Cameron Reunion 2012 - Colorado

After 12 hours in a car on the way home from a conference and one day sick at home, we were off to Colorado for the Cameron Family Reunion that happens every 4 years.  We were there with my mother-in-law's brothers and sisters and even some of their cousins.

 

While I was a little out of my element in the mountains, this was definitely Reagan's trip. She was able to do so many things that I don't do with her in Minnesota.

 

 

I love how Dylan just falls asleep when he's tired, no matter where we are.  My friends are all jealous that he will fall asleep and I can get him out of (and even in) the car, while he stays sounds asleep.

 

The first morning we were out there, John's mom had organized wagon rides, horseback riding, and square dancing for the families.  Reagan was immediately at the horse corral.  Kyle (our cowboy) gave her a cookie to feed to the horses.

 

 

Reagan started out with Kyle leading the horse, Intrepid, around the corral.  There were 3 other horses that then followed them around ring.

 



 

After about an hour on the horse, Kyle started moving further away from Reagan and letting her ride the horse by herself.  He still stayed close, but she was so comfortable (and Intrepid was so tame) that she really didn't need him to guide the horse.

 

Dylan was lucky that his sister did let him have a short turn on the horse. She really rode the horse for about 2 hours.

 

My niece Emma was not as adventurous with the horses. We colored with chalk and blew up some balloons.

 

Dylan with PaPa Mac

 

Reagan and her new BFF, John's cousin Caitlin.

 

Later that evening, John took Reagan down to the small stream near the cabins with a fishing pole.  All she could talk about was wanting to go fishing in the weeks before we went to Colorado, and asked non-stop to go after she saw the stream. We were so excited then, when she actually caught one! 

 

The next day we headed to Aspen with John's brother, sister-in-law and niece.

 

At the top of mountain in Aspen.

 

They had a number of kids activities after our gondola ride to the top of the mountain. Dylan found a bulldozer in the sandbox and was in heaven.

 

Reagan begged us to do the climbing wall.  She barely met the weight minimum and the operator of the climbing wall was so generous and let her climb a few times after she got the hang of it.  Seriously, this girl is not afraid of anything. She does not get this trait from me!

 

It only took a couple of tries to work her way to the top.

 

Gondola ride.  Not my favorite thing to do.  As I told John, I am not a fan of looking to my death below me.

 

 

This is out of order, but we made a stop at Independence Pass on our way to Aspen.

 

The boys and their daughters

 

Cousins

 

This is Chickadeedeedee.  Reagan had to take pictures of him where ever we went.

 

John with his siblings and cousins

 

 

Grandma Mary and PaPa Mac with their grandchildren

 

Last day we stopped in Vail Village on our way back to Denver for lunch and a walk around.

 

We all had fun, but seeing how much fun Reagan was having was the best part of the trip for John and I.



While Mommy's Away . . .

. . . the Daddy lets the children play!

 

 

Washing the car (or themselves)

 

Then washing their scooters

 

Captain Hook, Izzy and Jake

 

Checking out the little toadie

 

Car show with Papa.  Reagan liked the pink Barbie car.

 

Dylan liked the spider wrecker.

 

Looks like they had a lot of fun while Mommy was at a conference!



Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

If you thought this would be a post about Reagan, you were wrong:

 



 

This will come back to haunt him someday, but right now it's too funny not to post.

 

I forgot to send swim trunks to my mom's house and all she had was one of Reagan's old bikinis.  She asked him if he wanted to wear just the bottoms, but he wanted to wear the whole thing.  He is such a pretty boy :)

Happy Father's Day!

Our kids are so lucky to have the best Dad in the world!  John received lots of medals for Father's Day, so he definitely felt the love on his day.

We went to the zoo with two other families that we are close to.  The kids are all super close in age and have such a great time together.

Checking out the sharks with Dadddy.

The three dads: John, Bryan and Gabe

Dylan with Daddy and the dinosaur.  Had to croutch down just like Daddy too!

Strawberry Picking with Nana

 

On my mom's birthday, we thought it would be fun to try strawberry picking with the kids. We may have been one year early . . .

 

 

Despite being a bad year for strawberries because of the freeze that happened in April, we got there one of the few days that they were actually letting people pick strawberries. 

 

The strawberries were all tiny, bite sized strawberries.

 

Reagan was a great strawberry picker and was quite the trooper despite the heat and the bugs.  Dylan lost interest pretty quickly, so it was all I could do to keep him from trampling the already delicate plants and eating all the green strawberries.  I think ((hope)) next summer he'll be a little more helpful.

 

 

Our strawberry haul.



Mankato Air Show

Reagan and Dylan got the chance to go with both of their Papas to the Mankato Air Show.  I didn't make the trip with John and the kids (I got to enjoy a day at home alone!) but from what I heard they had a great time.

Papa Mac and Papa

Hanging out by the plane

Apparently, the tractors were more exciting than the cool airplane tricks

They also got to play in these fun water things.

More tractor love.

Finally a picture of some planes!

 

Dance Recital

Reagan had her first dance recital at the beginning of June.  Her class danced to Baby Face.   I wasn't sure how it would go because some classes she would do everything the teacher asked and sometimes she would just stand there.  It was nice that the young ones only do one dance and they dance first at the recital.  We were really proud that she did the whole dance!  She loved being on the stage!

All ready to go!

Final pose.  I'm bummed that most of my pictures didn't turn out because we couldn't use a flash so they are all blurry.

I think she was even more excited that she got flowers and gifts when she was done!

Three musketeers: Sophia, Reagan and Ani

BFFs

Later we got to do it all again to watch Jaden in her recital!  Reagan had fun watching another class do her same dance.  I do have to say that Reagan's teacher did a much better job with them!