Swanhorst Reunion

Because one reunion just isn't enough we also attended the Swanhorst Family reunion the day after the Melius Family reunion. Yikes! The Swanhorst reunion was a little bigger. Three Meliuses married three Swanhorsts, so you still had a ton of Meliuses there, but also from Denver, we have more cousins that aren't Meliuses, but they're Swanhorsts. Can this be anymore confusing  because I really don't even know what I'm writing.

We hung out in Aberdeen, SD for the day and visited Storybook Land where I'm sure it was over 90 degrees outside with 90% humidity. Seriously. Storybook Land is an adorable little park filled with storybook characters.

We met the three little pigs,

went down the old lady's shoe slide, found Cinderella's carriage,  Uncle Conrad treated the children to rides on the carousel,

Then we found the Wizard of Oz characters and followed the yellow brick road.The scarecrow showed us the way to go where we found the wicked witch's castle, 

the cowardly lion,Glinda, the good witch,

and of course, we found Dorothy and Toto! After all that walking we headed back to the park to chat,  and swim in the lake.

A long day in Aberdeen called for beer and wine to unwind after a long day. Thanks to David and Laura for hosting us. We had so much fun with you guys! To see some more awesomeness from our South Dakota trip check out this link.

Melius Reunion

My crew returned home from the Catechism retreat pretty much just to do laundry and pack again. We hit the road early Friday morning and drove all day to South Dakota. (Playaways are the best thing ever invented for road trips.)

We arrived just in time for pre-4th of July festivities at Kyle and Lisa's house.

There were plenty of cousins everywhere--1st cousins, 2nd cousins, you name it, and they were there. 

Basketball, bike riding, and front porch performances kept us entertained that evening.

Fireworks were lit as the sun went down. 

The next morning, the 4th of July, we were up early to participate in the local parade. 

We missed out on decorating the float, but I think sitting on it was more fun, plus we'll take the credit for getting 1st place. ;)

Being a float in the middle of the parade allowed us to enjoy watching the end of the parade too! Super Mario and Luigi made an appearance and gave the kids candy.

Anna was checking out the candy scene and even got a flag and frisbee!

Temperatures were rising as the day went on. Can you tell?

Here's the famous family photo!

After the photo it was time to find some food, AC, and family with which to hang out and visit.

The children had fun cooling off on slip n' slides, pools, and 

jumpy castles.

Here's an all boys table because who wants to sit with a bunch of girls, right?

Reminiscing over old photos always brings back some pretty hilarious memories.  Uncle Conrad had 5 Meliuses in his class that weren't siblings. #SmallTownProblems. Grandpa Claire used get out of the shower and check his rain gauge wearing just a towel around his waist. Yes, there really is a photo of that.

You can't sit around too long when there's Corn Hole to play.

Here's a cousin photo! Who's missing? Here's to 2020. Be there or be square, but cousins we'll see you in 2017, right? Florida?

4th of July

We are currently on the road wrapping up our vacation.  What better time than now to start blogging again.  We’ve had such a long vacation that once it all makes it to my blog you will be tired from our vacation.  :)    We spent the 4th of July in South Dakota.  After some nap time we made our way back to Orin and Phylis’s house.  Sam and Elizabeth seemed to have a love/hate relationship.  Some times they liked each other and other times they wanted nothing to do with each other.Anna found Sam to be quite amusing and entertaining.  Who wouldn’t?  Look at that little face. Once Claire warmed up to the mobs of people all weekend, she loved hanging out with the older girls.  

Snappets were a huge hit with the kids. It kept them busy for maybe ten minutes.    Okay, no, they lasted a little longer. They made it well into the evening. There were plenty of fireworks to go around.Reno pretty much took care of most of the pyrotechnics. The kids oohed and ahhed over them.  As evening set in and snappets were gone, sparklers came out. The kids had a blast with the sparklers!           There’s no better way to light sparklers than with a blow torch.  It was perfect.Then we waited.  There was supposed to be a big show in town.We lit more sparklers.  I think we had about 72 of them. Then we had our own little show. Then the big show started.  It was so pretty!Our trip to South Dakota went out with a big bang…literally!  It was a great time and now we’re off to Washington.  So until next time…

Check out the rest of our 4th of July photos by clicking on the album!

4th of July 2010