Bear Lake

Shane's extended family decided to have a reunion at Bear Lake over the 24th of July weekend...which worked out quite nicely for us as my family was also going to be at Bear Lake, just a few miles down the road, at the same time!! So we bought our plane tickets (round trip for me, one-way for Shane who rode home with the men on Sunday night) and worked out the plan: we'd stay with my family but spend the days at Shane's family reunion. It worked out quite nicely... Here's a brief (actually not-so-brief) review of our vacation:

We rode up to Bear Lake with my parents. Dylan slept pretty much the whole way from Salt Lake to Evanston, then he ate some lunch and spent the rest of the drive like this. It started with the tag (who knows why kids love tags so much) and then ended up being as much of the blanket as he could fit into his mouth:


We got to Bear Lake a day and a half before the reunion started, so we spent a lot of time out boating with my family. Dylan LOVED the boat. During his first excursion, he was so relaxed I kept checking to make sure he was still breathing! He wasn't as much a fan of his life vest since it made him sit up very tall.







Shane learned and I remembered how to wakeboard. It was a nice reminder of how out of shape I am!! (And, of course, we were both overshadowed by the skills of my dad and brother)



Sadly, we took very few pictures at the actual family reunion... Below are the only ones we took (the only others I have are varied angles/shots of the same situations)...along with one I stole from Amy's post about the weekend. I guess we were too busy having fun. Everyone made it to the reunion except for 2 cousins. We had lots of good food, games, and an entertaining variety show.

{Dylan with this great-grandma and great-grandpa Hatch}

{On the beach--Dylan LOVED playing in the water even though it was cold!}

{The youngest grandkid and all of the great-grankids got matching pajamas in honor of the Red Moose Lodge}

The night of the 24th, we set off some fireworks with my family and Jared and Jessie's neighbors who came up to visit. The kids had a great time with the sparklers! (A special thanks goes out to Jessie who willingly stayed in the condo with the babies so I could go enjoy the fireworks with Shane.)



After the reunion, I rode back to Salt Lake with my parents to spend an extra day with them. We stopped in Evanston for some lunch and entertained Dylan with a straw and a spork while we were there. He didn't want to give them up when we put him in the car, so...


In Salt Lake, Dylan relished in the fact that he could play outside, during the day time, and not be dripping with sweat!! He loved playing in the grass (something he hasn't really had a chance to do) and with the fun new toys at Grammie's house.




And now, I've saved the best for last... Dylan loved playing with his cousins. This is the first time he's been with them where he could really interact (smile, reach/grab, etc.) so it was fun seeing him with them. Vera was so good with him. She'd give him toys, read to him, talk to him, and try and make him laugh. Reuben was good too, but seemed to be more concerned about keeping the toys he wanted.



Throughout the trip, we tried to get a good picture of the three of them together... You'd think it would be easy to get a good picture of a 4-year-old, a 15-month-old, and an 8-month-old, right? Let's just say it was quite comical... Here's a few of the better ones:

{Click for larger}

Up next: our San Diego weekend adventure!