Hansen Reunion

We hit the road August 14 and headed towards home away from home. 

We were going to celebrate Grandpa & Grandma's 90th birthdays coming up in August and October.   

We picked up Mike from work and drove. 2.5 hours. Brent and Julie were 20 minutes ahead of us and Bill & Stephanie were shortly behind us. We made good timing, got rained on, dumped on, and made it to our hotel in Burley, ID. We checked in and then headed to Perkins restaurant for dinner. Just 13 of us! Outside was a stuffed animal machine that tempted old to young. We walked away empty handed. Darn :-)

After dinner the kids wanted to swim. One of the kids favorite parts of coming to Idaho for the Hansen Reunion. Just as we were pulling back in the hotel parking lot from dinner I remembered I packed 2 suits for each kid but neglected to pack 1 for either me or Mike. I was so sad, I was looking forward to a soak in the hot tub. Oh well, so I sat and watched and took lots of pictures. Mike went back to the hotel room and did a little work.

I asked the kids for a group photo. This is what we got. Characters these 4 are!!

Finally our Cousins showed up to swim! Lexi and Karsyn

Ashlyn and Lillian

We let the kids swim late and then headed off to bed. Mike and I woke up early to go run. Mike needed to do 8 and I 4. We ended up running down the main drag, I was quite nervous I wouldn't make it back alive. No shoulder or sidewalk and lots of semi's driving fast. On one section, I took off and lost Mike, I think I ran an 8 min mile which is excellent for me! But I made it back to the hotel, just as Grandma and Grandpa had Lexi, Jack and Karsyn getting breakfast. They stayed in G&G's room--and they are early risers!

The storm was still raining outside and we were having the party at a park. With the rain, it brought cooler temperatures. I threw in last minute a jacket and am so glad I did. I believe I wore mine all day long

After breakfast more swimming. Grandma brought her under water camera and the kids posed and posed for her.

We bathed the kids, checked out of the hotel and headed to the park just after letting a storm roll through!

We made it the the park. It is a new park. The splash pad was added this summer and the blue turf and park was added just this week. We lucked out. The kids spent lots of time playing here! They also had lots of covered pavilions and grassy areas. Fun park.

Brent and Julie aka Grandma and Grandpa 

I'm not sure if Lexi learned bunny years from Brent or she taught him!

Grandpa has been living at a care center because he doesn't have strength to care for himself. They brought him to the park and he spent most of the afternoon with us. He will be 90 on Aug 28.

Maddy was born in Boise, where we lived a mile from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. They moved to Burley when she turned 1.

Erin arrived with her adorable twin baby girls. Of course I had to take a turn and hold one. They are not identical but the only way I could tell them apart was because their blankets had their names on them. Erin & Josh just moved to Florida after the reunion. 

 The splash pad tempted the kids all day. Notice the girls in jackets. They did brave the cold water but quickly changed back to dry clothes.

 The sun poked out off and on throughout the afternoon. The kids played games, colored and ate!

After lunch we enjoyed cake with 90 candles.

After cake, we did a candy launch. It was and always is a hit of the party. Who doesn't love chasing after candy. Poor Lilly got klunked in the head with a dum dum. Ouch! BUT she had a bag full of candy. 

 Even jack got to hold one of the twins! 

 He also had a blast with cousin Ammon. They are both the only boys in their family of girls and the same age.

We weren't planning on staying for dinner but were having a great time so we stayed til dinner (even though we weren't really hungry from non stop eating). After dinner, we said goodbye and headed home. Luckily I-84 was open again, there was a roll over that diverted traffic to Pocatello but we made it home by 11 and threw the kids in bed. Only to wake up for another adventure!

We had a wonderful weekend and are so glad we came. We had a million and one things to do but decided we wanted to go see Grandpa whose health isn't that great and celebrate with him and for Mike also to see cousins he doesn't live by. We are so glad we did! Thanks Brent and Julie for a wonderful weekend. We especially love going with our Loveridge cousins who we can never seem to see enough!