Family Reunion, Part 1

I love all our extended family, and I really love getting everybody together. For this year's Huffaker Family Reunion, we went a little crazy, and we did a Destination Reunion.

Oh, yes.

Most of the time, we go camping for our reunions, and while I love that, this year's reunion was over-the-top fun and truly, TRULY one of our most memorable times, ever. I give full credit to Todd's sister Kerry!

Kerry & Jason!

Kerry did all the legwork and planning for us. She made the arrangements with the hotel, set up our day trips, and put deposits down where needed. She was a huge facilitator, and without her, our trip would not have been nearly so amazing!! So, huge kudos, and hat's off to Kerry!!

Everyone traveled separately to get there, and for us, this was interlaced with a trip to Rexburg, right before. So we made a quick trip for this:

Couldn't miss that! Pretty darn proud of Brandon, and what he has accomplished. We look forward to the next stage of life for him!

We also helped this guy get packed up, ...

... and loaded to move back home. He is off-track from school from now until the end of the year. WOO-HOO!!

There was also some of THIS happening while we were there.....

(Emma loves the splash park and carousel at Porter Park in Rexburg!)

On the way back, we swung through Boise for an overnight stay, and to see Alyssa & Andrew. Got to do a bit of school shopping, and a bit of this, too......

..... aaaaaand a bit of this, also:

(Having the hotel pool to ourselves was super fun!)

And then it was back home for JUST OVERNIGHT. We scrambled to unpack, do some laundry, water the yard, re-pack, grab Darcie, and the next morning, we were OFF again!! It took all day, but we pulled in that evening to Lincoln City, Oregon -- ready for our week of fun and relaxation, and FAMILY.

Here's what greeted us in our room ......

And this fancy concoction on the bathroom counter:

Creativity abounds! (I so want to try making a towel-swan!)

The kids and I went right down to to beach, and stuck our toes in the Pacific Ocean...

Emma loved the biggest sandbox in the world....

It was a gorgeous sunset that evening....

... and the cousins had fun with it, too...

Also that evening, we played games together, which is one of our favorite family activities:

They were really nice about letting our family use the breakfast room during those evening hours. (It's usually kept locked.)

The younger set have their own version of games, too!

Temperatures were so nice and mild, especially when you compare them to our triple-digit heat that we'd been having at home. It was such a welcome break!!

Our rooms at the lodge all overlooked the ocean, with un-blocked and un-paralleled views. Beach access was super-close: we easily walked right down, or brought the vehicles for drive-onto-the-beach parking, when we were bringing more stuff with us. Some of us explored the tide pools which were also right at the beach access, and had fun with that.

We slept each night with the balcony door open to the ocean breezes and the sound of the waves steadily crashing on the shore. (And occasionally a little sea mist for good measure!!) Come to think of it, we never really ever closed that balcony door. It was so, SO nice!

Next day .... the adventures began!!

See more of our family reunion week in these posts:

Part 2, Day 1

Part 3, Day 2

Part 4, Day 3

Part 5, Days 4 & 5

Final Wrap-Up & family photos