Family Reunion, 2017

One of my great desires is to keep my adult children in each other's lives.  So we have yearly family reunions.  At first Layne and I organized them.  But we are not going to be here in time to come, so we decided to put the kids in charge.  This year, son Ben and his Jessica took charge.  They found a place on the Oregon coast called Langlois, that they felt would be about equal in distance for each of us.  We began our 10 hour drive there on Monday.  We were surprised to discover that the drive took us on some 15 different roads, most full of twists and turns, through all sorts of countryside, from desert to forests.  No freeway travel except the first 10 minutes or so.  It felt like a long drive, but full of beautiful views.  The place we rented was quite solitary and full of the most beautiful grounds I've seen in a long time.  There were forests, meadows and trails going all throughout, with twist and turns that produced ponds and benches tucked around bends.  The meadows were full of wildflowers.  It was as if the plants there wanted to grow.  There seemed to be no stopping them as, in every direction, the grounds were full of beautiful growing plants of all sorts.  It was these grounds that made our stay so magical.

Layne and I took a lovely walk through the nearby forest and on into a meadow full of daisies.  So inspiring!

Most of us gathered one evening at this sort-of raised gazebo to watch the sunset.

Some of the grandkids gathered at the pond's edge to get a closer look at nearby living things.  Son-in-law, Chris, is in the background.  Isn't it lovely?

Besides meandering through the heavenly grounds, we gathered in the club house for games, gabbing and meals.  Being with family is such a blessing.  I feel grateful that all of us get along so well.  Only three of our five families were here, but we enjoyed our association very much.  There isn't anyone in the family that I don't really like as well as love.  That's a pretty fine family situation, wouldn't you say?  Grandkids gather for games below.  

We were located very near the beach, so we spent a day there.  It was as perfect a day as one could hope for.  It was warm but not hot and the beach was only sparsely populated.  Kids played in the water and sand, we talked and walked.  I love the beach!  It is a little sad to me that Idaho doesn't have any.  Here's Miles and Gemma.

We headed for home on Friday (last week now), followed by Ben and Jessica and their family.  We spend some sweet time with them.  Evenings in Idaho in the summer are often still hot, even up to sunset at 10 PM or so.  So the kids played outside until bedtime, and beyond!  Here's the whole BJ family:  Abigail, Alexis, Ben with Will, Zachary, Jess with Jon, Jacqueline, Tia and Olivia in front.

Abigail worked very hard to make friends with our kitty, Cherry.  She finally succeeded!  Cherry actually chose to lay down next to her--quite an accomplishment!

Gerald, Frances and their gang returned from Utah on Monday, so we had a couple of days with everyone with us.  It was wild, crazy and fun.  Here's our Taiwanese bunch:  Ray, Gerald, Angelica, Angel, Sean, Linda, Frances and Jason.  Frances and I shared the cooking.  Sometimes the kids wanted to eat "American" and sometimes Frances' delicious Chinese cooking won the day.  This photo shows one of our American meals:  tacos.  They want a repeat.

This is our fourth Idaho summer.  So far each summer season is full to the brim with company and activities of all sorts.  What a great time it is!