care too much what he did so basically he yanked on her tail until she'd roll over to see what was going on.

Spence and Rory hangin' out on the swing.

Here are two pictures of most of the family that was there minus Kristine and Lexi, Spencer's aunt and cousin.  The above is obviously the respectable one and below is the realistic one.

Spencer's family minus Jen and Larry's group.  Daniel and Lizzie were not happy by this point.

Four generations with Poppa, Grandpa Rory, Spencer, and Daniel.

With the birthdays that had just happened we needed to get Lizzie's three year and Daniel's one year pictures done.  Since the cabin was one of Spencer's favorite places we decided it would be fun to do them up there.  I love this pic.  I think they're looking at me since I'm trying to make them laugh. 

He's such a cutie!  I love this little guy!

Lizzie's always trying to love on Daniel and he doesn't usually like it as this picture shows.

Love that cute little smirk!

I know she's not smiling in this one, but I love the look on her face with the breeze blowing her hair.

She absolutely loves posing for Spence.  Bring out a camera and she's ready to cheese it up!  I just can't believe how big she's getting.  Where did my little girl go?  Don't get me wrong I'm loving her independence and responsibility, but when did she get so big?

Glad we got a family picture up there in case it was the last reunion at the cabin!