After 2 years of planning and thinking and organizing and stewing, the bi-annual Lindhardt Family Reunion is in the books! Of course I am biased, but I think it was a huge success and most of the credit goes to Doug. He worked tirelessly on every detail and even had an organized spread sheet for the shopping trip.
Doug's immediate family (parents, siblings and their children) has a reunion every 2 years and it was our turn to host (and it won't be our turn again for 14 more years since there are 7 kids in his family!). Reunions up to this point have been at Doug's parents' house and his brother's house. Seeing that we don't have the room to host 42 people, we made the decision 18 months ago to seek out an alternative location here in Colorado. We did some research and found out that the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park has huge cabins designed specifically for family reunions. One trip up there and we were sold!
The reunion officially started on Saturday afternoon at the cabin, but we had two of Doug's siblings and their families join us for a Rockies game on Friday night. They all stayed here that night and then we caravaned up to Estes Park. It was a great Rockies game and my kids about came unglued with anticipation of the cousins' arrival. They had a big sleepover in our basement that night. The next morning, we took our time getting up and getting breakfast and then packing the car became the big challenge of the day. I have never seen such efficient use of space in my life! All the food was packed and we headed up to Estes about 2 p.m.
The following is a brief day-by-day recap of our adventures . . . . enjoy!!
Day 1 - Saturday, Aug. 14th
Arrival day, unpack, room assignments, and dinner. We ordered 8 large pizzas for the group from Bob & Tony's (our fav spot in Estes) and it was all completely devoured!
Day 2 - Sunday, Aug. 15th
Church day! We had enough people that we decided not to crash our own church so we had our own Sacrament Meeting right in the commons area of the cabin after breakfast. The vaulted ceilings with full windows provided a breathtaking backdrop for the services. Gorgeous! We had talks given by some of the grandkids as well as the siblings and Grandma. We even had a special musical number by the grandkids. It was all so well organized and such a special time!!
We took family pictures after church, had lunch and then headed to the field for a family game of kickball. Good times!! My family joined us for dinner that night and we really just enjoyed the evening catching up with everyone and seeing the Manti Lindhardt's talent skit since Miki had to leave early to go home and be a volleyball star.
Our own Sacrament Meeting
Miki and Baby Kara
Coop and Jacob
Jess and Claire
The Manti Lindhardt Pirate Show
Answering questions during the family quiz
Makenzy, Paul and Emmett
Kaiya and Kara . . . she loved the babies!
Day 3 - Monday, Aug. 16th
Day 3 was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park. We headed up and stopped at Bear Lake for an hour or so and then had a picnic lunch at Sprague Lake. Monday night was Family Home Evening capped off with a talent show of epic proportions. The girls put on a fashion show that they had worked on for about a month and there were skits, singing numbers, and the highlight might have been when Abbie had Uncle Paul pull out her loose tooth in front of the audience.
Coop and Claire waiting for our shuttle at RMNP
At Bear Lake
Grandma & Grandpa taking it all in
Our picnic chiefs
FHE lesson by Grandpa
Talent show, round 2
Getting a little messy!
The much anticipated fashion show
Day 4 - Tuesday, Aug. 17th
This was our free day. Some ventured back into RMNP and went to the top of Trail Ridge Road and saw some elk and other animals while others went into the town of Estes for shopping. The afternoon was spent doing all of the activities at the YMCA--the craft cabin, swimming, mini golf, tennis, etc. We had a very small world happening while playing mini-golf. The family that we got to know in April during Spring Break in Arizona was playing mini golf behind us! Cooper recognized them and the whole thing still blows my mind. Kinley and their daughter, Julia, became good buddies at the pool in Arizona and here they were. It was crazy!! They are from Minnesota and were in Estes for a wedding. I still catch myself thinking about how wild that was to run into the same family twice.
Estes Park slides
In downtown Estes
Loving the craft cabin!
Our major deja vu experience . . . Julia from Minnestoa!!
Day 5 - Wednesday, Aug. 18th
The kids and I had to leave Tuesday night (all 3 of my kids were bawling as we pulled out simply because they didn't want the reunion to be over) since they started school on Wednesday, but the reunion officially ended at about 10 a.m. as everyone packed up and headed out. The torch was passed on to Doug's sister, Nancy, who is in charge of hosting the next reunion in 2012. We are done for 14 years! Wohoo!! :)
Great memories!!!
The talent show act that stole the show!
3 comments:
Great Job Haley and Doug. We are missing it today....I guess a few days to settle down will be needed. Thanks again for all your hard work!
We miss it, too!! It was a great reunion and the cabin was PERFECT!!! Thanks for this great post, too. Your recap and the pictures are so fun. The video at the end is the icing on the cake. I honestly got nervous again just watching it. (I was more scared for Paul than for Abbie--they both get my respect for that stunt!) Can't wait to see you all again!
We second it all. We had a blast and Jess can't wait until she gets to plan her reunion. Good thing we have a while for my sake! Thanks for good times!
-Hyrum Lindhardts
Post a Comment