FAMILY REUNION SECOND DAY.

Saturday, about noon, the tubes were ready, some a bit patched. We trucked up to the flume. Alec and Austin's other grandma, Eunice, with daughters Cathy and Bev, treats,  drinks and towels in tow, are ready to go.


Eunice's son Uncle Rick, attemded the reunion for the first time with his girlfriend Tammy. He brought a box of freshly baked donuts, another first. Yum.  And, he is a talented chef. I know because I've tasted his cooking several times. Sister Cathy is a great cook, too. (We KNOW who to invite for our family reunions. ) Rick is from Southern Cal, also.


It didn't take long for everyone to find a comfortable spot to relax, have a snack and a brew, or sun tan for a while.


The bridge makes a nice "deck".



If you get too hot, take a dunk. Kris and Laurie, the boobsie, I mean bikini twins cooled off for a while. Kris never tubes. She calls herself, "flume fluff." Eunice picked up that expression and says, "I'm flume fluff like Kristanne."


The first run came in. Everyone walks about a mile or two back and floats to the bridge. Last year, Abbie was still asking for help. Now she is an old pro.


Ted carried his snacks and a beer with him. The rules are, you carry out what you bring in.


Daniel brought a squirter to torment his fellow floaters. Hey!  Wet is wet, right?


Cathy carried a stick to shove away from the sides when rounding the curves.


First timer, Tammy, took a lesson from Cathy.


Ken, Mr. cool head. When he was a kid, he would find every lizard in the water weeds and inspect them for parasites. He'd pull off the parasites and set them free.


After the first run, everyone swam or played before the next run.


We took time for some pictures, we two grandmas.


Mason, Stewart, Alec and Austin. Stewart is my oldest grandson, at 21. Alec is 21 also, but Stew is a couple of months older.  They commented it was the first time they could come to the flume and drink a beer. Austin is the youngest at age 12. Theo is 12 as well, but a few months older than Austin.  It is so fun to have them all together.  I'm just sorry we didn't think to get Owen and Theo in the photo, as well.


The girls got together for a picture.


The water was about ten inches lower than usual,  but no one seemed to mind. The flume has deep and shallow spots.


Diane and Randy, who are lifelong friends of Laurie's, came in on a second run. It's a nice float. But...

...the current can be pretty swift. On stopping, Randy was adamant that he not lose his expensive sandals, while Diane took a dump trying to get out. We, of course, laughed.


When we returned to the house, Uncle Tom, Clark and Theresa, and brother Bill and his daughter, Rena had arrived.


Brother Bill with Rena's boyfriend, Chris. Still plenty of snacking going on while Doug barbecued the tri-tip, chicken, ribs and shish-ke-babs.


After a huge meal, Rena chuckled as Chris took a nap. They were jet-lagged, after flying in from Florida.


After dinner, the guys got up a beer-pong game. In stead of paddles, the challenge is to toss the ball into a beer cup. I think there was some chugg-a-lugging going on, too.


Tom and Ken lost to Stewart and Alec.


The pong game watchers seemed to enjoy it as much as the players.


The weather got as hot as expected, over 90. Theresa and Clark took refuge in the mist.


The mister was a last-minute idea, and it was welcome heat relief. I think I'll get one for the deck, as well.


Normally, people stay for a second flume trip on Sunday. But, every year is different. Alec had to be taken to the airport early. Kris and Cathy and Austin wanted to ski in Ken's new boat. Bill, Rena and Chris took a scenic driver up over the pass and returned Sunday afternoon. Chris cut and chopped some vegetables and  fruits. He roasted the veggies and we had a lovely lunch, along with some of the leftovers.


Bill brought vanilla ice cream with some home-made (by friends) maple syrup from Michigan. What a delightful combo.  Rena and I had a chance to do some genealogy, but all too soon, it was time to part.  We missed those that couldn't make it this year, but, the party is always a good time and a reminder to get together more often.

ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION.

I've been accused of hosting this family reunion  just to get my yard in shape. Doug came up and painted the deck and rebuilt the horseshoe pit and the new chicken coop. The coop came about because daughter Virginia is moving to Australia with her family for a semester. I inherited the chickens from her.
Ken removed trash, went to the dump, did some weed eating, moved heavy tables and umbrellas off the deck and into the yard.  His boys, helped out by bagging excess leaves, and myriad other routine but neglected maintenance. It was a massive effort because---I blame Jim--- I travel so much I have little time for yard work. I had trees overhanging the house, foot deep leaves, little repairs, my orchard unfertilized and mostly unwatered. Aarrgh!


The first to arrive for our big soiree was my recently widowed cousin, Gary, from Southern Cal. He came on Wed. July 2nd, so I told him I'm not cooking. He took me to an Italian restaurant and since Italy was on the wall, he said we could pretend we went to Italy. We were very close as kids.  On Thursday, I put him to work painting benches.


Friday Afternoon, Kristanne and Austin arrived, hamming it up. She has a newer car and a new license plate reflecting her dog rescue volunteer project.  The license plate holder reads, "All my children have paws."   Austin looks a bit skeptical about that. (You can double click any photo to enlarge it.)


Bev and Ted arrived later, and set up their tent as usual.


Tyler, their youngest, got the job of stomping all the plastic bottles to make room in the recycle containers for the stuff to come.


Cedric & Virginia were the last to arrive on Friday. We have a measure grid on the wall, and Owen was proud to tell me he is taller than his dad. They were jet-lagged, having just returned at 3:00 a.m. from New York where some of Cedric's family lives. We spent the evening playing a new dice game, called Left, Right, Center. Great for all ages. When it got dark, everyone moved inside and we played one of the kids favorite games, Black Magic. Since we celebrate on Saturday, the only celebration of the official Independence Day was the hanging of the flag.


Saturday morning, Virginia and Kristanne took their traditional morning walk at 5:00, and did 8 miles. By mid-morning, jet-lag caught up with Virginia and she slept for two hours in a chair.


Daniel and Owen had dish duty Friday night. In the morning, it was Theo and Austin's turn. Because of the water shortage, no dishwasher was used. The dishwasher is used as a drain board.


Laurie and I worked on some salads to go with the barbecue.


Kristanne helped Doug cut veggies for the skewers while they discussed favorite tunes.


Alec works and attends college in So. Cal. He flew into Sacramento, and Cathy picked him up and drove him to Murphys. The boys inflated all the tubes for the flume.


Abbie loved feeding snacks to the chickens.

Niece, Rena came directly from FLorida to the reunion, her first time. Her boyfriend Chris, suffered some jet-lag too and took a long snooze, too.  Before the big feast, we headed for the flume. We waited for people who said they were coming to show up-and didn't. But, it is late in the day, I'll finish this blog tomorrow. I was having too much fun to take thorough pictures, so, there are big gaps in our event.