In the fullness of time – when everything was in perfect position – God sent his only Son to make us His own!
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:7-10
Reunion Ingredients –
Great people – Check
Pond Fun – Check
Lumber Jack adventure – Check
…but what else was there to do??
Well, here are just a couple of the other activities that filled our days! There were three ATVs that pretty much were on the go most of the time! If kids weren’t in the pond, there was a good chance they were exploring the property on wheels.
And then there was a little field trip – tubing down the Waits River.
The Waits River wasn’t the most challenging river and there were some pretty shallow areas –
but at the end of the adventure, I think a good time was had by all!
And the folks that didn’t go tubing? Well, we’ll get to that another day!
Do you see the birch tree in the header picture above? We’ve been watching that tree get closer and closer to the pond each year we come. And the concern was that it would eventually fall into the pond and then be impossible to get out of the pond. Gary had worked on trimming off some of the easier to reach branches earlier in the summer
but knew that getting the main part of the tree down would have to wait. Since we had a good supply of 40-something men and a couple of willing teenagers around during the reunion, Gary came up with a plan that involved a couple guys in the boat,
and a brave soul willing to shimmy himself (and the saw) out over the pond.
Sometimes it takes two on the tree to get it low enough to fully cut through!
While it didn’t go exactly as it had been envisioned, our gang is great at improvisation and at the end of the day, the tree had been dispatched, no adults or teenagers or turtles were harmed in the excursion, and The Pond activities resumed.
Actually, I’m not at all sure they were ever interrupted to begin with!
Mission accomplished!
Let’s face it. We could plan all the activities we want at the reunion, but The Pond will still come out the winner. Generally speaking, if there wasn’t food being offered and an adult was available, there were kids at The Pond.
This year we had quite the flotilla – three small green kayaks, two paddle boards, a blow-up kayak, the trusty row boat and an assortment of inner tubes.
Just the right size for a couple of four-year-old girls! (With mom and dad nearby!)
The new floating dock was also a big hit – though at times it seemed like the object was to see if it would sink if enough folks could get on it!
It was also used from some pond baseball
but I’m pretty sure it will be a while before it makes it to the Olympics.
Whether they were swimming or boating or fishing
or frogging
or just watching the action –
The Pond was the place to be!!
I’m sure you’ve seen them before. You take a photo from years ago, and recreate it with the same folks – but years and years later. We siblings tried to do it 25 years ago when we took this photo from 1956
and tried to create it again in 1996 –
It was pretty lame as photo recreations go, but then again I think it was a spur of the moment thing!
Apparently, having a really good photo recreation calls for a bit of planning. You try to have as many details the same as possible – not just the same people! Granddaughter Hayley approached me this spring to do some sewing so she and Uncle Woody (son Josiah) could recreate this photo from our family vacation in 2011 (see yesterday’s post!).
She checked with Uncle Woody so he could be lining up his wardrobe, and I got to sewing a pair of lime green pajama pants! And then, at the Family Reunion at the Cabin this summer, they got to it! Short white socks, ankles showing, Uncle Woody in bare feet and looking at his phone.
They even made sure I was standing in the background – just like in the original!
So fun!
I gave some thought to some additional photo re-recreations during our reunion, but even trying to get one big group picture was a bit like herding cats…
Maybe next time!
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