The Hall Mini-Reunion #1 to Heber Valley, Utah

We have Hall Family Reunions  (which including the Wayne and Holly Family) and the Hall Extended Family (which includes the Jick and Ruby Hall Family--Gary's dad and siblings etc.), so when we were talking about having a formal reunion for just our set of Halls we decided to call it the Hall Mini-Reunion.

We went camping/RV to River's Edge at Dear Creek up near Heber City, Utah, from July 13-16th. This time, we had everyone except Ben and Tosha, Austen and Niki.  Our next one we hope to plan around their next trip to Utah (hopefully next year.)  However I felt it was good to start having formal times together because I want our grand kids to make memories with each other because who knows where jobs and opportunities may take our kids over time.

The Giberson family has had shirts for our reunion but I didn't think we were quite at the shirt style of reunions so I went with hats--

 Block "H" for the boys and the cursive "H" for the girls.

So we arrived Wednesday afternoon, got the RV all settled and had about 1 hour to read and relax before the grand kids arrived, because as anyone knows when you camp with toddlers, it is "all hands on deck" the whole time they are awake---keeping track of them and keeping them safe.

 Jessica, Elessia and Liam arrived first and Liam LOVES being outside so he was one happy kid.

 We explored the campground and...

Met some of the locals......

I took lots of pictures of these birds because I didn't think we
would get that close to them again, but apparently they live
in the camp ground because we saw and heard them throughout our stay.

 Liam was a serious explorer and loved walking and walking every where.

Here are some few of the camp ground.  It turns out that it was right at the base of a earthern dam which created Jordanell Reservoir. You can see that along the back of this picture.

The views the other directions were much more natural with small hills and trees around.

Jena flashing her peac sign when she saw me get ready to take a picture of her.

Scott, Chantel, and Scarlett arrived after Scott got off work and they went to work putting up the tents. Turns out that both Liam and Scarlett thought tents were awesome.

Here is Jessica and Elessia's tent  

Jena and Scarlett took a break from tent building to play with bubbles.

But then it was back to work for Scarlett who couldn't wait to get into the tent and start running around.  I think Jena sat in the middle of the tent (we called it the Beehive) for about 10 minutes while Scarlett ran circles around her.  Kids really enjoy the simple things.

I "stole" this picture from Facebook but this is what the tent section of the Hall Reunion looked like.

My hat is off to Jessica and Chantel for being willing to sleep in tent while they are pregnant.  Not everyone would have gone for that plan.

Breakfast on Thursday morning.  I don't mind sleeping in tents but at our age, it is nice to travel with a few more conveniences especially with little grand children now.

 We even packed a high chair which provided some easier meals.

Scott worked on a repair of a vent on top of our motor home that we had noticed wasn't working quite right.  It is great that he is willing to help. Gary was glad to not have to climb up there himself to do it.

After breakfast, Jena, Gary and I headed down to the Provo River to accomplish one of my bucket list items--kayaking.  We left every one else to their own devices for the morning.

Drive down the canyon

Here is our selvie before heading onto the river.  It is a very mild river with just a few small whitewater rapids.  It was a pretty day and hot so a good day for a river run.  Gary and Jena were in a 2-person kayak and I was in my own.  It was a fun time and we enjoyed the other people we talked to along the way.  No pictures because I didn't find a water proof camera in the last few days when I thought of it before the trip.

One of the workers said that they have had people (usually children but a few adults) ask "Could they heat up the water a bit more?" and "Where does the river circle back to the front?" Duh--it is a real river, not a lazy river at a water park.  People can be interesting!!!

We headed back and took over "Grandparent Duty" while the five of them hopped into a car and headed back to the same place for their turn on the river.  Chantel and Scott went on a kayak and Jessica, Elessia, and Jena went on a raft.  I hear they have a great time....

Meanwhile back at the RV, we had fun with Scarlett and Liam........we made a tent.

 We played iwth the sand toys as it was too hot to actually go outside and play in the sandbox.

 I had taken a few pictures of Scarlett under the tent  She had asked to "Look" at them and after she saw them she said "Again" and went and posed for this picture under the tent. She check it and told me it was good.  I agree.

Liam didn't want to go into the tent but he liked playing peek a boo with Scarlett although it was hard to get a picture of both of their faces.  They were laughing so hard at each other.

We sang songs for about 45 minutes with "Pat a Cake", "If you're happy and you know it" and "Wheels on the Bus" being the favorite.  My biggest achievement was getting Scarlett to take a nap for a couple of hours.  Liam had had a good morning nap so Jessica said not to worry about him taking a nap.  I don't think I could have gotten both of them asleep.  Liam and I walked around the park and in the recreation room to give Scarlett some quiet to sleep.

It was fun to be with them (and Gary of course, who can make the grand kids laugh at almost any moment) and spend time making memories---which they won't remember but they will have pictures and the blog to remind them of these little moments of life.