Last Residency Retreat

Maybe the best year yet! John Barris coordinated a lot of fun games. The Oreo game, tug of war, paper airplanes, throwing balloons, and a pie eating contest. The Halversen's brought their excellent homemade ice cream and Lindsey provide s'mores for the campfire. I said it the first year and I will say it again, it always feels more like a family reunion then a work get together. I teared up when Jen talked to me about how I felt about leaving. It has been such a great thing for our family. We were blessed to be a part.

Day Two

 Yellowstone was of course, amazing. John loved seeing Old Faithful and everyone loved the ice cream. After a hot nice day of seeing the geysers and pots the kids waded/swam in the river. It was pleasantly warm compared to river the day before. We saw 38 different license plates and heard lots of different languages. I tried to come away with a rock but my conscious got the best of me. The last photo was taken by the husband of Kathy. They were friendly strangers from Florida. It was a fun trip! It wouldn't have been the same without our good friends. Thanks for all the great and memorable times!

Day One

 We had a great time in Island Park with the Mayos this last week. We stopped off at Mesa Falls then went up to Big Springs and ran into the Downeys! Then Jaime lead us to Coffee Pot trail where we saw a huge moose. When we were plenty hungry we headed for the cabin and built a fire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows but unfortunately it was raining too much for comfort so we got the grill going and ate till we were stuffed. A happy result of the rain was that we were able to get the children to bed much earlier then anticipated.

Pink Poppy

Lemonade Stand

 

I pitched the idea to the children about doing a lemonade stand. Margaret was excited about the idea of doing pink lemonade. So the next day we got busy finishing all our jobs and squeezing lemons and limes. I made the outline for the sign and they colored it in. John worked so hard making the lemonade and Clara was essential in managing the wagon on the way down and up the hill. John sold the most. Margaret drank the most. John and Margaret both got good at waving and smiling as people passed. We sold it for 50 cents a glass but most people were so generous that they gave more. The best part was that most of the people that stopped were friends so it was really friendly and cute. I asked John if he like doing it and he said " I would do it again!" 



Practicing

Tough Guys Bowling

 We had a great time bowling with the Downey's. This might be old hat but I loved that the bumpers would go up and down depending on who was bowling. Everybody improved which is great.

Sunday Activity