Simkins Reunion

My parents were in charge of the family reunion this year and they decided to go camping at Pine Valley.  Randy wasn't thrilled at first but my parents bought a new trailer so they said we could use their old on so he decided that it would be ok for a couple nights. :)  But since my dad's pacemaker surgery left him somewhat down and out so he couldn't lift much, he wasn't able to get the trailer completely ready.  So the propane tank wasn't working to light the fridge and the battery was dead so we didn't have any light.  My parents felt bad that they basically brought us a glorified tent but it was fine.  Since it rained through the night on Friday, we were glad we weren't in a tent.

We left Friday morning and got up there about noon and got settled.  The kids went right to the playing and other than checking on them once in a while we hardly saw them.

Hudson and Alex posing for a pic while Halen, Cael & Jaxon played lawn darts

The guys played a LOT of horseshoes...Randy won both tourneys that they played

The girls played ladder ball

I don't know what the fun of it is but the kids liked to hit the tree with a stick over and over

Halen took Kylie for a stroller ride

We spent a lot of time huddled under the cover from the rain

Grandpa did a great job with the dutch oven cooking

Saturday wasn't as rainy so we played a lot of cards and went for walks, visited and played with the kids.  We played some fun campfire games at night and just had fun hanging out together.  It was a little too cold for the kids to play in the creek which was a bummer but we promised to go up again in a few weeks and let them play in the water.

Sunday morning we had our own little church meeting after breakfast then got packed up and ready to leave by 1:00.  Other than having to share a bed with Mia and Halen and having zero space to sleep, it was a fun weekend.  I would totally do it again if Randy would be up for it.

Before we left, I had to go take a pic of the kids hut.  They pretty much designed and built it by themselves and they did a great job.  They put sticks around it for the frame and covered it with pine needles.  They said they wished the opening was a little bigger but they still did good.  It was pretty impressive that they came up with it all on their own.  We'll have to go see if it's there when we go back next time...hopefully no critters take up residence there though. :)

Halen standing guard and Alex leading the way to the hut

They had to slide in on their bellies but they got in

The engineers...Alex, Cassidy and Halen

I'm so thankful to have so much family around that we can get together and do things like this.  Family is so important and I have a great family.  The kids all get a long so well and have so much fun together.  Thanks so much for a fabulous time...even with the rain...it made for an interesting time.