Conversations in My Head: Park and Church Day

Tracy and Jenna had planned all the activities for the reunion, and I was so grateful to them for taking charge of this!

The second day, everyone met up at a nearby park. Tracy had laid out a family tree so everyone could easily see whose kids were whose. This was especially helpful for all the spouses who had married into this crazy family of mine!

All those people from just one couple! (One couple who actually would have loved to have had way more kids-- my Grandma was one of ten children and longed for a big family like the one she'd grown up in!)

Almost everyone went hiking. I started the hike, but I really wasn't dressed for it and as I was climbing down these muddy stone steps in my sandals, I kept picturing myself falling and twisting an ankle or just getting really badly banged up, so I finally decided to turn around and go back to the pavilion that Tracy had rented. London also wanted to go back, so I got to hold her hand and chat with her, which was delightful. Ryder (who absolutely hates hiking) had stayed behind with Tracy, so once London and I got back, he was a good sport about jumping off things at the playground with her. I tried to teach her to say "Geronimo!" as she leapt, but she wasn't a fan of that. (Tracy pointed out that it probably wasn't politically correct to say it anyway, but I'm pretty sure that's why Ian would have loved it!)

Mom and Ian on the hike wearing nearly matching shirts!!!! (Those aren't actually Ian's glasses-- he found them on the trail and very kindly brought them back to the picnic area!)

I LOVE this picture of Ryder playing with London

And this is a terrible picture of me, but I like to prove that London was my buddy!

And here are a few more of the pictures from the hike that I missed:

There was this nifty little cave that people could explore

Once everyone was back from the hike, it began raining and we huddled under the pavilion just hanging out all together.

Nicole, Harrison, Nolan, Camille, and Hunter all gathered around watching Ryder play Geometry Dash

Here's everyone at the park, once the rain had stopped!

Eventually everyone was either hungry or tired, so people wandered off. The Bentley contingent decided to grab lunch at a place called Billy Gail's, which advertised the biggest pancakes ever. They took a look at our huge family (I think there were 21 of us?), shrugged and said, "Can we seat you outside?" and proceeded to take excellent care of us! I was honestly very impressed!

This was before Natalie's family got there!

I *guess* this is pretty big...

And then we went back to the house to take naps and regroup. I may have taken another shower...? I honestly can't even remember now!

But I did take this picture of all the shoes in the entryway-- it made me laugh!

We ordered pizza for our family (that is, just the Smiths) and then Natalie picked it up, along with the pizza for her family (and possibly for the Aveytuas, too?) and we all met up at a church on the other side of town.

Tracy had prepared a few activities for everyone to do while we ate our pizza. First was a "get to know you" check off list, mostly for the little kids to run around checking off their second cousins. Then once everyone had arrived and eaten, she had Uncle Bob and Uncle Bruce draw names out of a hat for everyone who'd completed their checklist. This was the kind of thing that really doesn't work to describe on my blog, but Bob and Bruce are hilarious, and the whole thing was really so funny! You just had to be there. The prizes that the kids won were mostly beach balls, I think, and they were thrilled to win!

Next was Bingo, all about various things that we all did as kids at our grandparents' house, and just reading the activities on the squares made me so happy. It included things like picking tangelos in the backyard, or sliding down the "hill" in the front yard on a piece of cardboard (every time I go back to my grandparents' house in La Mirada, I'm shocked at how that hill isn't really a hill at all! I thought it was so big when I was a kid!). Adding "and many moooooooore" to the end of the Happy Birthday song. If you've ever used the phrase "final tinkle" to tell your kids to use the bathroom before leaving the house. If you share a family name with either my grandparents or their children. Singing the "Good Morning to You" song (or having it sung to you)... If you've ever eaten at Snelgrove's Ice Cream Shop in Utah. It was a lot of fun to just think about all those experiences my cousins and I have in common. What happy childhood memories!

And then we gathered in the RS room, where Uncle Bruce, Uncle Bob, and my Mom all talked for a few minutes (Tracy told them no longer than ten minutes, and they all stuck to it!) about their parents and their childhood. My grandparents were really wonderful people and it was lovely hearing more about them and seeing old pictures. Finally the second cousins all sang "I am a Child of God"

and then we moved outside to take a big group photo:

Up front, my Mom, Uncle Bob, and Uncle Bruce, with their offspring mostly behind them. No, I'm not going to name everyone else (but I could if I wanted to!)

That's such a lovely picture, but here are a couple of people trying to wrangle everyone into position and I just love these:

And of course, we always have to do a goofy shot:

And here's a shot of just the grandkids, lined up in age order (my kids are ALL in the back row!!!):

I love Clayton's squinty smile, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Hazel (redhead in blue in the front row) and how she is absolutely NOT having it

And then here's one of the Bentley family:

And one of just my Smith family!

Also I just love this shot of Jenna holding her sleeping Hazel!

Once pictures were done, we cleaned up the church building (it was so nice of one of the members to come and open the doors for us and wait around until we left so he could lock up again!), then we headed back to our neighborhood and made good use of the pools and hot tub! Lots of good hang out time for everyone, even if Clayton kept trying (unsuccessfully, thank goodness) to drown himself...