Family Reunion Fun

The View of Useless Bay

Thinking about all the work that went into our family reunion in Washington is impressive!

Saying that we had a great time is an understatement.
I wish we could get together more often!

I brought our camera up, snapped two pictures and then our card was full. Lovely.
A huge thanks to Aaron and Angela for ALL the pictures!

On the Farm
We stayed with Jason and Christina on their farm.


The kids really enjoyed feeding the chickens every evening and gathering eggs.




Fun at the Park

Launching Rockets

We had such a great time after launching the rockets, we changed
plans to grab some dinner and enjoy the live band that was coming to perform.
They even gave us a special welcome - not just because the size of our group at the park,
but because there were so many of us participating in the Triathlon!

The grass was like carpet. Seriously. It was heaven.
This is also the same park where the 2nd transition was in the race.

Enjoying Nature
The kids made nature books and took them on their nature hike.

It wouldn't be a Hunt family reunion without eating good food!

Deception Pass
We were able to visit a couple State parks up there.
Washington is gorgeous.
Our last day up there, we visited Deception Pass.
I fell in love.
How could you not?

Needless to say, it was an amazing trip and an outstanding reunion.
Thanks Jason and Christina for unforgettable memories!
Thanks again, Aaron and Angela, for your gorgeous pictures!

Roadtrip!

This summer has been filled with trips. Some planned, some not.

From Austin, TX in May to
Utah and Southern Alberta, Canada, in June
Back to Utah in July
Newport Beach, CA in July and to
Whidbey Island, WA in August.

I don't know about you, but that's far more traveling than I'm used to. That's a lot of laundry and packing and keeping track of kids. I really don't think I ever unpacked.

The last trip of the summer though, brought the most anxiety.
Driving to Washington, and then the . . . Triathlon (more on that later!)

We went back and forth a lot on whether we should fly or drive to Washington. Flying would have been much more convenient and faster, but then buying 7 tickets and flying bikes up, everything added up really quickly.

The weekend before we were to leave, we decided to drive.
Drive.
Straight.
Through.
Six kids in the car for the estimated 22-23 hours sounds delightful,no?

Tuesday evening (Aug 2), after Ryan installed air bags - the leveling kit to support the bike rack loaded up with 4 bikes, and packing up the car, we started the trek up to Wyoming.



Ryan and I switched driving around 1am near the Utah border. He drove thru the corner of Utah and up to Boise, Idaho. I took on driving at 5am up to Oregon. Somewhere in Oregon we switched again and he drove us over the bridge to Washington.

Our first time in Oregon - through a bug splatted windshield

Over the bridge to Washington

Gorgeous Washington

getting closer!

We drove up thru Seattle and followed the sign to the ferry to Whidbey Island. (I have to admit I was a tad nervous driving onto the ferry with about a bazillion other cars, but of course, it went off without a hitch. Speaking of hitch though, driving off the ferry was the only time the hitch - with the bikes on them - hit the ground. Even when one of the airbags totally deflated.)

Again, thru a bug-y windshield, waiting in line for the ferry.

On the ferry passing another

The kids were fantastic. Seriously. I'm not sure what made the trip seem like it was going by so quickly, but it did not seem like 20 hours in the car. (Now, the 24 hours on the way home is a bit of a different story, but still okay.)

After 16 hours - not too shabby!

We made it to Whidbey Island!

Interestingly, once we reached Jason and Christina's I never pulled out my phone or the camera to take pictures . . .

I'm pretty sure that's a sign of a rockin good time!

Time Away

We celebrated our 11th anniversary this year. One week prior, we had the chance to be in Newport Beach together. Alone. Sans kids. The only other trip we'd been on together alone in all our married life - besides our honeymoon, of course - was back in 2007 when Ryan had some work to do in Las Vegas and I tagged along. That's it. I'm tempted to say that that's pretty pathetic, but really, when you've had children like we have, it's few and far between to 1. have the courage (yes, courage) to spend the $$ on a vacation, 2. have the guts to ask someone to watch your brood, and 3. not be pregnant or nursing.

We had a wonderful weekend attending the Demarle at Home convention and spending time with our best buds, the Clarks.

We are so grateful to Ryan's parents for still watching our crew when they offered to tend 3 grandchildren for the summer. We knew they were all in good hands and would enjoy their time together.

Time at the beach - after lunch at Ruby's at the end of the Pier.


On the ferry from the peninsula to Balboa Island.

Eleven Years!

A fabulous trip, we can't wait to do it again!

"I'm so far behind I thought I was first."

My mom has this quote in her house.

Our poor blog this year.
I'm afraid our blog book is going to be skinny minny.
I find when I'm playing catch-up, I write less.
I lose a lot of the emotion and excitement of what we've been up to.
Which is very sad.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get things turned around and
get everything up and posted.

Did you know, I even contemplated writing EVERY day?
Yes!
I could do this everyday in September.
I would definitely get caught up and capture the everyday like I should.
Yeah, then I realized it was already September 3rd.
Dang it.

I will do this.
Get caught up and regularly blog again.

Here we go.

July 22, 2010 - Enter Henry

I have a hard time believing it's been one full year since this post or this post but, then it feels like Henry has always been with our family.

Henry, you make me one proud mama! You taught me that I can do hard things - things I never knew I could do. You are the perfect little caboose for our family. You are such a sweet boy, so easy going. We love you to pieces.

Isn't he the cutest ever?

That picture has little boy written all over it.

When I figure out how to get birthday pictures on here, I will.

(his parents weren't even there...rude.)

Swim Team 2011

Another successful season with the Blue Fins - including Lucy who competed this year!
I'm amazed at how much our kids improved, not only from last year, but from the beginning of the season to the end.
They did things a little differently than last year with the youngest group, Lucy's group, the Minnows.
They actually had them swimming laps along with learning strokes.
Lucy went from swimming in the arms of the coaches, to swimming - stopping along the lane ropes, to swimming the whole length of the pool without grabbing the rope!
We are ecstatic.
Rylee, Clay, Kaycee, and Lucy really pushed themselves developing technique and competing in new categories.
Kaycee swam right along side with the older group and really held her own.
Clay has mastered the breaststroke which took him to the League Championships - he placed 7th!
Rylee rocked the butterfly in her 100 Individual Medley - beautiful form.

We love swimming and look forward to next year!

Our bed-head family (okay, just mine) at Championships